time flies when you're having a new kidney!

hello all (well, to anyone who checks this anymore),

i promised i would update this occasionally and this is my first attempt at fulfilling this promise.

i am back at work at the hospice, part time, and beginning the job hunt. currently i am looking the round rock/austin area and would prefer something in the non-profit field, but honestly, anything will do :)

mel finished summer school with "flying colors" (she will be mad at me, but i think she should be proud that she earned 2 a+'s this summer while recovering from major surgery) and will be starting her last year of grad school next week on her way to earning a masters in social work.

as for the actual kidney, it's doing fantastic! as they were before my surgery, they are amazed that i am doing so well and bouncing back so quickly (their average patient is probably 55 and has at least one other major health risk, so my young age and relative good health has made this whole process much easier). i have a check up with my local nephrologist next tuesday and one at the transplant center in november.

i will do my best to update this every time i have a check up so everyone is still in the loop, but those will begin to spread further apart, so email me if you are concerned or want to check in!

thank you everyone who has read this for all these months and who has been here with an encouraging word and hug.

much love and big hugs,

cam

UPDATES!

hello all,

you will all be glad to know that mel and i are both doing very well. we are both driving and in 3 weeks we will be fully released to all normal activities: job, exercise, lifting more than 5lbs, etc.

we are still a little bit sore but there is pretty much no pain and our incisions are healing up very nicely.

mel started summer school yesterday and she is having a lot of fun! i'll be starting the full-time job search in the coming weeks, so if you know of any openings, i'll take pretty much anything at this point :)

let us know if you have any questions!

lots of love and hugs,

camel

updates

hello all,

a quick update:

mel is doing great. she's up and moving around a lot and the pain has decreased every day!

i am up and moving around as well and the pain is also decreasing. i have labs every tuesday and friday to monitor my medicine levels for a while and an appt with my nephrologist here in round rock on tuesday.

we'll update soon, but for now thank you so much for all of your love and support!

love and hugs,

camel

yay!

hello all,

mel was released today and is feeling much better. she is still in some pain which is to be expected -- her incision is right in the middle of her stomach. she will continue to rest up in austin in the coming weeks.

i will be in the hospital until wednesday (most likely). this morning was a little rough from nausea but i feel great now and have done a lot of walking today.

thanks again for everyone's love and support and we'll keep you updated!

love and hugs,

camel

Movin' On Up!

Cam will be moved out of ICU and onto the second floor in about an hour or two!

His room will be just a few doors down from Mel's, so they will be able to see each other more easily!

Mel is still in a bit of pain, but she is sitting up right now and eating her first real meal!

Please continue praying for their recoveries.

Love,

Katy

"letter from the editor"

hello all,

first off, thanks to katy for a job very well done! she will continue to update this weekend on what's going on, but as I am feeling great, I decided I would let everyone know!

i have been in ICU all afternoon and will be tonight as a precaution and then will move to a room up on the second floor near Mel. they are hoping to get me out on wednesday and mel on monday (but no guarantees).

keep sending thoughts and love our way as we have a whiles to go until we are back to our normal lives.

as always, thanks for everything and much love.

back to you, katy.

cam

Good News!

Both Mel and Cam are out of surgery!

Everything is going well - Mel is still in recovery and Cam will go into the ICU for monitoring.

Please continue to pray as they both recover.

Love,

Katy

1 down, 1 to go

Mel is done! Everything went will with Melanie's surgery and she is in recovery!

Cam is currently in surgery and everything is going great!

More later.

Katy

Mel is in surgery!

Hey all,

Melanie went back for surgery about 30 minutes ago. She should be in surgery for about 2 hours. Cameron will go back in about 30 minutes and should be done around noon.

I will let you know when I know more.

Keep praying,

Katy

Today is the day!

Hey everyone!

This is Mel's sister, Katy. I will be updating the blog throughout the next few days.

We are at the hospital and Melanie is getting ready to go into her surgery at 7:00 am. They just took Cam back to get him prepped. The surgeries should take about 3-5 hours total.

Please keep praying for the surgeries to go well and for speedy recoveries!

I will update once I know any knew info.

Love,
Katy

welcome katy

mel and i (and family) are here safely in san antonio about to rest up for tomorrow's big day. we need to be at the hospital at 5am so the surgeries are pretty early in the morning.

it looks like i will be in ICU through Saturday morning as a precautionary measure and Mel should be in recovery/her room by then as well.

for now, i will be handing off updating duties (haha, duty) to katy, mel's sister. welcome her with open arms and be patient if there are not updates right away -- it will be a very busy day for everyone. i for some reason you need to get ahold of anyone, mine and mel's parents/sisters will have their cellphones and my mom will be keeping mine during my time in the hospital.

thanks for your love and support -- without all of you, we wouldn't be where we are today.

love and big hugs,

cam and mel (camel -- thanks sallie)

3 days and counting...

hello all!

thank you for your patience as Mel and I finished up school this year. we both had a great year and are happy with all of our accomplishements.

now, for the details that we have so far:

thursday -- mel and i will go in to the hospital around 8am to have some last blood draws/labs done. as far as we know, we can go back to the hotel for the rest of the day after these tests

friday -- arrive very early (530am or so) and get prepped for surgery and then head in to surgery. we have no definite times for this day but we'll let you know when we do.

after surgery, we will go to recovery and then after that, i will be in the hospital for about a week (5-7 days) and mel will be in there for 2-3 days. after we get out, we will rest up at home for about 4-6 weeks.

as always, please leave any questions here and we'll answer them!

lots of love and we'll update soon!
cam and mel

may 14th

hello all,

mel and i have been confirmed for surgery on the 14th of may. there are some tests and such before then to just make sure everything is still in order, but we are both pretty excited!

the surgery is in san antonio on may 14th at the methodist specialty and transplant hospital.

if you have any other questions or comments, please leave them on this blog.

mel and i are finishing up school this and next week and will do our best to answer any questions you have before we finish but be patient with us :)

lots of love and hugs,

cam

monday, monday minus the mamas and the papas

hello all,

mel's tests came back with no problems and they will be reviewing our case as a whole on monday the 22nd to make sure everything is okay and good to go.

as of now mel and i have decided that may 12th is a good date for both of us but this is not set in stone. we will not have a date until we get a solid confirmation from the panel on monday. things look good and there shouldn't be any trouble.

love and hugs,
cam

best news ever!!!

hello all!!

MELANIE IS A MATCH. great news! it looks like melanie is a kidney match for me and even neater news, my mom is a back-up match.

mel and i will be heading down on the 22nd for her to have more tests done.

and one last thing for now: if you were planning on being tested, please still consider doing so. it's always better to have more back-up people just in case something happens.

i love you all very much. thank you for all of the prayers, thoughts, and well wishes.

big hugs,
cam

kidneys anyone?

hello all!

here's what a lot of you have been waiting for:

1. i had my evaluation today to make sure i was a good candidate for a transplant. although both doctors i spoke with said that i can pretty much be on the list starting today, they still need to officially decide as a team (including the social worker, dietitian and nurses). so that's great! also found out more about the surgery (and post surgery specifics). basically, i have to take medicine the rest of my life, but hopefully i can find a living donor before i go on dialysis. and this leads me to my next part...

2. the testing can begin! if you feel like being tested to be a donor match, please follow these instructions:

i. call 'donor hotline' at my hospital (1-210-575-4483; Mon-Fri, 8-430p)

ii. if you do not live in san antonio, you are able to begin the process over the phone

a. a brief medical history is taken

b. they ask if you would like to be a part of the DONOR EXCHANGE PROGRAM (i will explain this program after i finish the whole process)

iii. if you pass the initial screening, they ask you for simple blood work

iv. if you do not live in san antonio, they can send a blood kit to you to have done at a lab close to your house and the results are sent to my hospital

v. my hospital will contact you in one-two weeks with results of whether or not you are a match

3. DONOR EXCHANGE PROGRAM -- this is a unique program at my hospital where, in case one of my friends or family is not a match for myself, they can be entered into this program. once in this program, you will be matched with other patients at my hospital. if you are matched with anyone else in my hospital, then you can donate your kidney to them ONLY if they have a donor that can donate a kidney to myself. in this case, you are still able to donate a kidney to me, just not yours. make sense?

4. please spread the word about this process to anyone that has expressed interest in donating! the more people who donate, the better chance i have to get a kidney sooner.

a few last minute things -- a kidney from a living donor will last MUCH longer (probably even 10 years longer) than if i wait and get one from the waiting list (deceased donor). also, i have a few packets with a whole lot of info about donating/surgery. i only have a few, but they are really helpful in case you find out you're a match or you want to do the exchange program. let me know if you want one!

i will post tomorrow about the physical surgery details.

love you all and as always, post questions and i'll answer them!

cam

tomorrow never knows...

hello all,

tomorrow i have my appointment in san antonio with the transplant hospital. i will be meeting with my transplant doctor, nurse, social worker, financial assistant and nutritionist.

if you have any specific questions you want answered, post them here and i'll ask them tomorrow!

lots of big hugs and love,

cam

the next Alonzo Mourning

hello all,

i had a meeting today to receive more information on all of the treatment options for kidney disease. they are as follows:

1. dialysis

2. no treatment

3. transplant

1. there are three types of dialysis. one involves a catheder hanging out of my abdomen that i flush 4-5 times a day myself at home. as this really really weirds me out (the tube literally just hangs out of the flesh), i'm going with one of the other two options (which are very similar). they are both hemodialysis (the normal blood filtered by machine that everyone knows). the first option is hemodialysis in a dialysis center and the second is hemodialysis at home with my own "mini-kidney". before i'm able to do hemodialysis, it is necessary that i have a small surgery to have a 'fistula' installed in my arm which essentially unites an existing artery and vein to make it swell so its accessible for the constant 'poking'. so the next step is to talk to my doc and set up a referral to a surgeon to get the fistula installed. below are some helpful wikipedia links which are little to no different from the presentation i received today.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peritoneal_dialysis

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hemodialysis

2. no treatment is not an option. 'nuff said.

3. i did learn that unfortunately a transplant is not a permanent fix as i thought it was. the woman explained that it's an average of 10 years before my replacement fails and then i start the process over again. i think my expression gave away my extreme disappointment and frustration as she quickly recovered with "i have heard some people today of going 15-20 years before needing a new one" which was still only somewhat comforting. needless to say, supremely bummed that i get to do this more than once in a lifetime. the bright side is that i have always enjoyed hospitals (mostly cafeteria food, but im not sure why). oh, also, switching tv channels by only going up and down one channel at a time is my favorite :) below is a wiki link to renal transplant that should give everyone a better idea of how it works

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Renal_transplant

again, post questions to the blog and ill answer for everyone!

hugzies,

cam

timeline...without paul walker

hello all,

i have had many generous and loving requests to be tested and donate a kidney which is why i this post is about how to go about that procedure.

to some dissapointment though, there is no exact timeline on when the testing/matching will begin. there is quite a few things before we will be at the stage of testing family and friends. BUT, (haha, butt) i do promise to do my duty (haha, duty) to inform all my dedicated fans of when this process will start. just to give you a heads up, my insurance representative said that she would work with anyone that is not in my immediate family members (which i assume is just mom dad and sister) because the testing would take some funding.

if anyone has any questions about this, just reply/comment!

also, the meeting/seminar about dialysis options was moved to tomorrow, thursday at 1pm so i'll post again after that.

happy hump day, and big hugs
cam

transplant, without travis barker

hello again all,

quick update: i have an appointment at the methodist transplant specialty hospital on monday feb 8th at 9am to start the evaluation process.

peace, love and big hugs,

cam

the "beginning" of sorts

hello all,

i am starting this to keep everyone informed about my kidney journey because i know you all care and this is the best way to keep everyone informed. yay technology!

first things first: i had an appointment this morning with my doctor and found our how to proceed with what's going on. it looks like my blood levels (creatinine, hemoglobin, potassium, iron, etc) are all showing that i need to start dialysis pretty soon and that a transplant is the only thing that will work from this point on.

that being said, i'm actually very excited about this news. although surgery and all that jazz is scary as shit, it's quite nice knowing there is a definite solution and i don't need to be wasting my time with these pointless meds and guessing games as to what's wrong.

the tricky part is definitely working this in while finishing my last semester, but nothing is going to keep me from finishing (that's what she said.)

well now on to what i know in relation to the transplant procedure:

1. i need to contact Methodist Specialty Transplant Hospital in San Antonio -- it's the closest facility my insurance covers.

2. attend a meeting tomorrow afternoon about the details for dialysis and make my decision as to which way i will do dialysis until i can get a transplant

3. Personal evaluation (by Methodist Specialty): tests to see if my body is able/good for a transplant

4. A committee from the facility I choose makes the final decision

5. I am put on the waiting list at their facility

6. after initial evaluation is completed, I can request to be added to another facility’s list without redoing the eval process. They would just use my initial tests/reviews

7. Possible donors are tested to see if they are a match and if they’re able/good to donate

i. immediate family members are tested/covered

ii. other people wanting to be tested need to have their insurance worked out/will have to pay something

8. when match is found, I give the go ahead for the operation

9. the insurance assign me a case manager for 90 days to see how I’m doing/if I understand, am okay with the medicine/fill out and file my paperwork/etc

and so far that's what i know. i'll post again after tomorrow's meeting about dialysis. oh, also, i'm reducing my cellcept (the actual kidney meds) while still taking my blood pressure and potassium pills. i also have to add a phosphate-binder pill and a prescription vitamin d supplement.

post questions if you have any and i'll keep everyone updated through this.

peace, love and big hugs,

cameron