Amelia, as late last night...

Still no official word on whats going on right now. She has had a rough day, which has continued into the night. Mainly been fighting off nauseau, and pain. The pain seems to be radiating in her back up to her neck and shoulders. We also had a bit of throwing up occur around 12am.
Also, they checked her temp earlier and it was 100.1, so the doc said to check it again and if it is higher than 99.5 then they would run blood cultures and urine samples to check for an infection. It was 99.8 when they checked, so we have sent off some samples to the lab for them to work their magic.
I know that she is very grateful to have this kidney, it is a blessing. But she is fighting anxiety, and a lot of emotions bc of everything that is going on, while not having any real answers.

Update on Amelia

This from Douglas earlier today...

We just finished up a conversation with her doctor, and it looks like creatinine is slowly going down. It is now a 3.1 which is only slightly down, however, the BUN is still rather high. This could be from her old kidney which is still spilling out and not filtering. He thinks that she is still low on fluids, so we are going to stay in the hospital for another day, and will maintain the IV fluids. Though we cant rule it out as an option, he doesn’t feel that it is a rejection episode. So we are still just taking it one day at a time.

Amelia is the hospital for 23 hour observation.

Updates from Douglas today...

Amelia wasn’t feeling well this morning, she actually threw up a little. We think it was just from her over doing it yesterday by getting up and around too much in the house, trying to cook dinner, et cetera. We saw the doc this morning and he is checking her lab work and will be calling us later this afternoon. Bc of the transfusions and platletts that she was given throughout dialysis she is at a higher risk for rejection early on, so they are keeping a close eye on it. She is still producing a decent amount of output, so he isn’t as concerned about it being a rejection episode, and her creatinine actually went up a little bit since Saturday. Which could be from her throwing up this morning, which throws off her fluids, and the new kidney is really sensitive to the fluid levels right now. Something else I learned is that they cant transplant the nerve that allows the brain to tell the kidney, “hey I just threw up so I might be dehydrated, slow down on producing urine”. Right now she is pushing the fluids, they are checking the levels on one of her meds, Prograf, which we want to come back as high, so then they will just drop that dose a little. If it comes back low then she will have to go in tomorrow for more blood tests, an ultrasound and possibly a biopsy to check for rejection. He said that there are several different types of rejection and with medicine they can prevent about 90% of them.

She is feeling better now, but has been told to glue her little hiney to the couch for the next few days.

More to come later.

----

Well, she has had a rough morning. Don't know why yet, but she threw up this morning, and continued having nauseau throughout the day. We called the team and they want to admit her for a 23 hour observation and put her on IV fluids. She could be dehydrated and we don't want that to happen. This could be anything really, hopefully it isn't an episode of rejection. But the doc said she is at a higher risk for that due to all the transfusions and platletts she was given on dialysis. The first several weeks are critical.

So we are back at the hospital for an overnight stay. More to come later as the kidney story unfolds.

You can help

If you are interested in being an organ donor you can specify on your drivers license and make sure to inform your family of you decision. Living donors can donate 1 kidney, part of your pancreas, part of your liver, and part of your lungs, not to mention blood and platelets.

Deceased donors can save people in need of an organ, tissue, blood and platelattes. The organs that are used are the organs that have not been damaged.

Waiting Room during Transplant

Brandon (cousin)... Me (under green blanket)

Douglas snoozing

Mom, Grandma Aunt Robin

Uncle Tim (orange shirt)

Elizabeth (Amelia's sister)

Robert (Amelia's dad)

Friday, August 22 -- Amelia's recovery

Today Amelia gets her dialysis port taken out! She's thrilled about that. This means she gets to take a real shower... no more sponge baths. Tomorrow everything else comes out and she gets to go home... Her levels are looking good, which means the kidney is doing its job.

Amelia is doing good.

She's eating plenty. Walking. Singing with the commercials. Joking.

What a great birthday present for Douglas... a kidney for his wife. Today is his birthday.

Amelia walking

Corrected site address

http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/ameliamiller

Amelia is making progress.

before surgery

eating cream of wheat

She's walking... they've moved her to room 1077. She's at Integris Baptist Hospital in OKC. You can keep up to date www.caringbridge.com/ameliamiller

Amelia is awake... somewhat.

She is doing very well... much better than when she had the nephrectomy. She is not as nauseated, not much pain (or bad pain). Even trying to joke. Praise God!!

Amelia is in recovery.

http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/ameliamiller

The kidney was a match!! Amelia was taken back for surgery at about 5:45 am this morning (Tuesday) for her kidney transplant! The transplant took 3 hours... We have been warned that it may take a while for the kidney to start working so we'll be waiting until then to know if we've jumped that hurdle. She's still in recovery... few problems with nausea.

Update on Amelia

The kidney got to the hospital around 10 pm. They had to do some testing to make sure that it would not be immediately rejected. Everything is good. She was just taken in to preop... More to come.

PRAISE GOD for doner kidneys

Amelia is headed to the hospital for her new kidney!!! We've been waiting and praying for a long time for this... What a way for Douglas to celebrate his birthday (Thursday). I'll keep everyone posted through my blog... pass the word!

Ad?

remember .... this ad is only 3.75" x 1.5"

So the company will make my ad for me.... but i need a visual... Any opinions?

Or these... editting still to be done?

tight crop of anna look down.

looking up...

same as the horizontal one but only vertical and cropped closer.
and yet closer... only more of steve and less of michal. more dress?

maybe in black in white?

wanna see more dress??? needs a bit more contrast.



maybe too many people for such a small ad...

What do you think?

Is it too artsy for an ad?

Well...

Okay. So I was going to post these pictures of a butterfly my grandma found while she was visiting. She thought it was so beautiful and wanted me to take pictures. As a a wonderful granddaughter I humored her. It really was a pretty butterfly. BUT the pictures are still in RAW and I'm lazy (at the moment). So I'll post that another time.


Here are two options for my ad... what's the opinion?

Hilarious

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nWwj3d7qsFo

Flip Flop Glue Prank... I literally laughed out loud at my desk today... every time I watched this. I am easily entertained I suppose...

Mostly sunny. 82 degrees.

What do you do on a beautiful summer day? Obviously I sit inside and play on my computer. I need to pick my best wedding picture to use as my advertisement. Yeah I was contacted by a company developing these Bridal folders for Victoria's Bridal in Jeff City. I will a have small slot for my ad... the lady who owns Victoria's Bridal is not named Victoria. Anne is her name. She sells about 2500 dresses a year. Crazy stuff. Yeah and there were will be about 3 photographers from this community listed. Dacia Miller Photography will be listed!!! It was quite expensive but one wedding will definitely pay for it. I will just have to live slim for the next couple months. Anyone who has an opinion on which is my best wedding photograph please feel free to let me know! I'm considering using one of Steve and Michal's. But also thought of using one of Daniel and Anna's.

Daredevil

Yeah just watched that... Another movie with Jennifer Garner. How did I do that? I actually dont' think I knew she was in this movie until I started watching it. Obviously didn't look to closely when I added it to my queue. I am just in the superhero movie mode... Although I don't think until the end of the movie I would call Daredevil a superhero because he was killing... out of rage... "I'm not the bad guy" Yeah it was okay... I don't ever see myself owning it, unless its free or well someone may have to pay me to own it. Juno was definitely better.

Juno

Ok. So in the end I have to say I did enjoy this movie. At first I wasn't sure it was going to be worth my time... but did enjoy Ellen Page's character (Juno). She just said whatever she was thinking and didn't really care what it was she said... or who she said it to. I do have to say I was a bit disturbed by Mark (Jason Bateman) ... the movie didn't leave me with a like for him. BUT I think Hollywood wanted us to fall in love with Jennifer Garner's character, Vanessa. I do have to say there were times I didn't like her character... once you got the story behind why she was the way she was with her husband... it made sense.

Bekah, is that enough???

POLL (thanks for the idea Anne)

White or Chocolate?

Farm Bureau has a building at the State Fair. They ask for employees to volunteer to work the building. There are games, a political poll, and milk to buy. Apparently its a BIG item. People come back for it year after year. By 3 we had sold 150 gallons??????? Seriously... that's a lot of milk, mostly chocolate. Long day, on my feet, filling milk glasses. I'm sore........

This weeks movies...

One of Marvel Comics' most popular characters comes to the screen for the first time in this sci-fi action-thriller. Matthew Murdock (Ben Affleck) is a lawyer whose father, a prizefighter, was killed by gangsters when Murdock was just a boy. Since then, Murdock has devoted his life to bringing wrongdoers to justice and is willing to help others by taking on cases no other attorney will touch. Murdock is also blind, after being struck down by a truck while trying to save a man from being hit. What no one knows is that Murdock was also doused with an unusual radioactive isotope which had a strange effect on him -- while Murdock's sight may be gone, his other senses have been raised to such a keen pitch that they act like radar, allowing him to tell where he's going and what happens around him, both near and far away. Murdock puts his gifts to use at night as the costumed crime-fighter Daredevil, whose pursuit of justice has earned him the wrath of underworld leader Kingpin (Michael Clarke Duncan). Kingpin wants Daredevil out of his way once and for all, and hires Bullseye (Colin Farrell), a super-assassin with an uncanny ability to throw blades, to do the job. Daredevil also makes the acquaintance of Elektra Natchios (Jennifer Garner), a woman with super-heroic talents who is also on Kingpin's bad side, though it remains to be seen if she has aligned herself with the forces of good as Daredevil has done. Jon Favreau, Joe Pantoliano, and David Keith highlight Daredevil's supporting cast.

A young widow with three children and a sheepdog marries a widowed man with a young daughter and a French poodle in this amusing comedy. Abby (Doris Day) is the owner of a lumberyard who falls for Jake (Brian Keith) when her sister Maxine (Pat Carroll) introduce the two at a party. The couple is initially reluctant and somewhat embarrassed over the blatant matchmaking attempt but meet later at an all-night store. The two marry and deal with constant canine and sassy sibling rivalries. Jake falls out of the family trailer on vacation, leading Abby to recruit a group of hippies to find her lost husband. Jamie Farr is the far out hippie, Barbara Hershey is Jake's daughter Stacey, comedian George Carlin plays Herbie Fleck, owner of a local hamburger stand, and Alice Ghostley is the harried housekeeper in this engaging romp. The Grass Roots provide some of the music in this feature.

When a teenage girl is faced with an unexpected pregnancy, she enlists the aid of her best friend in finding the unborn child a suitable home in this coming-of-age comedy drama from Thank You for Smoking director Jason Reitman. Juno (Ellen Page) may seem wise beyond her years, but after sleeping with classmate Bleeker (Michael Cera), the pregnant teen quickly realizes how little she really knows about life. Thankfully, Juno has been blessed with parents (J.K. Simmons and Allison Janney) who trust their daughter's judgment, and a best friend named Leah (Olivia Thirlby), who's always willing to help out in a pinch. With a little help from Leah, Juno soon comes into contact with Mark (Jason Bateman) and Vanessa (Jennifer Garner) -- an affluent suburban couple who have been unable to conceive a child of their own. Mark and Vanessa seem like they would make great parents, and are eager to adopt Juno's unborn child. Now, as adolescent Juno is faced with a series of very adult decisions, she will draw on the support of her family and friends in order to discover who she truly is, and discover that one bad choice can have a lifetime of consequences.

A place of my own

When you live by yourself... you have to find lots of interesting ways to entertain yourself! Especially without cable to rot your mind. So you ask "What do you do?" AH I have an answer.

Scrapbook... yeah its a girl thing.
Cosby Show (I own all 8 seasons) always entertains me.
Blockbuster Queue... I have upgraded to 3 movies at a time.
Now that I have internet... I can always find something to look up but after sitting at a desk on the computer all day... who wants to stay on the computer all night.
Reading... I finished a book last night.
Embroidery... I'm working on kitchen towels but actually am taking a break for now.
Crochet... haven't done that in a while though.

Any other suggestions?

finally

I finally have internet at my place!!!! Other than that I have nothing exciting to share...

I am IRON MAN

Potentially going to see this at the cheap theater tonight... Everytime I read or hear the title of this movie I'm reminded of the video Bekah, Amber and I had to make for one of our classes... We use a sound clip that said "I am Iron Man" ... Well I can't really explain the video. It's priceless... I will see if I can locate it and post it...