Praise Report on DAY 2
Testing baseline grip strength - not too shabby Mr. McGoo
Today was still orientation-ish, meeting everyone and getting acclimated with the clinic, learning about upcoming therapies, and the flow of the daily to dos that will be part of Kelly’s daily and weekly rhythm.
Today’s schedule included:
08:00 fasting blood draw, daily weigh in, and vitals
08:45 hands on class - learning about body care and the importance of what we put on our bodies and what ingredients their composed of (note: If it’s good to ingest, it’s good for the largest organ of your body - the skin) - making a DIY body butter, body scrub, and toothpaste together
09:45 acupuncture
11:00 kitchen skills/tour and questionnaire/discussion about Kelly’s specific eating habits, likes and dislikes, to create a plan of attack for when Kelly goes home
12:45 lymphatic massage consult and dry brushing “how to” and its daily importance
14:00 movement consult
15:00 learning and trialing a couple of the adjunct therapies: BEMER (Bio Electro-Magnetic Energy Regulation) and PEMF (Pulsed Electro-Magnetic Field Therapy)
*Breakfast, lunch, and dinner (for home) were provided + 2 green juices throughout the day and a wheatgrass shot.
Tomorrow, Day 3, everything kicks it up a notch . . .
Kelly’s JUICE FEAST begins - 10 days of green juice only, and IV infusion therapy starts.
Most notably today was the GREAT NEWS we received regarding Kelly’s kidney function. As shared, Kelly has had the diagnosis of Stage 4 Kidney Disease since his unexpected hospitalization at the start of October 2023. This kidney dysfunction not only led to hypertension in October requiring meds, but also has complicated Kelly’s cancer diagnosis creating an intense need for our family to press into a “just right” plan of care for Kelly, his kidneys, and the fight against Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma. Check out the chart to see a little bit more about the staging of kidney disease.
Kelly had baseline labs drawn on Day 1, yesterday. Right after Kelly did his daily weigh in today, daily vitals, and got some fasting blood work pulled this morning, we were given the great news that Kelly’s kidney function has INCREASED since our last lab draw in Montana, 11/27/23!
This is HUGE!
Monday 1/8/24 = GFR is 29
November 27, 2023 lab values: GFR 23
Monday 1/8/24 = Creatinine (another kidney lab, under 2.0 desired) 2.61
November 27, 2023 lab values: Creatinine 2.9
Praise God! What an awesome praise report and affirmation to keep on doing what we’re doing!
We began to change eating habits (including reducing sodium to 2g daily or less) in November with the initial diagnosis of Stage 4 Kidney Disease, but kidney labs got worse from Nov 1 to Nov 27th. Once the cancer diagnosis came, we continued to further change dietary pursuits including the purchase of a juicer and attempts at daily-ish juicing. The diet was nowhere close to perfect, but something is better than nothing!
We are so thankful for this lab update, and feel encouraged. Kelly’s dietary consistency is now in the hands of the clinic and moving full throttle. Plus, it’s comforting to know that Kelly will receive attentive bi-weekly lab draws that will continue to finely track kidney health as each cancer and health restoration therapy or treatment is introduced and/or continued. We are hopeful as we head to bed tonight. Day 2 was a good day.