Leslie

My husband, Leslie and I have been married almost 37 years. It will be 37 years on April 17th.

Les has been seriously ill and was recently in the hospital at Good Samaritan in Corvallis. He was in ICU for five days and on 2nd South for 5 days. He had to have hemodialysis for over a month and is now recovering. He no longer has to have dialysis. His body is healing and he feels much better. Why did this medical emergency occur? No one knows. No one has figured it out yet. No one has any definitive answers.

Les was seriously ill and was in the hospital at Good Samaritan in Corvallis in 2007. No one knew why he landed in the hospital and almost died that time either. Could it have something to do with what happened this time?

Was it residual effects from Valley Fever or coccidioidomycosis that he contracted in 1978 when we lived in Arroyo Grande, California?
Is it auto-immune?
Is it a medication allergy or other allergy?
Infection?

Tests during the hospital ruled out most of these questions. So what is it?

Dr. Broskie in Salem sent his records and slides to Dr. J. Charles Jennette at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Dr. Jennette is the number one kidney pathologist in the world and Dr. Broskie studied under him in medical school. Dr. Jennette said it's an allergy but tests haven't been taken to identify the allergy.

Answers are needed so he doesn't land in the hospital again with life-threatening symptoms. Doctors are consulting with one another. Zillions of tests have been taken but no answers so far have been found.

When Les came home from the hospital with renal failure and having to have hemodialysis, I started to measure urine, even though I wasn't asked to do so, and write down everything he ate and drank to give to his doctors. I figured that his diet was important and knowing what went in and out was important for the doctors to know. Maybe it helped. At least I gave doctors data they wouldn't have had so they could make decisions about diet change. I freqently played the positive affirmations CD, I AM HEALED NOW put out by Think Right Now. http://www.thinkrightnow.com/. I think that helped too.

Bills are piling up and may come to a 1/2 a million buckeroos. We will never finish paying off these kind of bills. I need to win the lottery or have Publishers Clearinghouse drive up to my door. If people were valued in this country and if there were universal health care, worry about money for doctor bills wouldn't be an issue. In the United States, greed rules.

There is so much in life that we can't do anything about and are powerless to change. All you can do is do your best every day to keep one foot in front of the other to move forward.