Seven Pounds

So about 10 days ago Dad was taken off his diuretics because his kidneys were failing. During the time he was off the diuretics, he gained 5 pounds. Last week blood work showed his kidneys had recovered, so the doctor restarted some of his diuretics. Since that time, he has gained 7 more pounds. He's now carrying around about 50 pounds of water weight.

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Sister got Far Away Sister and me on the phone at the same time, and told us what was going on. She had a phone call into the doctor at that point. I suggested that it was time to talk to the doctor about whether we should seek to keep him comfortable or continue to run him to the doctor weekly and tell him he can't eat food he loves. Sister was shocked. Far Away Sister agreed. Far Away Sister went so far as to say, "If you and Brother want to continue to take him to the doctor weekly, we won't object, but what does it accomplish?"

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When the doctor returned Sister's call, she didn't ask him our questions. The doctor questioned the weight, but Sister assured him she had checked the weight against his scales in the office, and it was accurate. He told her to get Dad on the powerful diuretic (that causes his kidneys to fail) and take away all his diet pop. He said Dad isn't to drink anything but water, and because he won't like it and won't drink much. He wants to see him on Wednesday. Sister didn't tell him Dad drinks a beer every evening.

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I've known Dad is failing. If he didn't have a pacemaker, I'm sure he'd have died long ago. I've known this. I've thought I was ready. But the conversations today were hard. I'm not ready.

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I sent Daughter upstairs to watch TV during my phone conversation. I wanted to protect her. But she knew what was going on. When she came down to supper, she raged. She's not ready. None of us are ready.