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Sattva Needs our prayers

Posted: Fri Mar 29, 2013 8:26 pm
by jonno
Hi all, our dear friend and sister Sattva is extremely ill . At present she's just been released from hospital and is currently on dialysis. She needs all the support and prayers we can offer at this trying time. Please can you dedicate your prayers, meditations and sangha meetings to this dear being.Thankyou. Love Jonno..

Re: Sattva eeds our prayers

Posted: Fri Mar 29, 2013 8:32 pm
by Ben
Thanks Jonno for the update.
Sattva has not been far from my thoughts.
With metta,

Ben

Re: Sattva eeds our prayers

Posted: Fri Mar 29, 2013 9:26 pm
by DNS
Much metta to Sattva for a speedy recovery back to good health. :heart:

Re: Sattva eeds our prayers

Posted: Fri Mar 29, 2013 10:40 pm
by marc108
:candle:

Re: Sattva eeds our prayers

Posted: Fri Mar 29, 2013 10:44 pm
by Reductor
:heart: :candle:

Re: Sattva eeds our prayers

Posted: Fri Mar 29, 2013 10:57 pm
by befriend
sending out the merit i made in my recent meditation to Sattva. stay strong.

Re: Sattva eeds our prayers

Posted: Fri Mar 29, 2013 11:46 pm
by BlackBird
I hope she gets well soon. Sattva was one of the first Buddhists I talked to online, waay back in the e-sangha days. Thoughts will be with her.

metta
Jack

Re: Sattva Needs our prayers

Posted: Sat Mar 30, 2013 12:07 am
by Modus.Ponens
May you be well soon sattva. :heart:

Re: Sattva Needs our prayers

Posted: Sat Mar 30, 2013 2:51 am
by cooran
Thinking of Sattva with metta - may she be free of mental and physical pain.

With metta
Chris

Re: Sattva Needs our prayers

Posted: Sat Mar 30, 2013 3:52 am
by mikenz66
:heart:

Mike

Re: Sattva Needs our prayers

Posted: Sat Mar 30, 2013 7:17 am
by Mawkish1983
I hope she gets better.

Re: Sattva Needs our prayers

Posted: Sat Mar 30, 2013 7:28 am
by Aloka
Hope she gets well soon.

Re: Sattva Needs our prayers

Posted: Sat Mar 30, 2013 4:01 pm
by plwk

Re: Sattva Needs our prayers

Posted: Sat Mar 30, 2013 7:54 pm
by manas
Thank you jonno for letting us all know. I wish sattva as smooth as a recovery as possible, also: may the Dhamma remain in her mind and awareness as she goes through this trial. May all that she has learned, now come to mind for her - may she apply it now.

I'm about to sit right now, and will try to send these wishes out to her.

In peace and with metta :anjali:

Re: Sattva Needs our prayers

Posted: Sat Mar 30, 2013 11:12 pm
by sattva
It is a beautiful days, friends! I am home and the sun is shining. I was able to go out and sit on the porch today. It finally felt like spring! :)

I did tell a few people in chat that I was going to Johns Hopkins Bayview for surgery on my foot. I will try to do a quick synopsis of how the last few years have gone. I have had a wound in my heel for almost 2 years. They have had my foot wrapped and wearing special boots on my left foot. I have had anitbiotics, including IV antibiotics given thru picc lines. In May, I finally had to ask my heart surgeon and agree to all the risks for my heart bypass surgery which had been on hold for a year between my foot, kidneys, and lung problems. All of us here were beginning to realize that i wouldn't make it much longer without the bypass.

My foot didn't heal though. In August, they put a stent in the top of my left leg. The foot still didn't heal. By then they were becoming convinced that my bone was infected. The doctor at the Wound Care Center here sent me down to Johns Hopkins for an appointment with a vascular surgeon who also works on bones. Before the appointment, my boot stuck on the floor and i took a hard fall in the hallway. I broke bones in my elbow. They sent me a home for a week to let the swelling go down before i went back down for surgery on November 20. They put plates and pins in my arm.

My kidney function which was pretty low, went lower. They think as a result of the surgery and a drop too low in my blood pressure. They had taken me off of lasix which i was on in high doses and my already fluid overloaded body added another 19 lbs in 10 days. In January, I had a defibrilator put in my chest to shock me because of having congestive heart failure.

So, I went in on the 26th of February. They went in debried the wound and found it wasn't down to the bone. That meant it wasn't getting enough circulation and a few days later, they did a bypass on my foot using a vein from my right arm. At the same time they put in a fistula for dialysis. That takes 2 months to mature and so they are using a temporarilly site for dialysis. I had taken off the 19 lbs, but i started gaining fluid again after the surgery until they started the dialysis. By the way, the surgeon had told me in advance that they would put me on dialysis. So, it wasn't a surprise. Right now i am getting dialysis 3 days a week.

After going in a third time and closing the foot up, they wrapped it good and i stayed off it until last week when i was finally able to put weight on it using a special boot. Until that they had me doing rehab on my arms and legs to build up strength while my left foot is healing. Since, I have 13 steps in the house, I had to be able to put weight on my foot to come home, but i am not suppose to do too much on it.

Two good things have happened though, from when i got out of the hospital on December 1st, I weigh about 50 lbs less, most all fluid folks. When you see someone who is overweight don't assume it is all fat. I think I don't have a great deal more of extra fluid left, but i still haven't made it to my "dry" weight. They will be unable to get off fluid in dialysis when i reach it. Underneath all this fluid, i have become quite weak and need to build up strength and muscle. The other thing is i went in to the hospital using 3 liters of oxygen and now am using only 1 liter occassionally, after exerting myself. What an improvement!

Well this isn't short, but it does explain a great deal. I find that surgery for me seems to make it more difficult to focus, but i have practiced where and how i could, especially since i have been falling asleep at the drop of a hat. Although most people with kidney disease are suppose to reduce protein, my albumin count is very low and they are encouraging me to eat/drink more protein. I am finding it quite difficult to do. I might write more in a few days about this in another thread.

Thanks for everyone's support! One thing i have found is that with every new procedure, surgery, and diagnosis, I have to re-evaluate the parameters of how, why, and if i continue existance. I haven't reached the end just yet, but practice even in a small way is most essential to continue. If you pray or chant for me, I would be eternally grateful if you would focus on that.
With much metta :heart: ,
sattva/louise