Jay Ayers

1118 Conifer Court
Jenison MI 49428
jayers55@gmail.com
(316) 323-9107

Dear Friends –

Woof. It’s been five (!) months since my last prayer letter. I apologize, and I offer special thanks to those of you who have taken the initiative to write to me and prod me to provide an update for everyone.

In November I had my nine-months-past-chemotherapy blood scan, and it showed no sign of cancer. My last dose of chemotherapy was February 1, coming right up on a year ago, and I’ll have a blood scan and a CT scan in February to search again for any indication of cancer.

My eGFR ratio continues at about 14. The kidney dialysis center nurse said, “Yeah, 15 is the number we look at to start dialysis; but we also look at the symptoms for End Stage Renal Disease: shortness of breath, loss of strength, feeling sick all the time. These are indications of ESRD. If you are feeling good, you are not yet at End Stage, so we don’t start dialysis till you clearly need it.” She told me that she had one patient with an eGFR of 9, who was still not on dialysis because he showed no symptoms of ESRD. So as long as I continue to feel fine, then, I won’t start dialysis.

But we did take the next step in preparations for it. In December the surgeon created a fistula in my left arm, a joining of the artery that carries blood to my hand with a vein that carries blood back to my heart. That puts extra pressure on that vein, causing it to grow larger. The idea is to make that vein big and beefy, so that it will be easy to find and use when dialysis starts. One needle will draw blood out of my system, which will get run through the filtering machine, and then the cleansed blood will get put back into my arm again via a second needle downstream from the first one. We don’t know how long it will be – a few months, or a few years – before we start using the vein for dialysis: but the fistula is there, preparing the vein for its task.

The other thing about having a fistula is it creates a very unusual pulse. Your normal pulse goes bump, bump, bump; but with a fistula it goes Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! At the follow-up visit I described it to the surgeon, and he nodded. “Yes,” he said. “There’s actually a name for that. It’s called a thrill.” Normally if you want to check your heart rate, you have to feel around with your finger to find the spot where you can feel your pulse. I don’t have to do that. I can put my hand almost anywhere between my left elbow and my shoulder and feel my pulse. It’s thrilling. (In fact, sitting quietly at my desk right now, I can hear my blood pulsing through my veins, if I listen vari cosely.)

I’ve begun doing some part time preaching for a little Presbyterian church in Plainwell, Michigan, about 40 miles south of here, on a schedule of one or two Sundays a month. I’m not yet ambitious enough to want a more rigorous calendar. This morning was my third visit with them. I was concerned for how travel conditions might be, since we’ve gotten a lot of snow these last few days, with 0° temperatures and school cancellations; but the roads were clear and dry for an easy drive.

I set a goal to walk 50 miles during the month of January. I got a little behind schedule, but I’ve caught back up, 43 miles complete as of yesterday afternoon, with six days to go. With all the snow and ice and cold, I had to create a walking track in the basement, a figure 8 through the main room and the furnace room: 40 laps to the mile. I listen to audio books while I’m steering around furniture. My best day so far was this past Wednesday, when I walked 4.3 miles. It made me reflect about my situation over the last couple of years: so many days when I could hardly walk 100 feet without having to stop and rest, with an arterial blockage, CKD, and cancer surgery and chemotherapy. I’m overwhelmed at how God’s grace has brought me through all of this.

Let me say Thanks, once again, for all of your prayers. I am so grateful. I pray that the sureness of Christ’s presence continues to hold and strengthen you, day by day.

Many many blessings to you all –

blog: james-ayers.com