Mark's Kidney, Dialysis, and Heart Journey

Hello. I'm Markki, Mark's oldest daughter. To start off with, my dad was diagnosed with Polycystic Kidney Disease roughly 3 to 4 years ago. It runs in the family. Starting last week dad was having a harder time breathing and was swelling up more than before.

He waited until his doctor's appointment Friday (1/4/23) and his doctor told him he needed to go to the ER. There began another journey. While there, they noticed his heart was in AFIB and not in regular rhythm on top of the swelling, and having a hard time breathing. Later in the day, they transferred him to St. Mary's Hospital in Duluth. At St. Mary's he was seeing specialists and the heart doctor has been able to get his heart to at least go back into regular rhythm for a while but it is still bouncing between AFIB and regular rhythm. Although that sounds bad that it is going back and forth it is actually a positive direction because it is at least able to go back into regular rhythm and now we just need it to stay in regular rhythm. But with good news, comes bad news. He needs to be tested to see if his coronary artery is blocked at all and if it is he needs to get that fixed.

Now comes the Kidney part of the journey. His kidneys have been damaged more due to this and he has been on medication to make him drain out the extra fluid buildup. It is working but the kidney specialist gave us the news of him having to start dialysis. This is not what we wanted the outcome to be yet, he thought he'd have a couple more months until this, but it is what it is. With this, they are hoping to place a port as early as Monday (1/8) and start dialysis after.

We all know my dad, he will help others but will usually or not often request help himself (although he is getting better at asking for help). With that being said, dialysis comes with a bigger cost than he was ready for, the traveling to get it because Int'l Falls does not have a dialysis center. That means he will have to travel from Int'l Falls to either Eveleth or Grand Rapids (hoping Eveleth).

If you can't donate, prayers and shares are greatly appreciated. He is tired but if you would like to talk to him or visit, I'm sure he's like that.

We are not sure when he will be released from the hospital. I will update with more information when there is more.

Thanks,

Markki