Been a tough year so far.....

But things are looking up.
I've been a little apprehensive about posting this because i dont ordinarily put my personal stuff out on a public forum. I guess i dont really need to worry about that here. Actually, some of the comments in the "tubing is dangerous" thread and the fact that I will not be able to attend the NE Reunion finally led me to start this thread. A couple of the guys on here know whats up and i thank you guys for the support. Some of you may or may not recall i did not make it to the boat show due to having to attend the funeral of a friend/ customer who was diagnosed with cancer, given a year to live and died exactly three weeks later.

Less than a week after that my daughter was diagnosed with End Stage Renal Disease. For those not familiar with that term it is basically Stage 5 kidney failure. She is adopted, so we had no medical history on her. The doctors think it was something she was born with and it finally came to fruition. My wife and i had been battling her on a few things that we attributed to her being a somewhat " unmotivated" pre-teen. She is 12. She started sleeping alot and not really wanting to do much. A few weeks or so after this started she came home from school sick. Felt fine the next day. This sickness came and went over a few more days, so my wife took her to the doctor. To make a long story long, basically they tried to send my wife home with meds to treat a urinary tract infection, and my wife refused to leave the office until they called the lab and ordered blood testing ( which they were extremely reluctant to do). 3 hours later we were in an ambulance on our way to Boston ChildrensHospital, where we stayed for 8 days. She had to have surgery to have a port installed in her chest for dialysis treatments and travels back and forth 3 sometimes 4 days a week for treatments.
   I'm sure there are some on here who may have a child who has been thru a sickness or something like this, and if so you know how Bad it sucks to see them have to go thru it, if you have not, i sincerely hope you never have to. It is truely amazing how resilient they are.

   There is a thousand other details that fit into this story but its way too much stuff to type. I will say that i hope all you never have to find out how ***************ed up the health care system has gotten in this country, because it truely sucks. Fortunately they let you take the rest of your damned life to pay whatever your insurance decides that they dont want to pay. (make sure you read everything in your policy, if there is an out they will take it)

   They tell me that her case was extremely rare, that it unusual for someone that far into failure to still be making urine and not show any of the other symptoms and that made it even harder on us because we got thrown right into this and had to make alot of decisions in mere hours that most have months to ponder. They also commended my wife on her persistence that the lab draw blood. Had my wife not pushed for that, according to the renal team in Boston my daughter would have most likely died over the weekend.

Aside from all of this there is a silver lining.
We have a donor lined up. All of the testing is done and we have a transplant scheduled for August 25th. The day before the NE Reunion begins. Needless to say, I'll have to catch you dudes another time.

And FWIW, my daughter loves to go tubing. She snow skis, but never really took to waterskiing or wakeboarding, both of which she has tried. She cannot get in the water as long as her dialysis port is in, which will be taken out after she recovers from surgery. We try to spend a little time at the lake because we dont feel its fair for my son not to be able to do some things he enjoys because she can't, but we dont push it because it kills her to be up there and not be able to enjoy the water..... So I leave you with this...... To all you tubing haters, i used to be a guy that did whatever possible to discourage the kids from tubing . Next year i will be the guy with the 60k wakeboat dragging his daughter around in a tube and i will be loving every minute of it.



Mike

Mike, we're all praying for your daughter and for you and your family. I cannot imagine the worry and stress you're going through. If you need help with anything or if there is anything we can do, let us know.

As far as the tubing thing goes, whatever it takes to get kids out on the water, but when put in perspective like this, it don't matter. I hope she's out there behind the boat soon.

Thanks for sharing this with us and you know that many of us here are praying for you and your family. Continue to be strong and and know that we're here and many of those CCFans who know you personnally are just a phone call away. We'll definately be thinking of y'all come Aug 25th.

It's like my signature line says:

"CCFan....It's not just about the Correct Craft boats we drive; but the owners who drive them!"

jimsport93 wrote: Mike, thanks for sharing your situation. Sure puts my minor problems in perspective. Will be praying for your daughter and the rest of the family. I am sure we can give you a special dispensation on the tubing when your daughter is healed up and ready to hit the lake

Mike,
My sentiments exactly. and hang in there. what may be determined to be exempt because it is expierimental today may be covered tommorrow if the results are positive. It truley makes hard times even worse when with all you go through you have to fight every step of the way with insurance. The same insurance you've been paying and assuming was the best only to find out, well you already know.

Do not hesitate to call on any of us if there is any way we can help.
We'll miss you at the reunion but we will be thinking of you the whole time. Good Luck. Kevin

Wishing you and her all our best,

best wishes to your family from down down south mike.

thanks for sharing.

Mike a few years ago I spent 5 nights in that very same hospital with my daughter in intensive care. You are in good hands there, I've never seen the level of care they gave to my daughter anywhere. It is truly a life changing experience for sure, hard to imagine things will ever be ok again but persevere and stay positive. You and your family are in our thoughts brother, hang tough.

As a parent of a 12yr old girl as well I can only imagine what you and your family are going thru, Hang tough and stay strong! Sounds like your daughter is in the bast hands possible, her families, BCH and of course the good lords, everything is gonna be alright!!

In our Thoughts

Since a tube (port) is keeping her going now....... I'd say tubing is a great way to go!

Best Wishes for a speedy and healthy resolution...... Keep the faith cuz it will all work out in the end. If it isn't working out, it's not the end!

Steve

Mike thanks for sharing. We were bummed out because Nora (4) got her first ear infection Friday night and we could not go to the lake last weekend. It is easy to take health for granted until you see how fragile it is.

My family will be praying for yours. Tell your son that his old board is getting a lot of use. Gordie is starting to pop off the top of the lip and getting braver with every pass.

whoa- This has been a tough year for you and your family...
It is especially hard to see kids go through these things.
Glad to hear that they have a donor for her and August 25th probably can't come soon enough.

You will be sorely missed at the reunion, but will be in our thoughts all summer.

Hang in there. I hope she gets back to tubing again real soon.

-Brad (and Cheney too)

Mike

Your daughter and the rest of your family are in our thoughts and prayers.

Your situation hits extremely close to home with me. My sister was diagnosed with polycystic kidney disease about 10 years ago. She is now 49 and has been on dialysis for most of that 10 years. Her doctor in FL recommended that other family members be tested for this because it is very hereditary in nature. My mother was confirmed with this and has been on dialysis for a few years. I was also confirmed with disease as was my 12 year old daughter. My daughter and I both have nearly full kidney function remaining but go through a series of test on an annual basis to moniter the progress. Hopefully knowing early on, we will be able prolong the end stage renal failure.

You are fortunate to have found a matching donor so quickly. People generally have to wait years.

Enjoy every moment.

David

Morfoot wrote: It's like my signature line says: "CCFan....It's not just about the Correct Craft boats we drive; but the owners who drive them!"

Tim pretty much says it all....for all of us on here. All your friends on here got you and your family covered Mike.



john

Mike,
Best of luck to you and your family with this situation. Sometimes it takes hearing about stories like this for all of us with healthy families to appreciate what we have.

peter1234 wrote:    I think we should start a collection here to fly Pete out here for next years reunion so he can be the one to pull her on the tube.

How about a 2 man tube and Pete can ride with. I picture flowing grey hair and a turtle neck bouncing across the water.