Healing Marcus

June 12, 2017

Apologies if you didn't hear about what's going on with Marcus.

This is his partner, Katie Strand.

We have a GoFundMe page so that we can focus on healing Marcus and getting him back to full strength. If you don't know what's going on (we've been updating on Facebook as much as possible), again we apologize. We've been so wholly focused on getting Marcus healing and strong again, we haven't been able to individually notify all of our loved ones about what's going on... So please spread the word to all of our loved ones and friends. Thank you!

https://www.gofundme.com/marcus-lovemore-medical-fund

In February Marcus was hospitalized for peritonitis. As a 12-year dialysis (peritoneal) veteran, he would get peritonitis once every 2-3 years, and they ALWAYS clear within 1-4 days. This one lasted 7+ days, at which point the doctors at Cottage Hospital in Santa Barbara (we came here to stay with friends to deal with Marcus's wound on his toes that wasn't healing properly)... then got hit with this peritonitis! Anyway, this one lasted over 7 days at which point the doctors concluded the catheter was "hosting" the infection and surgically removed the catheter for peritoneal dialysis and put Marcus back on hemodialysis. The saline solution in the abdomen (PERITONEAL DIALYSIS) every night, has changed to the blood filtering machine (HEMO DIALYSIS) 3xs/week. The latter is really crummy and makes the dialysis patient feel like shit. Peritoneal dialysis is no picnic either, but for Marcus it was much more tolerable than HEMO.

The antibiotics the doctors gave Marcus to deal with the infection appear to have worked, now, as of June 12, 2017, but they wrecked Marcus. During the worst part of the infection, Marcus was throwing up 10+ times a day and couldn't eat anything at all. The hospital also made some errors (his dialysis machine getting unplugged), giving him medication we had refused, not letting Marcus sleep and not concerning themselves with his inability to eat, administering a medication during surgery that was 100% on Marcus's allergy list... It made things more completed and stressful... but, the infection seems to be gone.

The problem is, Marcus lost over 35 pounds during this ordeal. The hospitalization and the aftermath of powerful antibiotics. Marcus had to have regular procedures called "peracentisis" during the first month after hospitalization. Then, the fluid build-up (requiring paracentisis) subsided naturally (no medication for that), but Marcus began puking again, so we discovered he now has "gastroparesis" which was NOT a symptom prior to hospitalization. It's likely due to calcification from all this 19 years on dialysis. Marcus is such an anomaly, we've had at least 5, long-term radiologists say Marcus's scan was the most interesting they've ever seen. We think most people die before they get to these odd, complicated, dialysis-related symptoms.

We are seeing some improvement, but the doctors have ZERO viable solutions for what's currently happening. More antibiotics or other stomach stimulants with a bevy of side-effects, OR a bowel transplant. Yikes.

Marcus is still severely underweight. We are putting all of our time and energy into keeping us both healthy. I'm taking care of him, cooking, cleaning, medical advocating, scheduling, researching, but also doing all I can to take care of myself with daily hour-long meditations, exercise, counseling, dance, and healthy eating. See below for videos of Marcus exercising and talking about dialysis. It'll inspire you!

We are trying to set up online selling Marcus's art. (He does art under the name SXRATCH.) Here's a link to view his art. http://picbear.com/thesxratch If anyone knows about selling art online and selling art in general and wants to help us, we would be so appreciative. We also have the aforementioned GoFundMe page to help us pay for all these alternative doctors, supplements, treatments, and healing foods. Like I said, WE ARE SEEING IMPROVEMENT, but it's so slow. We will try to update here as well as on Facebook, but please tell everyone you know who knows us... we are open to receiving any kind of help, every penny helps, and we love receiving prayers and good vibes.

Love and Gratitude,
Katie Strand & Marcus Lovemore
written by Katie

P.S. Here are some Facebook posts and videos... Marcus is exercising! He's so dedicated to healing, if anyone has any excuses why you're not working out, they'll vanish once you watch Marcus doing his warrior thing!