3/26/11

416) What's going on with My Fortic?

March 26, 2011
Saturday

Report: So, at the end of the day yesterday I am sitting at work and Bernadette calls and says she is surprised I answered the phone at 7 pm on a Friday. "I'm the only one here... on a day we are officially closed" I respond. "I am the last one here too", she replies. She has not called to chat, however. They got the results back from my labs on the Myfortic: "You're myfortic levels are non-existent!" she states. "Doctor wants you to take 3 in the morning and the evening to see if that gets the level up." We discuss this for awhile and she wishes me good luck in my upcoming procedure next Friday and we wish each other a nice weekend.

Transplant Clinic: Liz and I went to my clinic appointment last Thursday, the 24th, and Dr. Lewis gave me the once-over, pushed and prodded my abdomen, looked down my throat, listened to my heart, etc., and looked over my last labs (except the Myfortic, which takes longer to come back). He reported that my creatinine clearance is 1.3 and my triglycerides are much better, down from 600-something to 300, which is still high but he likes the decrease (they should be in the 150 range). We talked about lowering my paroxetine, which he got a MedCo notice about... I said I have been wanting to get off it for awhile now... so, he suggested I take it every other day instead of every day. Liz will be the judge of if that is a good idea or not, based on my behavior.

In the discussion part of the meeting I brought up my concerns about having to take 2 BP meds a day to now maintain a healthy blood pressure, whereas for years I was taking half of that and maintaining the BP we want. "Is that okay? Seems like taking twice as much for the same result is not good..." "For your situation, I am not worried about that", he replied. I don't need to raise my BP worrying about my BP he concluded. So, I won't. But I still wonder why...

Finally he asked if I have any questions or concerns about my upcoming hydrocelectomy on April 8th. Nope. Liz wanted to know how long I have to stay in the hospital... may get out later that evening, or the next morning. Depends on how it goes. He concluded, "See you Friday, Jack", and Bernadette came back in to deliver my new med sheet and said Lewis doesn't want to schedule next appointment til after the procedure on Friday the 8th.

3/9/11

415) Happy Birthday

March 9, 2011 Wednesday Happy Birthday today to Mordechai the Miracle Kidney! Two years and filtering fabulously! I am so fortunate. Thanks to friends and family who have supported me thru this whole adventure. And to Dr. Richard Lewis... my hero!

3/6/11

414) Update on my next procedure

March 6, 2011
Sunday

Update: Well, about the only thing mentionable up here is that I recently joined a FB group of my old old old high school chums and that is bringing up all sorts of old memories and thoughts of people and all. And, there are probably many of those folks who don't know about my kidney adventures so they may be visiting up here. I welcome them up here and hope this blog can be an interesting and informative read.

After much back and forth about scheduling, my next little "procedure" is finally on for April 8th cause the doc and I couldn't find any day earlier when we could both be at the hospital.