March 14, 2014
Transplant Clinic Appointment: Liz & I went for my annual clinic appointment this morning; got in with no waiting, and learned from Maxine that today will be a "nurses meeting" only cause Dr. Lewis has two transplants to do this morning. I had seen him in his office as we walked by and noticed that he was in scrubs.
Maxine did her usual patter and BP (133/63) / temperature / gig. Liz took a picture with her new "smart phone" of me sitting there waiting. Maxine also caught us up on clinic changes: Jessica leaving to be a stay-mom with her new baby, and their adding Cindy from the Plano Transplant Center as the new nurse.
Since Dr. Lewis was not going to come in for his chart review and exam, Maxine also gave us the lab results, as follows:
- Creatinine 1.3
- Blood Sugar 113
- Colesterol 143
- HDL 38
Cindy came in and introduced herself and reviewed the chart and asked all the other more-medical questions like did I get a flu shot (yes), and aches and pains (no), swelling (no), abdominal pain (no), etc. etc. She just moved here in the last 3 weeks and has found that rent and housing costs here seem higher than Dallas / Plano area.
So, basically all is great, as usual! On the way out I poked my head in on Dr. Lewis and said "Hi... good luck on your transplants today" and he smiled and nodded quickly and turned back to his computer screen. Next appt set for September.
PKD Walk ~ Our Page: Also of interest, we are again participating in the annual PKD Walk for A Cure this year, although not as conscientiously as we have in the past. I did set up a donation page for any of you who want to donate. I am asking for friends to simply donate $10 this year. You can access my page at Jack & Liz's PKD Walk Donation Page Thanks in advance to any of you readers who choose to donate.
March 10, 2014
Yesterday we had our little family birthday celebration for Mordechai the Miracle Kidney... 5 years old! Yes, it was 5 years ago yesterday that I got my kidney transplant and for the first time we almost forgot the date. We were sitting around on Saturday and at some point Liz remarked that this is close to the anniversary... and we hemmed and hawed around til I looked up the date on this blog. Luckily, we hadn't missed it so we rushed around and added a little celebration to our already planned Sunday.
On Sunday we were already planning for entertaining my cousin Susan and her husband George from Michigan. I hadn't seen Susan since I took Liz & Shayna to Michigan for my Aunt Marilyn's funeral back in 2008. This is Susan's first trip to Texas so we had them up from San Antonio for the day; took them to see the capitol; and fed them green chile stew. I am aware as I write this that at each anniversary we have had different groups of close friends over, and it felt just right to do this one with my closest relatives outside my immediate family.
Susan and I spent a good piece of time hanging on the rail of the second floor of the capitol reminiscing about our early years at the Christi Lake cottage, all the changes and passings on of our moms, and her brother, and how important it is to keep that sense of "family" as we age ourselves. Lots of memories shared later at the dinner table, along with the special perspective of George, who was older than Suz and I during those formative years, and brought his own perspective to memories of those times.
This was a perfect way for me to remember how fortunate we are to have family connection and to share gratitude for continuing to be on the planet. I am curiously looking forward to whatever special kind of celebration happens a year from now on this auspicious date.
