Transplant: Twelve Years Out

I remember Halloween twelve years ago. It was three days post-transplant. I was lying in my bed at All Saints Hospital in Fort Worth and my transplant surgeon with his attendant nurses came traipsing through my room dressed as 101 Dalmatians. Yes. In full spotted dog costumes with tails wagging, ears flopping and stethoscopes flying.

Now it seems so long ago. Transplant followed two years of dialysis which followed twelve years of declining health as Polycystic Kidney Disease slowly ravaged my kidneys.

Through those twelve years of kidney failure I was not truly aware of how sick I was. I knew I felt bad but my condition was masked by denial and the grind of everyday life. It was indeed the proverbial 'slippery slope.'

Not until I was cleansed of toxins and excess fluids by dialysis did I begin to have some glimmer of how sick I had been. And then transplant released me from the purgatory of dialysis.

Now, twelve years later, as we head into an uncertain future, I have so much for which to be thankful.

My left arm carries the scarred reminder of my dialysis lifeline. It never lets me forget.

More Lab Reports

I hope posts like this continue to appear, but less and less frequently.

Went to the clinic bright and early this morning for my three month check-up, and everything was great! Cholesterol, sugar, red blood count, potassium, etc etc etc, all normal. Creatinine continues to be out of normal for anyone but me. It was down from last time (3.3 from 3.6) but the 3.6 was up from where it's been over the last year. So, normal for ME!

Note to anyone who has not read the blog. My transplanted kidney was damaged during my struggles with the dreaded BK Virus. Whether the damage is due to inflammation from the virus or from the neurotoxic drugs used to fight the virus is not clear, but whatever, the damage has been done. The good news is that the kidney function has been stable for sometime.

I was to have had the BK serum level checked, but lost my prescription and did not have the test performed. So I will get that taken care of next Monday on my day off. I'll post the results when I have them.

My next checkup will be in four months, that's March. 2013. That will be the day for my annual Glofil test which uses radioactive tracers to get an accurate measure of how well and kidney is clearing toxins.

Happy Holidays to All!!!

Four More Years!

Four more years of normal life is what I've been blessed with by my kidney transplant.

Four years preceded by two years of dialysis, two years of intermittent ill health and hospital visits, and before that, eight years of declining health following the removal of my first kidney. all due ultimately to Polycystic Kidney Disease.

In the last year before transplant, I finally came to grips with being on an artificial life support system, i.e.: dialysis. In other words, I came to see dialysis as a blessing, not a curse. I was fond of saying that my new birthday should be the day I started dialysis. My old kidneys had failed me and in any other century of mankind I would have been dead. Instead, I had been blessed with two years of machine-assisted living.

That realization came just weeks before my transplant. No one was more supportive of my "new birthday"  than the person who was intimately involved with my first birthday, my Mother. Every year on the last day of October, she would send me a birthday card to remember these extra years of precious life.

Until September. She died a peaceful death at home in the arms of her family as hospice helped her struggle to breathe with her cancerous, smoke-damaged lungs.

And I passed through this anniversary of my transplant without giving it a thought.

Beginning Year 3 Post Transplant

It was between verses of the last hymn Sunday as we (the choir) stood alongside the congregation that I realized that I had just passed the second anniversary of my transplant. It was strange that I hadn't been aware of the date as the first anniversary had been such a huge emotional event for me. It's not that I just forget about it, but rather that being a transplant recipient has become an integral part of the natural fabric of my life.

So rather than look back a second anniversary, I will look ahead to beginning year 3.

Besides, the big date this year was turning 60 a few weeks ago. Ouch, that hurt. 60 might be the new 50 and that's middle age, but 70 is next and that just damned old!

BK Virus is still the medical news. The number of copies in the serum tests have been as high as 3150 and the last number was 650, a new low. Had a Cidofovir infusion today and will repeat in two weeks before I see the doctor again and get results. They also doubled my leflunomide prescription to see if we can get this thing eradicated. 

Yikes, the nurse today was so stiff. Today was the third infusion he's administered and the second in two weeks. Yet he never smiled or showed any sign of recognition. Jeez! I work retail and remember customers and I see way more customers than he sees patients! Other nurses greet me by name so it doesn't seem so unreasonable...

Anniversary also means it's time for a Glofil test.  Glofil gives a detailed look at the Glomular Filtration Rate which is the ultimate measure of kidney function. Hydration is the name of the Glofil game. Preparation involves drinking water until it's leaking out your ears and then ingesting an Iodine stain and receiving an injection of radioactive sodium iothalamate. Then as you drink more water over the next three hours, blood draws and urine collections measure how well the kidney filters the solution out of the blood. Dallas Transplant administers the test several times during the first year post transplant, then it's done on an annual basis after that. I'll get the results when I go back to the clinic in a couple of weeks.