Post-Transplant Update: 27 March 2019

**Reminder...This blog reflects MY personal journey with PCKD, dialysis and renal transplant; treatments, medication use, tests, etc. Every kidney patient is different, so be sure that you follow your physicians' advice and treatment plan. Only they can know how best to proceed for any individual patient.
Everything that has happened to me following transplant is NOT the normal course of events, so it should never be construed to reflect every transplant patients' journey.


As I have little to pass on today, this entry will be relatively brief.

To start, the one-month follow-up with the Parathyroid doctor went well. He was extremely pleased with my labs (PTH of 62, CA of 9.9), and with the fact that my energy has increased. Also, after examining the scar, he saw a several pieces of suture that have not yet fully dissolved. Of these, he removed two sections, and left another three as they were too deep in the skin to safely excise. For the remainder, I am to put a Neosporin-type gel on the incision for three or four days in order to help the sutures finish dissolving. After that, to put lidocaine cream on the incision to help alleviate most of the discomfort I am still feeling.
(When I first applied the gel, I could feel the ends of the remaining sutures under my fingertips, so I was sure to do this very gently so as to avoid unnecessary irritation.)

I am also to reduce my intake of Calcium (Tums) from 1,000 mg every four hours (or 6 each day), to 1,000 mg every six hours. In one month--after my next labs--I am to call the office's nurse and ask of I need to adjust the calcium intake again, or leave it alone.

Lastly, the doctor volunteered a bit of information that made me appreciate his work even more than I already do. When he did his surgical training, he was under the tutelage of "the best EENT surgeon in the world, at that time." I was amazed by his comment, then remarked to the doctor that throughout my whole kidney journey, I keep having doctors come into my life that are either tops in their field, or who trained under top physicians or programs. The doctor then remarked, "You are both blessed and extremely fortunate for that to happen."

Definitely!


As far as my day to day, another indicator that my energy is up is that I have made dinner (from scratch) every night for the past week. Plus, I even fully cleaned the kitchen after eating a few times, which I haven't done since probably 2013, or so. 

Next, my headaches have taken an uptick this past week. While that is disappointing, I have to take into account that these headaches are only TMD involved, instead of having some that hit without any jaw popping, as was the case before the Parathyroid glands were removed.  On average, my T3 use has increased to four tablets per day (plus a 500 mg Excedrin each dose). Even with that increase, I am still having to tolerate quite a bit of headache pain all day. 
So, while the headaches have increased, there is only a single cause now, rather than having a second, and wholly unrelated factor [to the TMD] involved.  This result only confirms that the high PTH level was causing additional headaches.

I forgot to have my wife take pictures of me as my starting point reference now that I can begin moving forward, physically. I will get these done, and post them when I do.

Lastly today, I received some sad personal news yesterday. My only brother died in his sleep over the weekend. He was 59 years old. The cause of death is unknown at this time; but he was dealing with MS (Multiple Sclerosis), and apparently, had been struggling with ETOH (Alcohol) for a number of years. He was unmarried, and had no children.

And on that unfortunate note, I will conclude this entry. I will write again next week.

Good Health to All!

ScottW