I have had an unexpectedly busy week, so let's get started with labs; including those from last week...
28 July 20 Labs 04 Aug 20 Labs
*Creat: 4.23 (+0.34) *Creat: 3.88 (-0.35)
*HCT: 35.5 (-0.9) Low *HCT: 33.2 (-2.3) Low
*Hemo: 11.1 (-0.2) IR *Hemo: 10.3 (-0.8) IR
*Lymph: 7.4 (+0.9) Very Low *Lymph: 8.1 (+0.7) Very Low
*Lymph ABS: 0.6 (+0.1) Very Low *Lymph ABS: 0.6 (NC) Ext. Low
*Neut: 76.1 (+0.5) High *Neut: 75.2 (-0.9) High
*Neut ABS: 6.0 (-0.2) IR *Neut ABS: 5.3 (-0.7) IR
*RBC: 3.91 (+0.05) Ext. Low *RBC: 3.65 (-0.29) Ext. Low
*WBC: 7.8 (+1.3) IR *WBC: 7.1 (-0.7) IR
*BUN: 60 (+7) Ext. High *BUN: 58 (-2) Ext. High
*CA: 9.7 (+0.3) IR *CA: 9.4 (-0.3) IR
*GFR: 15 (-1) Ext. Low *GFR: 16 (+1) Ext. Low
*Gluc: 117 *Gluc: 108
*K+: 3.8 (-0.2) IR *K+: 3.8 (NC) IR
*NA+: 138 (+3) Low *NA+: 136 (-2) Low
*MG: 2.4 (+0.1) IR *MG: 2.2 (-0.2) IR
*Phos: 5.0 (+0.2) IR *Phos: 4.6 (-0.4) IR
*Prot: 7.2 (+0.1) IR *Prot: 6.9 (-0.3) IR
NC= No Change IR= In Range
Once again, aside from the Creatinine, BUN and GFR, my labs are somewhat stable; though definite chinks are appearing in the Hematocrit, RBC and Magnesium. These additional variations are expected to increase across the spectrum of my lab results.
The acupuncture is finally beginning to break through the muscle stress of the R jaw joint. This past week (starting 27 July) I had the treatment twice. After the first one I had a severe headache, but managed to keep it from exploding. After the second, the headache was bad, but never moved into the severe territory.
This week, at my first session, I asked my acupuncture guy to place needles across the top of my head from jaw to jaw. After this I again had bad headaches, but also a day that the pain was minimal, and I took only Excedrin to tamp the pain down. Then yesterday the same needle placement was used. Though I had a bad headache yesterday and during the night, I awoke with no headache at all!
PROGRESS!
I know that this success may only be temporary because as I get sicker, and I start vomiting, and the chemical imbalances kick in, that the headaches will increase. However, the acupuncture is at least helping to minimize the overall severity and constant, unabating nature of what I used to call the "kidney headaches."
One week ago (on 01 August) I had my first day of feeling lousy. It was the same thing as the last time...feeling like you have the flu, but without the temperature spike. It wasn't severe; but it was enough to lay me up for the day. I got nothing accomplished aside from cooking.
However, it was completely gone the next day, and has not yet returned.
I have also started having slight changes to my appetite and overall appeal of some foods. It was a subtle change that I only just noticed a few days ago; but which my wife stated that she saw it happening over two weeks ago. This too will worsen as time goes by, but at least I know that its coming on this time.
My sleep has been good, overall, with only a couple of nights that found me awake for more than just emptying my bladder.
My dreams remain under my control, which is excellent!
As far as my weight, I did go back above 120 Kg's, but have been vacillating between 119.6 and 120.7 Kg's. On Thursday I ended up gaining 1.2 Kg of water weight. I felt stretch in my abdomen. So yesterday (Friday) I took 30 mg of extra Torsemide to get rid of that fluid. This morning I weighed in at 120.4 Kg, a 1.2 Kg loss.
I had my August infusion this past Tuesday. Aside from the "stick" (canulation/venipuncture) being troublesome--NOT a surprise give that I have only one section of my L arm to use--and leaving a nice deep tissue contusion, the infusion went well.
I think that I will stop here because I need more to discuss in my next entry.
Coming up this week, I have my initial meeting with the Transplant Committee for getting re-listed. This happens on Monday the 10th, and because of the pandemic, will be exclusively via teleconference. The meeting will last for at least five hours; possibly longer. As always, I will let you know how this goes.
So until later in the coming week...
Good Health to All!
ScottW
No comments:
Post a Comment