Post-Transplant Rejection Update: 31 December 2020

 Today, the final day of 2020, will be my final entry for this year.

This will be a fairly brief entry because of Christmas and New Years, so I'll get right to it with my 22 Dec Labs...

22 Dec 20 Labs

*Creat:   4.27 (+0.09)

*HCT:   32.6 (-1.3) Low

*Hemo:   9.9 (-0.4) Low

*Lymph:   4.2 (-2.5) Extremely Low

*Lymph ABS:   0.4 (-0.1) Extremely Low

*RBC:   3.54 (-0.13) Extremely Low

*WBC:   8.9 (+1.7) IR

Ketones:   Negative

*BUN:   55 (-4) Extremely High

*CA:   9.2 (-0.5) IR

*GFR:   14 (-1) Extremely Low

*Gluc:   115

*K+:   4.3 (NC) IR

*NA+:   138 (-1) IR

*MG:   2.4 (+0.2) IR

*Phos:   4.1 (-0.3) IR

*Prot:   6.8 (-0.04) IR

              NC= No Change         IR= In Range

Lymphocytes dropped significantly, which makes my normal precautions [when out of the house] suddenly go to the heightened level. This is in addition to the overall vigilance I have to do with the Chinese virus pandemic.                    So...yeah. Lots of fun.

It was nice to see the Phosphorous take a drop. The lower this number is, the easier my kidney is working.

Lastly, one lab value that I have never kept track of--but have followed nevertheless, is 'Red Cells in Urine.' For the first time since the rejection episode (I believe), I have had a small amount of Red Blood Cells in my urine. It wasn't much, but any amount is not good. I will continue to keep track of this as the rejection progresses, and report on it as is necessary.

The headaches have been elevated because my Chiropractor had the gall to go on a Christmas vacation with his family; which means that I am getting neither the spinal adjustment, nor the acupuncture. His absence just shows further proof that both treatments are essential to helping me keep the headaches somewhat under control. My usual treatments will resume next Tuesday.

That's all I have for this last entry of 2020.

My next blog will be in a brand new year.

Happy New Year, everyone! 

May 2021 be far better than this past year!

Good Health to All!

ScottW

Post-Transplant Rejection Update: 15 December 2020

 As promised, here is my latest --and on-time--update!

Things this past week have been going well, I suppose.

My toe is healing nicely. I had a follow-up with the Podiatrist yesterday, and he stated that the toe looks good, and any pain will gradually disappear over the coming week. My daily treatment (Tx) of the toe has now changed to one Epsom Salt bath in the morning, then put on the antibiotic lotion and a band-aid; but then take off the band-aid at night and let the site breath while I sleep. Keep my foot elevated as much as possible, and by next Tuesday or so, the healing should be complete, and no further doctor visits should be needed. 

Thank goodness! I really need to get back to my workouts!

Next, my weight has dropped further. In my last blog I forgot to mention that about two weeks ago now, I saw my weight hit a new low of...117 Kgs! I have been bouncing around back up to the mid-118's, but my average weight has been around 117.6 Kgs. That means, since my heaviest water weight, I have now dropped a full  11 Kgs! Much of that weight was from water retention--about 8 Kgs to be exact. The rest has come off as a result of my workouts beginning to kick my metabolism into gear. Aside from seeing muscle growth, getting my metabolism going is a great accomplishment!

For my upcoming 2nd transplant (whenever that is), I have just 6Kgs more to lose, at a minimum. 

I saw my Chiropractor today, and told what I had written in my last entry about the acupuncture at least keeping my headaches from being worse; and he wholeheartedly agreed! He then reminded me of a few times that he was unable to be in his practice, so I would go a week or more without both the spinal adjustment, and the acupuncture, and my headaches went from barely controlled to completely uncontrolled and terribly painful.  So...yeah. It's definitely working!

My energy continues to be a crap shoot from day to day. Since last week, I've actually had several days that I felt somewhat energetic, but couldn't do much because of my healing L big toe. I just appreciate having those days! It reminds me of when I was on dialysis and felt so awful all of the time. I'd wake up one day and feel like I could go do a bunch of things, and would get about doing as much as my poor strength allowed. Those days are always nice when you get them.

I had planned on reshooting pictures of me in order to show my progress; but with being unable to do any exercising for the past couple of weeks, and with Christmas fast approaching, I decided to just wait until January.

I think that that was everything I had wanted to mention, so I'll wrap this up.

Next week, I have labs and my December infusion. IF I have time, I will get those results posted. No promises though.

Last, although a tad early, I wish all of you a very MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Good Health to All!

ScottW

Post-Transplant Rejection Update: 10 December 2020

 I know. I know...

Far too much time has passed since my previous entry--21 days, to be exact.

Aside from the Thanksgiving holiday...there goes nearly and entire week!...working on the business, extensive headaches and now with my L foot healing up, I really don't have any excuse.

Let's start with my November infusion. Though I won't go over my labs from that day [because they are similar to the latest numbers], the infusion went really well. A trauma nurse put in the cannulation, and made my very difficult L arm veins look easy. As always, the infusion went without a hitch, followed by zero tangible side effects.

The headaches have, despite twice each week acupuncture, been consistently worse. I actually think that the acupuncture is keeping my TMD headaches from being completely uncontrolled! Plus, there are now at least 25% of the headaches that seem to be non-TMD-related; meaning, my deteriorating body chemistry is causing more and more headaches.

On average, my daily headache index sits at about 7 of 10. Since my last post, I have had numerous headaches in the 8-9 range, and three that went up past 10. This is, again, despite the acupuncture, use of the NTI devices and trying to relax as much as possible. 

My energy continues to rise and fall with no apparent pattern from day to day. This makes getting my workouts done difficult, to say the least.

Next, my latest labs...

08 Dec 20 Labs

*Creat:   4.18 (+0.39) That was a temporary dip the last time.

*HCT:   33.9 (+0.1) Low

*Hemo:   10.3 (-0.1) IR

*Lymph:   6.7 (+1.7) Extremely Low

*Lymph ABS:   0.5 (+0.1) Extremely Low

*RBC:   3.67 (-0.01) Extremely Low

*WBC:   7.2 (-0.8) IR

*Ketones:   Negative

*BUN:   59 (+1) Extremely High

*CA:   9.7 (NC) IR

*GFR:   15 (-2) Extremely Low

*Gluc:   107

*K+:   4.3 (NC) IR

*NA+:   139 (+2) IR

*MG:   2.2 (-0.1) IR

*Phos:   4.4 (-0.3) IR

*Prot:   7.2 (NC) IR

           NC= No Change           IR= In Range

I am not going to discuss any of the lab results this time, but instead talk about why I have been hobbling around the house for the past five days.

I went back for the follow-up with the Podiatrist regarding my L big toe. After talking with me about my progress over the last two months, he examined the toe and stated that I am still having some pain on the R side because the toe nail curved downward despite that ointment I was applying every day. He then asked if I wanted it out, to which I assented. Besides removing the nail, he would also remove about 1/4 inch of the nail bed in order to prevent any further issues. 

I had this same thing done with the big toe on my R foot about a year after I was first Dx'd (diagnosed) with PCKD back in 2009. Luckily, the L toe was not nearly as infected as that R toe had been, so getting the lidocaine injection in the toe was not painful at all. The procedure was quick and easy, and ever since, I have been keeping my L foot elevated as much as possible, soak it in a luke-warm bath with Epsom Salts twice each day, then place an antibiotic ointment on the affected area with a band aid on top. As each day passes, the pain in the toe lessens, and I get more and more comfortable.

Because of the toe healing, I am unable to get any workouts in because of the pressure it would place on the toe. So, that means that by the time I actually get another exercise session in, I will have done all of one workout over the past three weeks.   :o(

There really isn't anything further of significance to relay, at this time. As always, I will try to get one more entry done before Christmas, so be looking for that.

Until then, Stay safe, stay healthy and I wish you all the Best of Holiday Cheer!

Good Health to All!

ScottW