Released from the Hospital!

Well, as the heading proclaims, I've been released from the hospital. I am barely passing any blood from my kidney now, and they have gotten my hemoglobin count back above 9 (which is pretty low, but not too terrible). The hospital has given me some antibiotics to take for the next week just to make sure that there aren't any problems with my remaining kidney. They have also given me some anti-nausea medicine. My creatinine level is back above 6 again, and I am feeling nauseated on a regular basis.

Now that I am going home, I hope that I can go back to feeling better. I don't think we are going to try and push the exercise as much as we did before I got readmitted. I don't know if that made me feel worse, but I'd rather not take chances. I'll just have to get back up to taking walks every day.

I am supposed to get some more blood work done on Thursday, and I'll see my nephrologist on July 25 when he returns from vacation. I am also going to try and schedule a Glofil test for sometime next week. The Glofil test is a VERY accurate test of your kidney function. I took a Glofil test about two years ago and had a GFR (filtration rate) of 24 cc/min. The UNOS (United Network of Organ Sharing) will not allow anyone to be considered for a kidney transplant unless their GFR is below 20 cc/min. I imagine now that I only have one kidney that I will be able to meet this limitation.

In other news, my company is changing insurance companies on August 1. I had thought that this would be VERY bad news, but it turns out not to be too terrible. We looked through the network of doctors, and found that all of my doctors are available (which is great). Also, the prescription drug program is very comparable, as we will only be spending an extra $5 every three months per prescription. The only real negative is that my yearly out-of-pocket maximum gets reset, so the money that I've paid so far this year in medical expenses will not count after August.

One final thing: As of July 10, 2005, Jenny and I have been married for one year!! Now, I know that we were celebrating in the hospital, but it could have been worse. And, the way I see it, our second year of marriage cannot be too much more stressful than our first year. Marriage is great, and I really do love Jenny a lot!