December Lab Report

It is time, once again, for Nathan’s Lab Report. I have noticed that the web site does NOT like me to submit my labs in a table, so I am just going to do a bulleted list today. I will put the test and my results first, with expected values in parenthesis. And, I am going to try to put low values in blue and high values in red. I’ll see if I can find my old report to discuss the changes after the list.

• WBC: 4.68 – 1000/mcL (4.80 – 10.80)


• RBC: 3.20 – mill/mcL (4.70 – 6.10)


• HGB: 10.3 – g/dL (14.0 – 18.0)


• HCT: 29.2 - % (42.0 – 52.0)


• MCV: 91 – mcm3 (80 – 94)


• MCH: 32.1 – pg/cell (27.0 – 31.0)


• MCHC: 35.2 – g/dL (33.0 – 37.0)


• HGB X 3: 30.9 - % (42.0 – 54.0)


• Pre-dialysis BUN: 29 – mg/dL (6 – 19)


• Pre-dialysis CREATININE: 7.1 – mg/dL (0.5 – 1.2)


• POTASSIUM: 4.0 – mEq/L (3.3 – 5.1)


• BICARBONATE: 22 – mEq/L (22 – 29)


• ALKALINE PHOS: 87 – U/L (40 – 129)


• AST/GOT: 20 – U/L (13 – 39)


• TOTAL PROTEIN: 6.6 – g/dL (5.9 – 8.4)


• ALBUMIN (BCG): 4.2 – g/dL (3.8 – 5.2)


• CALCIUM: 9.2 – mg/dL (8.4 – 10.2)


• PHOSPHORUS: 4.6 – mg/dL (2.6 – 4.5)


• Ca X P PRODUCT: 42 – (<55)


• SODIUM: 139 – mEq/L (133 – 145)


• CHLORIDE: 102 – mEq/L (96 – 108)


• IRON: 59 – mcg/dL (45 – 160)


• UIBC: 184 – mcg/dL (110 – 370)


• TIBC (CALC): 243 – mcg/dL (228 – 428)


• TRANSFERRIN SAT. (CALC): 24 - % (20 – 55)


• Post-Dialysis BUN: 8 – mg/dL (6 – 19)


• UREA REDUCTION RATIO: 72 - % (65 – 80)


• HBsAg: Negative (Negative)


• CORRECTED CALCIUM: 9.0 – mg/dL


• CORRECTED Ca X P PRODUCT: 41

As always, the important numbers to see are the post-dialysis BUN and the Urea Reduction Ratio. My BUN is 8, which is about the same as I have been seeing the last several months. My URR is 72, which is a bit worse than what I have been seeing, but I attribute that to the fact that I was receiving dialysis through the neck catheter on the day they took my blood for the labs. The neck catheter did not provide as good of a treatment.

My phosphorus shows that it is high, but it is an acceptable value for a dialysis patient. They want us to score between 3.5 and 5.5, so I am right on target. I would like to try to get it below 2.6, but I don’t know what the likelihood of that is, given that I am on dialysis. My hemoglobin is low (meaning anemia) and that is normal. They lowered my anemia treatment last month, and I guess they will have to raise it back up again this month. My potassium is still lower than they prefer, so they continue to dialyze me using the 3K solution. Of note, my average fluid weight gain is 0.76 kg (or 1.1% of my dry weight). A good fluid weight gain is between 3% and 5% of your dry weight, so I am not having any problems with fluid overload. In fact, the dietician said I could drink some more if I want to.
That should be about it for today. I go to see the vascular surgeon next week, and he will tell me how well my fistula revision is healing. Hopefully, we can go back to using it soon and see if I will receive better treatments. Not that I miss the needles, because I don’t. But, I do want the best treatment possible.

I also learned that I will have to keep my chest catheter covered for as long as I have it. For some reason, I though I could remove the bandages at some point, but I guess not. They will keep changing the bandages and cleaning the site at every dialysis treatment until the catheter is removed. Also, I got my treatment moved up to the lunch-time shift for Saturday so that I can go to the Christmas Eve service at church.

Thanks for coming by to read. See you all later!