Short Update

I don't know how interesting today's post will be, but bear with me. Though, don't leave me with a bear. I think it would eat me, and that might be bad (for the bear, too).

I had dialysis again last night. The clinic draws lab work from us on the first full week of the month. This happened to be on Tuesday. If you remember from my last lab report, I am mostly concerned about my PTH level this month. PTH is your Parathyroid Hormone, which is: "Parathyroid hormone is the most important endocrine regulator of calcium and phosphorus concentration in extracellular fluid. This hormone is secreted from cells of the parathyroid glands and finds its major target cells in bone and kidney." Last month, it was ridiculously high. And, of course, I am always watching my phosphorus levels.

So, the dietitian was wandering around the clinic verbally telling everyone pieces of their lab work, if they had a problem or had done really well. For example, one of the guys sitting near me always has terribly high phosphorus, and I heard her tell him that he had lowered it to almost a safe level this month. So, as she was speeding past me, I called her over to ask about my PTH and phosphorus. She told me that my phosphorus was around 4 (which is good) but that she didn't have my PTH levels yet. So, she went to look, and she had not ordered the blood work for November. That means that I won't get that lab drawn until Tuesday. So, I have no idea if the Vitamin D shots are helping or not.

The "official" lab report probably won't be ready until Tuesday. Even though they get all of the reports back to their computers by Thursday night, they don't print them out to give to us for a full week. I guess most people don't care, but I would like to see my labs as soon as possible, personally, to better control my health.

They also ran an access flow test last night. This test shows how well the blood is flowing in your access. In the case of an AV Fistula, they want to see a flow rate over 400. Mine has done well on the last two or three tests. Last night, it was 920, which is great. That's a little more good news!

Let's see ... what else is going on? How about some statistics? The people at http://pkdcure.org/ posted a link to my blog in their e-newsletter on Wednesday. I'd say a lot of people must have read it, since I had 78 visitors make 138 page views. They are the 12th highest referral to my web site (in the past year). Of course, the most popular way to visit is "direct" which is likely from people having the site bookmarked. Google is the second most popular way to get to my site. And, interestingly enough, my friend Josh has the third highest number of referrals! Way to go, Josh. Keep up the good linking.

Please pray that I will continue to feel healthy. I've had a few days in the last month or so of not being top notch, and that's never fun. Please continue to pray that God's timing will be fulfilled in me getting a new kidney. And, keep praying for Kala as she goes through her testing.

Thanks for visiting today!