I had my final appointment at the clinic in Fort Worth this morning. The doctor said that everything is looking great. He had his nurse remove my staples from the surgery scar, and they did not have to use any steri-strips (since the wound had healed very well on its own).
The doctor also transferred me to the Dallas Transplant Institute (DTI). That clinic is much closer to home (about one hour rather than two). The doctor told me that I will be seeing a team of doctors rather than just one doctor. I may not see the same person two visits in a row, but the whole team has access to all of my reports and my data, so it should be OK. I will see next week when I go to the clinic. My next appointment should be Wednesday, the 14th.
So, I am feeling great. The doctor said that my heart burn was probably caused by the Cellcept. He said that I should just take some Mylanta or something similar to help with it. He would rather not reduce my Cellcept dosage since I am still within a month of my transplant. The doctor said that they might reduce it later on, if it is still a problem, but not right away.
I have been also experiencing a small amount of shakiness in my hands. They are not what I would call "tremors" but they are not normal steady hands. The doctor said that my minor shakiness was caused by the Prograf. He said that the levels in my blood might still be a little too high, but they did not call today to change my dosage, so I guess that was not the case.
I received today the "Prednisone Taper Schedule" from the nurse. This is a schedule that tells me how to reduce my Prednisone over the next several weeks. The reduction is as below:
| Date | Dosage |
| Jan 11 | 20 mg / day |
| Feb 12 | 19 mg / day |
| Feb 19 | 18 mg / day |
| Feb 26 | 17 mg / day |
| Mar 5 | 16 mg / day |
| Mar 12 | 15 mg / day |
| Mar 26 | 12.5 mg / day |
| Apr 23 | 10 mg / day |
So, starting Monday, I will be taking 19 mg of Prednisone a day. I doubt that there will be much change in the side effects until at least the 15 mg dosing. I do not know how quickly that I will notice the change, but it will be nice to take less medication.
Also, I got my computer from work today. My boss is ready to approve me to work 20 hours a week from home. All he has to do is to update a form that he submitted to have me off of work and then I can do some work from home. That will allow me to be paid part time from work and part time from the disability. That will give me something to do (which is nice) and also will help me get paid a bit better than disability.
That is about it for today. I have my full lab report from today's blood work, but since this post was so long, I will save it until tomorrow.
Thank you all for your continued interest and prayers!
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