Saturday, January 16, 2010

Three Years Post-Transplant

Thanks for stopping by, everyone! This week is my three year kidney-versary! I received my donor kidney on January 11, 2007. It's been a wonderful three years.

I had my annual Glofil appointment on Tuesday of this week. For those of you that do not follow me on Twitter or are not friends with me on Facebook, I had a great appointment! I scored an 80.2 on the Glofil this year, which is the same as what I got last year. Now, for a normal person with two kidneys, that would be an 80% kidney function. For a post-transplant kidney patient with only one functioning kidney, it's a really good score (according to the doctors). I'm glad that my kidney is still working well and that my body is still not showing any signs of rejection. Keep praying that it will stay that way for MANY years to come.

My creatinine was 1.0 again. This is really good, since it was 1.4 when I made a short visit to the Emergency Room a week or so ago. For some reason, I passed out and got to go to the ER. I was perfectly fine. The doctors said that it was probably dehydration. My guess is that it was due to being at home for three weeks with our new baby and not being on my normal water drinking schedule. My vacation ended at the end of December, so I'm back to work and back to drinking enough water on a daily basis.

I also had my annual bone density scan at the appointment. Although I did not see the doctor after having the scan, I did as the technician for an unofficial reading of the charts. She said that it looked like the bone density of my hip was the same as last year and the bone density of my spine had improved, slightly.

I did get some bad news in December. My cardiologist, whom I really like, is retiring to spend more time with her family. I told her that it would be fine, as long as she would continue to see me. Even though I am very sad, it's good for her. Her and her husband have several young children, and I hope that they enjoy this extra time that she will have with them. She recommended a new doctor at their practice (who started out as an army doctor) to take over my cardiologist. I will see him in about six months and let you know ...

That's about it for now. I'm wonderfully healthy, and it looks like my wife is enjoying her new role as a mother. Our baby is happy and healthy (as far as we can tell) and is gaining weight. We are going to have our pediatrician watch her and see if she develops any kidney problems. Hopefully, even if she does, it will be a VERY long time away.

Thanks for all the prayers. I hope everyone enjoyed the post. I'll see if I can put up stuff about my health more often (though, it is difficult from time to time being busy).