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).

Nathan Finally Does Something (Unlike a Pirate)

Previously, you may have heard me blog something about having actually done something for a vacation. Well, it's true!

I have decided that I much prefer being post-transplant than mid-dialysis. This summer, for the first time since our anniversary, Jenny and I went on an actual vacation. We spent five days (including drive time) visiting a friend of Jenny's that lives just outside of San Antonio. We visited Sea World and the Riverwalk, and had a wonderful time.

As a dialysis patient, setting up a vacation of this length would have been quite a pain. I would have needed to coordinate with my clinic to have my treatments done while I was in San Antonio, and to have my labs and information all transferred down there and then to hope that everything was ready for me when I arrived. I would also not have enjoyed walking around at Sea World all day, as I was anemic while on dialysis.

As a post-transplant patient, things were much different. All I had to do to plan was to bring lots of sun block and remember to pack up enough medication for the whole trip. It's amazing what a working kidney will do for you. I was able to enjoy our trip, walk around all day, and not feel sick the whole time.

In addition, my dad came to visit us here in Texas about a week or so after we returned from San Antonio. It was nice to see him while he was here, and we got a chance to go and visit the Dallas World Aquarium, to which I had not been in several years. He had not been down to see our new house in person, so it was nice to get to visit with him for several days.

And, finally this summer, Jenny and I are going to back Arkansas to visit with my mom. This is not an unusual journey for us since the transplant, but it's always nice. I've enjoyed the fact that we hired a new person at work to do part of my job so that I am able to take vacations.

So, that's a big pile of good news.

And now, I have a special mention that I would like to make for my aunt (who lives in New Mexico). You may recall that she participated in a PKD walk last year and was able to raise a LOT of money to fund research. Well, this year, she is working with the Datil Educators Club to help them raise money. Here is some more information concerning the Datil Educator's Club:

This group gives a scholarship to a sixth grade student at the Datil Elementary School in the amount of (at least) $500. This money is given to the student upon graduation from Quemado High School.

They are also the Agency that supports the USDA Commodities program in Datil. We distribute the Commodities that are available and supplement the boxes by purchasing food from the Roadrunner Food Bank in Albuquerque.

She has set up an account with Goodsearch.com to help earn the Dail Educator's Club some money. Here is the information:

What if Datil Educators Club earned a penny every time you searched the Internet? Or how about if a percentage of every purchase you made online went to support our cause? Well, now it can!

GoodSearch.com is a new Yahoo-powered search engine that donates half its advertising revenue, about a penny per search, to the charities that its users designate. Use it just as you would any search engine, get quality search results from Yahoo, and watch the donations add up!

GoodSearch.com also has a new online shopping mall which donates up to 37 percent of each purchase to your favorite cause! Hundreds of great stores, including Amazon, Target, the Gap, Best Buy, ebay, Macy's and Barnes & Noble have teamed up with GoodShop and every time you place an order, you'll be supporting your favorite cause (the Datil Educators Club, I hope!). You can read more abut GoodSearh in the NY Times, Oprah Magazine, CNN, ABC News and the Wall Street Journal.

Just go to www.goodsearch.com and be sure to enter Datil Educators Club as the charity you want to support. And, be sure to spread the word to all your family & friends!!

Thanks in advance for your support!

So, if you are on the Internet, and need to search for something, you can use goodsearch to help the Datil Educator's club earn some free money.

Thanks for coming by today. See you all next time!

May 13, 2008, Transplant Follow-Up

I had my 8-week transplant follow-up on May 13. I went in at 7:40 am again, but I made an effort to drink a LOT more water before the appointment. My creatinine for the day was 1.1 (which is down from 1.2, and that's a good thing). My guess is the 7:40 time is what caused the discrepancy, as I do not feel any different.

All my other lab number look pretty good. My BUN is at 11.0. My magnesium and phosphorus are both a little bit low, but that's not a problem.

The only real complaint that I have is that Medicare is now my primary insurance company. This is a problem because my prescription drug insurance through work does not want to pay as a secondary company. So, I'm going to get stuck with either co-pays from work or with 20% from Medicare. For the Myfortic, I will be paying about $640 a year under my insurance plan. The Prograf will be another $480 per year. And, the Prednisone is probably $2 a year.

The annual cost for Myfortic, according to Medco, is $3,536.40. The plan pays $2,896.40, which is about 81% (meaning I save a little money over getting this through Medicare). The annual cost for Prograf is listed at $12,966.72 (for a year), with my insurance plan paying $12,486.72 (in that year). This is about 96% of the cost of the drugs, meaning I am getting a much better deal on these than I would through Medicare. The two medications combined have me paying about 7% of the cost, which is better than the 20% I'd have to pay through Medicare.

So, I guess I will continue to pay for Medicare for another 18 months, to cover my doctor's visits. It was nice not to pay for those medications in the past, but unfortunately, that's no longer an option. I knew it would be coming, but did not expect it this soon. So, it will be a cost to add in to everything else. Not a problem, just something to think about.

That's it for this post. More later, I think.

Tuesday's Clinic Appointment

Well, I went to the clinic on Tuesday (the 23rd). The doctor's office moved down the street a few blocks to remodel their building. It wasn't too bad, though it was smaller than their normal office. Hopefully the newly remodeled office will be nice and have a much larger waiting area when they get it remodeled.

I had to call to get my lab results, as they did not move the lab facility. My creatinine is still at 1.0. There were no problems on any more of my blood work or urinalysis. I noticed a little bit of blood in my urine on Friday night, but it wasn't that much. I think perhaps a cyst burst in my old PKD kidney, as it had been hurting some the past few days. I called the doctor, but they said just to stay well-hydrated and not to worry about it unless it got a lot worse.

Not too much else is going on. I have to sign up for the new insurance year at work in the next week or two. I will have to talk with our HR department, because Medicare is going to switch to being my primary insurance in April. I have to know what level of insurance to get if I am going to be on Medicare as the primary instead of United Healthcare.

See you all next time. I hope to have more information then.

Help End Limit on Drug Coverage for Kidney Transplants!

The PKD Foundation has recently sent me an ACTION ALERT!

Action Alert:
Help End 36-Month Limit on Vital Anti-Rejection Drug Coverage for Kidney Transplant Recipients!

More than 60 percent of PKD patients will develop kidney failure and be forced to rely on dialysis or a transplant to live.

While Medicare covers dialysis indefinitely, in many cases, it will only cover vital immunosuppressive drugs for kidney transplants for 36 months! Once this period ends, transplant patients are forced to find other ways to pay for these expensive medications.

Many cannot afford to continue treatment.

You can help end this 36-month limit and make a true difference in the lives of PKD patients nationwide!

Take part in this Action Alert today!

Learn more about other PKD Foundation efforts, such as the Walk for PKD - this month in cities across the country!