End of August

Another week has gone by, and it is time to update my blog again. It’s been a pretty good week, and I’d love to tell you about it.

I got some e-mail this week from a reader in Saint Louis, MO. She asked me about my gall bladder and about blogging in general. I gave her all the information that I knew about my gall bladder problem (based on what she asked). I also pointed her to http://www.blogger.com/ and told her how easy it was to get everything set up and then to pass out the link to the ATOM feed to your family and friends so that they could get your updates.

It’s always good to hear from new people who are reading my blog. In fact, today, I got an e-mail from a lady in South Africa. She nominated my blog for BlogDay 2006. I’m not normally the kind of person that participates in things like that, but I am glad to be nominated. If you would like to read her post, it is here: http://cooksister.typepad.com/cook_sister/2006/08/blogday_2006.html

Now, it is time for the updates on my health. On my last post, I mentioned that I had been getting treated at 400 ml/ min. Well, I haven’t been quite as lucky this week. I went in for my treatment earlier on Saturday, and they only got the machine to run at 350 ml/min (which isn’t that bad, but not that great either). On Tuesday, my needles went in great, but for some reason, we could not get the machine to run faster than 300 ml/min. It was having problems with the arterial pressure. I am guessing that the needle was too close to the wall of the fistula. Hopefully, that will be corrected this afternoon at my treatment.

Last week, I was supposed to have a fasting lipid panel on Tuesday. They did not draw my blood for the test because they did not know if I had fasted or not (despite the fact that I told them that I had). So, they said they would do the test another day, and I advised that they do it Tuesday. So, I had my blood drawn on the 29th for my lipid panel. Maybe they will have the results back today and I can ask about them. If I find anything out, I will let you know.

Other than that, there’s not too much going on. I have some blood work to get back (too see how my cholesterol is doing). I have not yet heard from my friend that is being tested for transplant. Perhaps I will send him an e-mail today and see what is going on.

Please pray:

• That my machine will be able to run at 400 ml/min for the best possible treatment


• That my friend Josh will get tested and that we can find out if he is a match for donation


• That my next few dialysis treatments will be uneventful

Thanks for coming by to read today!

A Positive Blood

I talked to my transplant coordinator earlier this week. She said that my status is back on (since I was placed on hold after having my gall bladder removed). I also asked her to verify my blood type, and she said that I am A POSITIVE.

I sent an e-mail to the remaining three potential donors in the Dallas area that had already had their blood work completed. I asked them to contact the transplant coordinator to set up testing appointments. I am hoping that she will be able to set up testing for all three of them so that we can find a match more quickly, but who knows. She may still want to do them one at a time.

I did not have a great treatment on Saturday. The machine ran slowly, and the charge nurse came by and told me I should consider moving up to the 15 gauge needles. I told her I would think about it. I went home at my dry weight (70.5 kg), but did not feel good with a very low blood pressure and a slight temperature. I stayed up for about two or three hours after my treatment waiting on my temp and pressure to even out. We ended up going to bed late, but at least we did not have to take a trip to the emergency room.

Tuesday, I did go ahead and use the 15-gauge needles. I have been using the 17-gauge needles for almost three weeks. I was hoping my fistula would behave before moving up, but the machine does not seem to like the smaller needles with my vein. The 15-gauge treatment went well. I had them only take me down to 71.0 kg, so I think that helped me feel better. I have also stopped taking one of my blood pressure medications to see if I can get my blood pressure to even out a bit. I guess I will find out at tonight’s treatment.

So, I am on 15-gauge needles now, which is good. The machine ran at 350 ml/min on Tuesday, and I think they are going to try the full 400 ml/min today. 400 is the rate that they prefer to go. I think the machine can run faster, but they don’t normally do that.

I have to ask for my thyroid function test results today so that I can send them to my endocrinologist. I have an appointment with him on Monday, and I’d like it to be the last one I have. I think my function has leveled out (according to my results) so I should not need to see him anymore.

Please pray for the potential kidney donors. Pray that their tests will be scheduled easily and that they right person will be found to be a donor. Thanks for coming by!

Post Surgery Update

Hi everyone,

It's been about a week since I have blogged, so I apologize for not keeping everyone updated. I am recovering well from the gall bladder surgery. The holes in my belly are healing pretty well, though the one closest to my belly button did bleed a little bit in my sleep last night. It doesn't look like it is having any problems. I think the stuff that they used to close the incisions is probably just starting to wear off, and the incisions are healing fairly well on their own. I haven't had any residual pain from the surgery, so that's been good. I'm eating fairly well, though I have had a bit of upset stomach the last few days. The doctor said that would be normal as I heal from abdominal surgery.

I have some unfortunate news on the transplant front. My dad called last night to tell me that he had been contacted by the transplant coordinator. She told him that they would not be able to use his kidney for my transplant. I think it is mainly age related, though if you want the full story, I can tell you one-on-one.

This means that I will now have to have a second person get tested. I've got a fairly extensive list of people that have volunteered to be tested. All I have to do now is to contact someone on the list and see if they are still willing to go through with the testing. Then, I'll talk to the transplant coordinator and let her know who to go after next.

So, it has been a fairly busy week. I recovered from surgery on Saturday, Sunday, and Monday. I went back to work on Tuesday, and everything went well. I had my follow-up appointment with the surgeon, and he said that everything looked fine. At dialysis, they moved from using 17-gauge needles to using 16-gauge. They prefer to use the larger, 15-gauge needles. I imagine that they will start using those on Tuesday. The larger needles mean that they can run the machine at a faster filtering rate, and that I get a more effective treatment (better clearance).

The techs at dialysis have been having an interesting time with my fistula. I never have the same person more than two treatments in a row, so that makes it a little difficult to get a consistent stick. I've got three or four different areas on the fistula that have been used, so far. Sometimes, the needles end up very close together, and sometimes they are a little farther apart. I think it is easier for the technician to place the needles farther apart, and I probably get a better treatment that way, too. Hopefully, now that I am starting to get repeats on the tech that sticks me, I will get more consistent treatments.

I have a few prayer requests for the week. Please pray for my next possible kidney donor. Pray that God will help me choose the person that He has planned for my kidney donation. Pray that the testing will go easily and that we will find out who is the right donor. Also please pray for my continued recovery from the gall bladder surgery. Pray that the incisions will finish healing and that my stomach will settle down (so that I can enjoy eating again).

Thanks for coming by to read!

Bye Bye Gall Bladder

Hi, this is Jenny, Nathan's wife. He asked me to write and let everyone know how his gall bladder surgery went this morning. He was in surgery for about an hour. The doctor said things went well and there were no problems or complications. His blood pressure dropped once during the procedure, but it came back up when they gave him some extra saline. They think he was probably a little dehydrated from a combination of not eating and last night's dialysis.

Nathan has minimal scarring; four tiny incisions, two of which are on the kidney scar. He is pretty uncomfortable, but we're at home resting. He's hoping to be well enough to return to work on Tuesday. He was glad to get Monday off as a holiday.

We talked to the transplant coordinator this morning to let her know about Nathan's surgery. She said she temporarily changed his status on the transplant list to Level 7, which is like being on hold. She is going to check for us to see how long he will remain at that level. I would guess 4 to 6 weeks. She explained that even though he is “on hold” that he is still accruing time on the list. He will not have to start over with his amount of time spent on the list.

Please pray that he recovers quickly and will be able to return to work soon. We're hoping to be at church on Sunday if Nathan feels up to it.

Thanks for coming by to read! I'm glad Nathan allowed me to be a guest writer. Maybe I'll get to come back again when he gets his transplant. :)

Laparoscopic Cholecystectomy

I went to see my vascular surgeon Tuesday afternoon to talk about my fistula and my gall bladder. The appointment was originally set up so that the surgeon could say that it was okay to start using my new upper arm fistula. However, since my catheter was not working as well as hoped on Saturday, they used one needle in the fistula then. The appointment turned out more to be us talking about my fistula and us setting up a surgery for my gall bladder.

I’ll start by telling you about the gall bladder. I am having a “Laparoscopic Cholecystectomy”, which just means that they are using four very tiny incisions to remove my gall bladder, rather than slicing me open to fish it out. I have been having a lot of nausea and stomach pain since my kidney was removed last year (it has been almost exactly one year). The gastroenterologist had done several different abdominal scans, and she decided that my gall bladder could be the cause of my problems. A couple of stones showed up on the scans (I saw them) and it seems that removing it would be a good idea. The surgeon said that he would rather take it out now then to have it cause an infection after I get my kidney transplant and cause me to lose the graft (“the graft” is what people in the kidney transplant business call the transplanted organ, just so you know).

I have an appointment for Friday morning (11:30am) to have my gall bladder removed by the same surgeon who has done all of my fistula surgeries. By using the same surgeon, I don’t have to add any more doctors’ business cards to my already full wallet. But, it also gives me the assurance that this doctor knows about my other conditions. I also trust his surgical abilities, as he has not had any problems, yet.

Additionally, the surgeon and I talked about my fistula. My nephrologist had been worried that the new fistula was too short and curvy to be of any use. The surgeon explained to me what had happened. When he laid the vein after moving it closer to the surface of my arm, he put it in a nice smooth arc. He said that after you connect it to the artery (making the vein a fistula) that it can get “scrunched up” a little bit. So, rather than maintaining it’s perfect arc, it ends up with a small curve. He showed me the vein on the sonogram, and it seemed to be fairly straight. He said part of what the nephrologist might have seen was some bulged areas of the fistula. The fistula is a little wider in some places than it is in others, and that might feel like curves if you are in a hurry (which the nephrologist always is). The surgeon said not to worry about the vein. If the technicians do have problems with sticking it, then he can always go back in (another surgery) and tie the vein down in a straighter line. So, the nephrologist said to leave my chest catheter in for a few weeks while we start using this new fistula. That way, if the surgeon needs to put in some ties to straighten it out, I will still have an available dialysis access (regardless of the fact that it does not work too well).

The nephrologist also prescribed Fosrenol for my high phosphorus. Since my calcium was near 10, he did not want to have me add more PhosLo. Instead, he added a new medication to take after meals that will help bind the phosphorus in my diet. I will probably send that prescription off tomorrow and will have it in a few weeks. It won’t be early enough to help on my June labs, but maybe by July my phosphorus levels won’t be so dangerously high.

Please pray for me as I have surgery on Friday. Also, continue to pray for my dialysis treatments. They are running me slowly with this new fistula, and I don’t think I am getting as good of a treatment. I have not felt well since Saturday. Hopefully that will clear up as my fistula matures and it can run a faster dialysis treatment. And, continue to pray for my dad’s lab results. I will let everyone know as soon as I hear something. Thanks!

Started New Fistula on Saturday

I had another exciting dialysis treatment on Saturday. Normally, the dialysis treatment runs without issue for four hours, and then you go home. On Saturday night, however, I was not so lucky. My machine was having trouble with the arterial pressure. The arterial pressure is the amount of suction that the pump has to use to remove the blood from your body. If the pressure gets out of range, that can be very dangerous, so the machine stops drawing out blood. I was having problems with my arterial pressure after about five minutes on the machine.

The nurse tried everything she could think of, including laying my chair down flat and switching the lines on my catheter. Since nothing was working, she called the on-call doctor and asked if she could use one needle in my new fistula. This is the fistula that was placed above the elbow on my left arm almost seven weeks earlier. The doctor said yes, so the nurse placed one needle in my arm, and left the other in my chest catheter. The needle did not hurt too much going in, which was nice. I still had pressure problems with my catheter, and they ended up switching which side of the catheter they used about three more times during the next three hours of my treatment. The bad part of it all was that I don’t think I got as good of a treatment with the machine running slower and it stopping all the time.

Sunday morning when I woke up, I felt sick (which is not abnormal). Before we were ready to go to church, however, I began to vomit. This did not make me feel better, so we stayed home from church. I felt pretty sick for a couple of hours, and did not try to eat again until almost 11:00 am. The soup stayed down, so I figured that I was better. I did not really feel better until after I took a nap (I hadn’t slept well Saturday night). By Sunday evening, I felt better, and I did make it to work on Monday.

I have an appointment with the vascular surgeon Tuesday morning. I’m not really sure how it is going to go. Since they have started using my fistula, I don’t suppose I really need his permission to use it. I have to make him page my nephrologist so that they can talk about my fistula, but aside from that, the fistula information should be easy. I am also supposed to talk to the vascular surgeon about my gall bladder. The GI doctor thinks that it needs to come out, so I have to see if he has read my records and if he agrees. If so, that’s one more surgery that I have to schedule and another delay in the transplant (if my dad is approved as a donor).

Please continue to pray for the transplant team as they process my dad’s results. I would like to know as soon as possible whether or not he will be a good donor for me. Also, pray for my appointment with the vascular surgeon on Tuesday morning. I don’t enjoy talking about having more surgery, but I want to do whatever will be the best for me. And, pray that my arm will finish healing. The needle didn’t cause many problems for me, but the skin is still quite sensitive around the surgical incision, so the tape that holds the needle in place was kind of painful to remove. The skin was red for quite a while. I am hoping that it will heal or toughen up a little.

Thanks for reading with me today.

May 2006 Labs

Well, it’s Friday afternoon, and it looks like it has been over seven days since I last posted. I have my lab reports from May for you today, as well as some information on the stomach ache front.

ALBUMIN – 4.6 (Goal is 3.8 to 4.5)

eKdrt/V – 1.56 (Goal is greater than or equal to 1.2)
Your eKdrt/V is adequate. You are receiving enough dialysis.

POTASSIUM – 4.1 (Goal is 3.5 to 6)
Your potassium level is normal. You are doing a good job with the potassium in my diet.

CORRECTED CALCIUM – 9.9 (Goal is 8.4 to 9.5)
My corrected calcium is high. Check with the doctor for more information.

PHOSPHORUS – 7.2 (Goal is 3.5 to 5.5)
Your phosphorus is high. Your Dietician will review high phosphorus foods to avoid. Take your phosphorus binders with meals and snacks.

HEMOGLOBIN – 13.2 (Goal is 11 to 12)

Average Fluid Weight Gain: 1.78 kg or 2.6& (goal is 3 – 5% of dry weight unless you have signs and symptoms of fluid overload). Your nurse will discuss this with you.

So, as you can see, everything is going fine, except for my phosphorus level. It had been under control for four months, but the last two months it has been high. The dietitian went over all of the high-phosphorus foods with me and discovered that my diet is very good in relation to high-phosphorus foods. I told her that I am taking two of the Phoslo pills with each meal and that I rarely snack. So, she gave me a sample of Fosrenol to try out. Fosrenol is an after-meal chewable pill that helps bind phosphorus without raising your calcium levels. It is apparently very expensive, so she wanted me to check with my insurance to see if it was covered. It is, so we will ask the doctor to prescribe it for me next week. That’s just one more thing to add to my list of medications.

In other news, I had a NM HIDA scan on Monday, May 1. That is a nuclear medicine scan on the gall bladder that tests to see how well the gall bladder is working. Mine apparently has a low ejection fraction (near 30%). I’m not sure what that means, or what a normal ejection fraction is, but mine is low. The gastroenterologist referred me to a laparoscopic surgeon to talk about surgical options for removing my gall bladder.

I saw the surgeon on May 11, and he said that my gall bladder is not working correctly. He also said that he would recommend me having my gall bladder removed because of my upcoming kidney transplant. He said that he would hate to leave the gall bladder in there and for it to cause an infection once I get my new kidney and my immune system is suppressed. He said my best bet was to have it taken out ahead of time.

He also referred me back to the surgeon who did my vascular surgery. It seems that he also does laparoscopic surgeries. I have an appointment with him on May 23 already, so I will just talk with him about my gall bladder then. Hopefully we can schedule a surgery for a Thursday, to give me the most time to recover (the pamphlet says that it can take 5 – 10 days to get back to work after the surgery, even though most people go home within a few hours of the procedure). It is laparoscopic, which means that they cut tiny holes which helps speed the recovery process.

Please pray for the surgeon as he looks over my records and decides about removing my gall bladder. Also, keep praying for my fistula. I go see the surgeon on May 23, and he should tell me whether or not the new fistula is ready to use for dialysis. If it is ready, then I can start using it and eventually get off of this catheter. Pray that the new fistula will work well and not have any problems.

Thanks for reading!

Long Week

Hey everyone. I realize that I have not posted since last week, and I am trying to make up for that today. I am sitting in dialysis at the moment, and I thought I'd take a minute to update everyone.

This week, I spoke to the GI doctor several times. She ran a test on my gall bladder to see if it was misbehaving. The test said that my gall bladder ejection was abnormally low (around 30%). She advised that I go and talk to a laproscopic surgeon to find out more about my options. I have an appointment next week to meet the surgeon. Maybe I'll find out what is going on from him in terms of my stomach problems.

I came in to dialysis almost 4 kg overweight on Tuesday. I don't tolerate taking off that much fluid, so I had them only remove 3500 cc of fluid. That had me leaving dialysis at 69.9 kg instead of my usual 69.5.

Wednesday night, I woke up very sick. My stomach hurt and I vomitted several times (emptying my stomach). I called in sick to work, and eventually got back to sleep. I was sick most of Thursday morning, but felt well enough to eat some soup for lunch. I fell better now, and expect to go back to work tomorrow.

My weight at dialysis was 70.1 kg when I came in today. That means I only put on 0.2 kg in two days (thanks to being sick).

I don't have anything else today. Please continue to pray that the transplant process will keep moving along. Also pray for my health. Being nauseated is no fun. Thanks for reading and for praying.

My blood pressure is still a little low and my pulse remains a bit high. I see the cardiologist in a couple weeks so I hope to know more then.

Good-bye, and good night.

April 2006 Lab Reports and More

As promised on Tuesday, I am bringing the rest of my long-overdue update. I apologize for the wait, but I have been quite busy at work and at home, so I haven’t had a lot of time for blogging recently. I will try to be better about it in the future (isn’t that what they all say?).

• ALBUMIN: 4.3 (goal is 3.8 to 4.5)My albumin (blood protein) is normal.


• POTASSIUM: 4.3 (goal is 3.5 to 6)My potassium level is normal. I am doing a good job with the potassium in my diet.


• CORRECTED CALCIUM: 8.7 (Goal is 8.4 to 9.5)My corrected calcium is normal.


• PHOSPHORUS: 6.6 (Goal is 3.5 to 5.5)My phosphorus is high (up from 4.3 last month). The dietician recommended that I watch my diet and make sure to take my phosphorus binders with all meals and snacks.


• HEMOGLOBIN: 11.2 (Goal is 11 to 12)My hemoglobin is normal, and my anemia is under control.


• AVERAGE FLUID WEIGHT GAIN: 2.31 kg or 3.3% (goal is 3 – 5 % of dry weight unless you have sign and symptoms of fluid overload).This is Acceptable.


• HEMOGLOBIN A1C: 4.9 (Goal is less than 7.5) My hemoglobin A1C is well-controlled. This means that my average glucose (blood sugar) has been normal for the last three months.


• PTH: 415.6 (Goal is 100 – 300)The parathyroid hormone is too active. This means that I started receiving Hecetor (Vitamin D) during dialysis.

So, the lab report was not all good news like it normally is. My phosphorus was way up, which is not a good thing. Too much phosphorus can make your bones brittle. The other problem was the parathyroid hormone, which I have no control over. Hopefully the Vitamin D that they inject into my blood each week will help balance that number out. The only negative side effect is that it can cause your phosphorus to go up. I guess I’ll find out in May how I did with my diet and see if I can get off of that Vitamin D shot.

On Monday, April 24, I went to see the endocrinologist. I actually just saw a nurse practitioner who wrote me three prescriptions for blood work to be drawn at dialysis. They want to see my thyroid hormone levels in April, June, and July, and then to follow-up with me after that. She said that since I have not been exhibiting any symptoms, that I am probably doing okay, but she needs to see the lab reports to make sure.

On Tuesday, April 25, I went to see my vascular surgeon to follow-up, one month later, on my new fistula surgery. He removed all the stitches (not so pleasant) and then ran an ultrasound over the fistula. He said that it looks like it is healing nicely and is developing at a good rate. He scheduled another appointment for one month later, and said not to use the fistula before then. I guess he will check it at the end of May to see if it is ready for dialysis. If so, then I can get off of the chest catheter, and I can go back to using a fistula like a normal dialysis patient. The fistula is a little easier to care for, and gives you a better treatment, so I ultimately want to get back to using a fistula.

I have had dialysis on Tuesday and Thursday this week already. The treatments have been going fine, right up until the very end. After I have finished my treatment and have been removed from the machine, they like to take one final blood pressure with you standing up. On Tuesday night, the pressure was only 93/61, and they wait about fifteen minutes for me to get up to 110/69. Thursday night, my pressure was 94/58, and they waited about ten minutes to get me up to 113/60. My standing blood pressure (at the end of dialysis) has been low since Tuesday, the 18th. I wish this would balance out so I could go home when dialysis is finished.

My gastroenterologist called this week. She thinks that my stomach-ache problems might be caused by my gall bladder. There is a test that can be run (inject a dye and watch it go) that will tell her if the gall bladder is the culprit responsible for my pain. I have this appointment scheduled for Monday.

Here are my prayer requests for today:

• Pray that the gall bladder scan goes well, and that the GI doctor will learn what she needs to learn to help me


• Pray that my blood pressure will get to where it needs to be at the end of my dialysis treatments


• Pray for my dad as he is being scheduled for testing as a kidney donor.

Thanks for coming by to read. I’ll try to be better about updating next week.

February Comment Review

Hey everybody. Thanks for coming by. I don’t have a lot of new news today. My cardiologist just doubled my Toprol XL dosage (again). I am now taking 320 mg of Diovan, 5 mg of Norvasc, and 200 mg or Toporl XL for my blood pressure. Hopefully this will solve my BP problems. I will go by her office in two weeks have my pressure taken again. I will be recording my pressure at dialysis until then (like I’ve been doing for the past 6 weeks).

So, today, I decided to review my comments from the last month. Here we go:

The following comment was left on the Jan 31 post –

At 11:49 AM, Anonymous said...
Hiatal hernias do seem to be fairly common. My mom has had one for years, and on her recent visit to the dr. last week, they said that it has shrunk. She just had her Gall Bladder out a couple of weeks ago as it was only functioning at 28%. Great news about getting on the transplant list! I take it you are on the list from now to this time next year, the have to renew?Michael
As well as –

At 5:01 PM, The Bergers said...
Nathan & Jenny! Great news about the transplant list. I am very excited to hear that. My uncle was on the liver transplant list, but through prayer he has now been moved off b/c he is doing so well and his liver is actually improving! We will pray the same for you as well...Christi & Lucas
Michael is right. I do have to basically renew my place on the list every year until I get a transplant. That way, the doctors can make sure that you still need a kidney. If the Lord does choose to heal me before I am approved for a transplant, then I will be sure to call them up and take myself off the list. My family and friends continue to pray for my health and healing, however God chooses to provide it.

I have an appointment with my GI doctor at the end of March. She did not really give me any information that I did not already know. She did not change my medications, and I did not learn much. I am hoping that she will have more information for me since my labs should be back from the endoscopy.

This comment was posted on my Feb 03 blog –

At 7:25 PM, Anonymous said...
I’ve been on PD 4 years, Congratulations for the transplant. I am 43 years woman who is in the list too. I live in Mexico and my sister lives in Garland, TX and last December I spent Christmas there. Hope you are ok.Alejandra

It’s always good to see other people in the same place as I am. I have yet to actually meet anyone on the transplant list, but it is interesting to know that others are in the area. I am hoping that I will not have to wait for a cadaveric kidney and that one of my donors will be able to donate. That will be the easiest (and best) kidney that I could get.

The last comment was from the Feb 23 blog –

At 11:26 PM, ladybug said...
just came across your website. i have igan, at pre-transplant stage. my husband is donating his kidney to me, and we are just waiting for a transplant date. i really like your blog, am linking to you.
I am glad that my blog can bring some happiness to people. I write mostly for myself, as a place to put out my feelings and thoughts as I am dealing with dialysis and my kidney disease. I also use it as a place that my family and friends can find out what is going on in my life (as pertains to my disease).

I have been reading a bit more of other people’s blogs, and it makes me feel like I have kind of slacked off in writing. When I first began, I was trying to post two or three times a week. Lately, however, I have been much busier and have been lucky to get out one post per week. I will continue to work on putting out posts, so you can keep coming to read.

And, if you link to my site, let me know, and I will come by and at least read through your site. I may not link (especially if I don’t know you), but I do enjoy reading. My Google Reader has been feeding me more RSS every day (it’s great!)

Thanks for coming by today.

Finally Back to the Fistula

I had dialysis Tuesday night. The doctor had said last Thursday that he wanted to start using my fistula again (at least with one needle). So, I got to do my dialysis with the blood being drawn from my arm and put back into my chest (via the catheter). The doctor came by and he said that everything looked good. He wants to use two needles on Thursday (and no catheter!). He will have them do that for a week or two and then if everything is okay, they can schedule to have the catheter removed. I am really looking forward to having it taken out.

I used the emla cream on my arm last night to deaden the needle site. It works just like it says. The pain was very little, and I think I will probably continue to use this cream for a while. Even though I only had one needle, and it was small, I think that the cream will be much nicer than just bearing with the pain each week. I guess that since it was a small needle, my arm healed much better than it used to.

I have been having a few problems recently. There is still blood in my urine (since Sunday morning), but there is not any pain with it. The nurse at dialysis said that if it continues, then they will need to check my hemoglobin levels to make sure I am not losing too much blood. But, my polycystic kidneys can cause bleeding, so they are not too worried yet. I won’t be worried unless it lasts for a while or if it starts to cause a lot of pain.

I went and saw a doctor of gastroenterology yesterday. I am hoping that she will be able to help me with my morning nausea that I’ve been having since this summer. She took my medical history and set up a few tests. She wanted some blood work (which I was able to get at dialysis last night). She also wanted an ultrasound of my liver and gall bladder (which I got this morning while having my kidney and abdomen scanned for the transplant evaluation). She also wants me to have an endoscopy, which is where a camera takes a look at your esophagus, stomach, and upper intestines. I have that appointment scheduled for Monday. It should be a lot of fun. I get to take a little nap. I still have to find a ride home, but I’m working on that. I have a few people that I can call.

I had an appointment with my family doctor today. The GI doctor had noticed some white pus in my throat, and she wanted me to get tested for strep. The doctor ran a swab today and it was negative for strep type A. She has to send it off to the lab to be run to see if I have anything else that could be causing my problem. She prescribed me some antibiotics to take for the next 10 days, so if it is bacterial, then that should clear it up. I also asked her for the name of some genetic counselors that Jenny and I can talk to before we decide what to do about having children. I already know that I have polycystic kidney disease (which is autosomal dominant), and the cardiologist that I saw for my transplant evaluation wants me to get tested for Marfans. (I have an eye doctor appointment this afternoon, I will ask him to take a look at my eyes and see, and apparently there are some signs of Marfans that show up in the eyes).

So, that’s it for now. I should be done with my chest catheter in the next couple of weeks. I will be taking antibiotics for the next ten days to clear up my throat. And, I think I am closing in on the finish of my transplant testing. Thanks for reading.