2010 Top Kidney Disease Blog Award

It appears that I have "won" an award from [redacted]. I'm not quite sure what it all means, yet.

The email that I received states:
As a website dedicated to help those consider a career as a certified nursing assistant, we only provide the best information available. Whether it's a resource that helps patients cope with their illness, or provides ways to live healthier, we feel that it's necessary for those seeking to obtain this information. This is why we've featured your blog, as it is one of the best to teach our readers.

I realize that not very many people will really find this interesting. I like to see that people (or groups) have been reading my blog and actually found it helpful or at least useful to someone.

I'd like to publicly thank the readers from that website for their award. I hope that they are able to find the information that they are seeking from a patient's perspective.

In other news, I realize that I never posted about my October transplant appointment. I'll have to fix that (but not today).

See you next time!

September 15, 2010: Cardiologist Appointment

Hi there, faithful readers (or those of you that just happened to stumble onto this posting). Today is the updated that my normal readers were hoping to see last Sunday. Unfortunately, my free time in the morning was cut an hour short, so I was not able to get online and write up my explanation from my latest cardiology appointment.

I saw my "new" cardiologist about a month ago. I say new because the cardiologist that I used to go see has retired from practice. I think she wanted to spend more time with her family (of which I am in favor). So, the previous visit to my cardiologist, back in June was to check my heart and my mitral valve to make sure everything was still working correctly. You can read that post here: Cardiologist Appointment - June 15, 2010. The doctor thought he saw some disturbing signs, so he asked me to come back in three months, instead of my typical six, to have my heart reviewed again.

The post received a few questions, which I will endeavor to answer below. I did not know the answers myself, so I just asked the doctor to help me out :)

1) Please Explain Ejection Fraction

The ejection fraction is the volume difference between heartbeats. Normally, you would expect to see an ejection fraction of 60% to 65%. My current rating is between 55% and 60%. I asked, and the doctor said that an ejection fraction of less than 50% was very bad, and that they would want to get me into surgery if that were to happen.

2) What is the Thickness of Your Mitral Valve Leaflets?

Normal mitral valve leaflets (shown in the diagram at the bottom as MV) are usually around 5 millimeters thick. My leaflets are slightly thicker than normal, but nothing to worry about at this time.

3) Do you have any enlarged ventricles or atrium?

No, at this time my ventricles and atria are both normal sized. This question is important because the mitral regurgitation can cause the heart to expand in size, over time. If you heart starts to get larger, it cannot be made smaller again. So, part of what they watch for is to make sure that your heart is not getting too big and that your ejection fraction stays within safe tolerances.

4) Please explain regurgitation and prolapse (in regards to the heart).

Regurgitation is blood flowing the wrong way in the heart. In the diagram at the bottom of this post, you can see a rough drawing of the heart. Blood is supposed to flow from the Left Atrium (LA) to the Left Ventricle (LV) and then out of the Aorta (AO). Regurgitation is the arrow that shows blood flowing back across the Mitral Valve (MV) from the LV to the LA.

Prolapse is simply the valve action going back up into the Left Atrium (LA). Normally, your mitral valve (MV) should allow blood flow downward (in the drawing) from LA to LV. The valve leaflets should stop the blood from flowing back up. Mine do not do that quite as well as they should. This reverse action causes the leaflets to be a little spongy, and to eventually wear out.

The doctor is watching the size of my heart as well as the ejection fraction that the valve is allowing. When they start to head toward a more dangerous range, then we will start talking about surgery.

5) What's your current status, then?

OK - big question! I'm still doing fine. The doctor said that he did not see a recurrence of the problems that he thought he noted in June, so I will not see him again for six months (this was my normal schedule). I'm not in perfect heart health, as my Ejection Fraction is down to 55-60% instead of 60-65%. But, until there are any changes, then I will keep my ribcage intact!

Thanks for reading today! The drawing below is my sketch based on the sketch that the doctor gave me at my appointment. Please try an pretend that it looks like a heart.

My next post should be about the post-transplant follow-up that I had on October 7. If I'm lucky, I will write it up next Sunday. See you later!

July 8: Post-Transplant Appointment

I last posted to my blog back in July. It is now almost the end of September. The easiest thing to draw from this is that I am a busy person and do not place a top priority on my blog. The thing you may not think, immediately, is that being healthy does not make for as good of posts (in my opinion).

But, as I was at the doctor the last time I posted, I figured I might as well post about that particular appointment today (while I have a few minutes). My last visit to the nephrologist, for my post-transplant follow-up, was a great visit. My creatinine is at 1.0, which is good to see. My other numbers are all still good as well. I am always glad to see good lab reports as a part of my quarterly visits.

If I remember correctly, I was a bit sick the last time I visited the doctor. I had some sort of sinus infection, which led me to have a chest x-ray. The doctor did not see any signs of problems in my lungs, which was good. I got some antibiotics from my family doctor, and they seemed to clear up the infection fairly well.

The biggest problem with being sick, as a post-transplant patient, is that it takes a long time to get better. Even with medication, I was still coughing for weeks. It means that I have to be more careful when I get sick and make sure I talk to the doctors quickly.

In other news, since my Medicare ran out at the beginning of the year, I have been paying full price for my post-transplant medications. For prednisone, this is not really a big deal. For the Myfortic and Prograf, it is quite expensive. I contacted the two pharmaceutical companies that make those medications, knowing that they offer financial assistance. I received forms from both companies, and sent in the receipts for my medications. I got back a payment of $80 for three months of Prograf. I have not seen anything from Myfortic.

So, I think that posting on Sunday morning works well. I have finished my Bible study for the morning, but am still waiting on Hannah to wake up. If I remember, I'll even update again next week about my 3-month cardiology appointment (and answer some reader questions).

Stay tuned!