Welcome to the blog everyone. I have quite a bit of news for today, so sit back and relax, it might go a little longer than I plan.
Today was my second follow-up appointment at the Dallas Clinic since my kidney transplant in January. It was also the date of my first post-transplant Glofil test. You can read all about the Glofil test here: http://nmccart.blogspot.com/2007/02/upcoming-first-post-transplant-glofil.html
I arrived at the clinic around 11:30 am. The Glofil was scheduled to start around noon, and the doctor's appointment was set for just after the Glofil finished (around 2 or 3). I did my due diligence and drank a bunch of water for the last three days. In fact, I'd say I drank about 100 ounces of water a day since Monday, not to mention other beverages with meals. So, I arrived prepared to give a urine sample! They gave me the iodine solution, took my height, weight, temperature, and blood pressure, and sat me in a room with three other post-transplant patients. Then, once everyone was there, they gave me the injection of Glofil solution.
The guy who was running the test came in a few minutes later to tell us how much to drink. Three of us had to drink five glasses of water (about 200 ml each) and the fourth guy (who was much larger than any of us) had to drink 12 glasses. We were given 45 minutes to consume our water and wait. I drank my five glasses, and I read a book until it was time to give the first urine sample.
The procedure for the next couple of hours was drink, empty bladder (and have the output measured or something), get blood drawn, and drink again. The second and third sessions I only had to drink 2 glasses of water. Each interval was about 30 or 45 minutes. They measured something in the urine (perhaps volume) and also the level of solution in the blood (to see how much was being removed by the transplanted kidney).
My Glofil was 86.1. The technician said that this is an excellent result. There is no baseline for kidney transplant patients, but donors normally need to be between 80 and 120 (I believe) to be considered eligible to donate their kidney.
After that was finished, I saw the doctor. She gave me my lab results (which you will see below). My creatinine is down to 0.9 (from 1.0 the last several weeks). My hemoglobin is 13.7 (which is down a little from 14.3 last week, but still in the good range). My triglycerides were down a little bit from last week, which is also good news. The only thing the doctor told me was to try and consume a bit more milk and meat to get my phosphorus back up to normal.
She said my "GCT" was 58.0, which was a little bit high. I looked at last week's result, which was 64.0, and noticed that it had gone down. I asked her what that number meant. She said that it was a liver enzyme. She said it was normal for it to go up after surgery, and that it is good that mine is dropping to be in the normal range. She said it should not be a problem.
My White Blood Cell count was down to 3.0, which is a bit too low. The doctor said she was not going to worry about it since it was the first time it has been low. I think that if it were to be too low for a long time, they might want to change my anti-rejection medication dosages (I'm guessing).
The results from the 24-hour urine collection were also on my lab report. Everything looks pretty good, except the Urine Creatinine. I do not know if that number being low is good or bad, so I will have to ask them next week.
So, that's about it for today. I have an appointment next Thursday morning to be checked out again. The doctor said that by the end of the month, they will probably only have me come in every two weeks. I am guessing they will want to do that 4 or 6 times, and then maybe swap me to once a month. I told her not to hurry on my account, I would rather be safe than to go back to work earlier!
Here are the lab results for February 22:
| PROCEDURE | RESULT | UNIT | REF RANGE |
| [Profile: CMP] |
| Creatinine | 0.9 | mg/dL | 0.4 - 1.0 |
| Blood Urea Nitrogen | 11.0 | mg/dL | 8.0 - 20.0 |
| Sodium | 130.6 L | mmol/L | 136.0 - 144.0 |
| Potassium | 4.0 | mmol/L | 3.6 - 5.1 |
| Chloride | 100.6 L | mmol/L | 101.0 - 111.0 |
| CO2 | 22.9 | mmol/L | 22.0 - 32.0 |
| Glucose | 111 | mg/dL | 74 - 118 |
| Calcium | 9.3 | mg/dL | 8.9 - 10.3 |
| AST | 26.0 | U/L | 15.0 - 41.0 |
| ALT | 45.0 | U/L | 17.0 - 63.0 |
| Alkaline Phos | 67.0 | U/L | 38.0 - 126.0 |
| Albumin | 4.1 | g/dL | 3.5 - 4.8 |
| Total Protein | 6.1 | g/dL | 6.1 - 7.9 |
| Total Bilirubin | 0.8 | mg/dL | 0.4 - 2.0 |
| [Profile: GCT] |
| GCT | 58.0 H | U/L | 7.0 - 50.0 |
| [Profile: MAGNESIUM] |
| Magnesium | 1.4 L | mg/dL | 1.8 - 2.5 |
| [Profile: PHOSPHORUS] |
| Phosphorus | 2.3 L | mg/dL | 2.4 - 4.7 |
| [Profile: CBC] |
| WBC | 3.0 L | K/uL | 4.0 - 11.0 |
| RBC | 4.04 | M/uL | 3.8 - 6.2 |
| Hgb | 13.7 | g/dL | 11.5 - 18.0 |
| Hct | 39.0 | % | 35.0 - 54.0 |
| MCV | 96.6 | fl | 80.0 - 100.0 |
| MCH | 33.9 | pg | 27.0 - 34.0 |
| MCHC | 35.1 | g/dL | 31.0 - 36.0 |
| RDW | 12.4 | % | 11.5 - 14.5 |
| Platelets | 254 | K/uL | 150 - 450 |
| # Neut | 1.94 |
| 1.40 - 6.50 |
| % Neut | 64.40 | % | 42.20 - 75.20 |
| # Lymph | 0.87 L |
| 1.20 - 3.40 |
| % Lymph | 28.90 | % | 20.50 - 51.50 |
| # Mono | 0.16 |
| 0.10 - 0.50 |
| % Mono | 5.29 | % | 1.70 - 9.30 |
| # Eos | 0.01 |
| 0.00 - 0.70 |
| % Eos | 0.25 | % | 0.00 - 7.00 |
| # Baso | 0.04 |
| -0.00 - 0.20 |
| % Baso | 1.16 | % | -0.00 - 2.50 |
| [Profile: CHOLESTEROL] |
| Cholesterol | 142.00 | mg/dL | 0.0 – 200.0 |
| [Profile: TRIGLYCERIDE] |
| Triglycerides | 212.0 H | mg/dL | 0.0 – 200.0 |
| [Profile: Creatinine Clearance 24 Hour] |
| Urine Volume | 4690.00 | mls/24hr | - |
| Urine Collection | 1440 | Minutes | - |
| Urine Creatinine | 36.7 L | mg/dL | 400.0 – 2800.0 |
| Creatinine Clearance | 132.81 | mL/min | 80.00 – 125.00 |
| Urine Creatinine 24 Hrs | 1.72 | gm/24 hrs | 1.00 – 2.00 |
| [Profile: PROTEIN: 24hr Urine Total] |
| Micro Total Protein | 2 | mg/dL | - |
| MTP/24HR | 93.8 | mg/24hr | - |
