On the 14th had my 3 month scheduled biopsy (they do 3 month and 1 year). That was an experience, toast and coffee/water ok in am, arrive at hospital at 11 am for 1 pm biopsy, put in shared room for wait then brought down, then lots of waiting for something like four senior people plus some others to be available. Huge needle, first they do local numbing, they break the skin with an xacto knife like cutter, that is some pressure on the skin put don’t feel pain, then they do the things with the needle, doesn’t really hurt but still this is the first time I’ve been awake for a biopsy. Afterwards they put a ton of pressure on the stomach and kidney to stop bleeding, that part really was awkward and a lots of pressure, not exactly painful but caused a lot of irritation. Then back up to the room at about 2 pm for a four hour wait to check for bleeding via lab work and any urine. Of course that means my labs are drawn at 6 pm with the rest of the hospital, at around 7 pm nurse suggests I should order food, which I did. That meal I ate in its entirety, far different from my post-transplant stay. Off course then we run into the 7-8 pm switch over, so at 8 pm I learn that lab work doesn’t show bleeding and at 8:30 nurse is done with discharge paperwork and I’m on my way.
Last week on Tuesday the 18th I have the follow-up appointment at the clinic that they scheduled, of course only the non-doctors are there so no one has my biopsy results. So not until last night on the 26th I receive a message that the biopsy looked good as they gave me my lab work results. Next visit for labs and dr is in a month.
I think at any time now I could transfer back to my nephrologist but I’ll talk it over with them next month. For a bit I was considering transferring to the clinic nephrologist because it’s close to work but then I realized the big practice would lead to lots of waiting, and I prefer my old doctor who might have two patients waiting and a very small satellite office. Also I like the guy. He partner I saw in the dialysis center was good as well but I prefer the guy I saw for the six years prior to dialysis.
I also want to make an appointment with a surgeon to remove the aneurisms for my fistula and hopefully keep it until its needed next.
Labs have been looking good, creatinine seems to have settled on 1.3, which is very nice as for a while it felt like it settled on 1.4.
Current medicines:
Envarsus (Tacrolimus) 6mg
Mycophenolate sodium 360 mg * 3/day
Prednison 5 mg
Magnesium Oxide 400 mg 2 pills * 2/day
Sodium Bicarbonate 650 mg 4 pills * 3/day
Sensipar 30 mg
Phospha 250 Neutral 250 mg * 2/day
They did refer me to an endocrinologist in August and I had my follow-up appointment include the results from a Dexa Scan, some weakened bones in the arm. They are also worried about calcium and PTH, also mentioned that the Sensipar must not be working. Because they worry about the PTH they started talking about removing the thyroid, by the senior doctor asked if I wanted to do that and I said I’d rather give it some time. I’m not in a huge rush to remove body parts, I’d rather give my body some time to recover with the new kidney before I take that step. So for now they ordered a ultrasound of the thyroid.
On Wednesday I’ll move back to taking the bus and metro to work. I’ve not been having fun averaging 13 mph on the 6 mile drive to work. The bus/metro probably takes the same time but I can relax the entire way…
Posted at: http://ihatedialysis.com/forum/index.php?topic=34003.msg518487#msg518487