Friday, August 29, 2008

Quick kidney-related update

I saw my primary care doctor this week, we addressed getting me on a cholesterol medication. I started on Crestor, for which I have to have bloodwork every 4-6 weeks. All cholesterol meds carry a very very small chance of liver and/ or muscle tissue damage, so they will be monitoring that.

I see my hematologist next week; he is the doctor treating my anemia. There has been ALOT of confusion with their office, and stupid Quest Diagnostics labs. I haven't had a Procrit injection for the anemia in a couple of months, and I am not feeling as bad as I used to. The severity of the anemia may have been aggravated by being pregnant, so I am going for more bloodwork on Monday to see where me hemoglobin level is at, and we will take it from there.

I'm in the process of trying to find a new neprologist. There's been a number of things that have happened since January that have made both Rick & I uncomfortable with the one I see currently. She is a super nice lady, and has been so good to me, but we have really felt uneasy with some of the decisions and info we have been given. For example, when I was still in the hospital in January, she told me that I would not be able to have any more children after my kidney transplant. I cried & cried for 3 days. But since then, we have found through our own research that that is NOT true anymore. The rejection medications have changed so much over the years and now post-transplant women have babies all the time. All of the surgeons & doctors at Mayo have said Yes, you will be able to have children.
There's been a number of other things, so we just feel it's not a good fit for us.

So, I called my coordinator Rhonda at Mayo, and she said she wanted to get me in as a patient of one of their in-house nephrologists. I would love this, and it would make the whole process alot easier. No more "Chinese telephone" with all of my labs, records, etc. Unfortunately, there are currently only 2 nephrologists on staff at Mayo, and Rhonda said they are not taking new patients right now. But she is going to try and get me in as soon as they have an opening.


On a different note...

College football season is upon us! The Gators kick off their season tomorrow @ noon against the Rainbow Warriors.... Hawaii. It should be a shut-out! We have some friends coming over to watch the game with us on our awesome 42" plasma TV in high-definition.
My Uncle John (dad's brother) and Aunt Ruth Ann are going to the game in Gainseville at The Swamp, and then will be heading to my Mom & Dad's for dinner. I am looking forward to seeing them!
Here is a song to brighten your day.

(sung to the tune of the Oscar Meyer bologna song)

My head coach has a first name, it's U-R-B-A-N
My head coach has a last name, it's M-E-Y-E-R
I love to watch the Gators play,
and if you ask you'll hear me saaaaaay...
That Urban Meyer has a way
with F-L-O-R-I-D-A


Go Gators!

1 comment:

Unknown said...

Erin:

You are in my thoughts and prayers daily. I wish I could come see you, but as of right now that isn't possible. Money is tight since I have been laid off. I am thinking about starting my own business, but I am still in the research stage. I will keep you posted on what I decide. Stephen and Laura have settled into married life and seem to be very happy. I usually only get to see them on Sunday at church. They are really busy, with Stephen in the Air Force Reserves, going to school full-time and work he doesn't have much time. Laura is busy to with working as an proofreader and working on her PhD at Duke. Laura should graduate in the spring and Stephen will have finished his associate degree in May. Stephen I think is planning to continue his schooling at one of the local universities.
Andrew is working as a mechanic, but is still driving me crazy. He is so hard to get up, we end up fighting every single morning. His alarm clock will go off for an hour or more. He is usually late to work everyday, it is a wonder his boss doesn't fire him. Luckily, his boss knew before he hired Andrew that he had problems getting up and they have worked out a deal. His boss is a friend of Tim's and he has told Tim Andrew is a really hard worker, so I guess he is willing to put up with this behavior. It makes me crazy having to listen to the alarm so long. Oh well, it could be worse.
I spoke to my Mom recently and she has said Dad has gotten new hearing aids. These new hearing aids have really helped because he wants to talk to us on the phone now. This is great since I always felt cut off from him before. I would always have to rely on my Mom to communicate with him. I guess when he got the new hearing aids at the doctors office the doctor told my Mom to say something to him in a normal tone, so she did. The doctor asked Dad if he could hear her and he said yes that the hearing aids worked to well and asked the doctor if there was anyway to train the new hearing aids to not pick up my Mom's voice. He is so bad and loves to tease everyone.
Well, I better get busy with work.

Talk to you later. God Bless You and take care.

Kerry

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Random Picture
Rick & Erin at the Biltmore House, Christmas '09