First Procrit Shot

As part of the application process for the Dallas Transplant Institute, I collected a 24 hour urine sample and gave a blood sample on Monday, November 28. I got a call the following day from my nephrologist's office, saying that I needed to come in ASAP for my first ProCrit shot. When I went to the nephrologist on November 7, I was given some forms to sign so they could process the insurance/medicare application for me to get these shots, saying I'd be ready to start the treatment in December. However, my blood count has fallen so slow that the doctor didn't want me to wait that long.

Procrit is a synthetic form of the hormone erythropoietin, which is secreted by healthy kidneys and signals the bone marrow to make new blood cells. In renal disease, the kidneys make little or no erythropoietin, so blood count falls to dangerous levels. I was told my hemoglobin was down to 7.5, a level that would ordinarily require a blood transfusion. However, a transfusion would create antibodies in my system, which would make it harder to get a match in a kidney transplant.

So, I got the first shot today, and I'll get a second one on December 15. The nurse said I should feel some improvement between now and then. I've been feeling increasingly weak and cold. It doesn't help that we've had temps at night as low as 17-18 degrees. I've taken to sleeping in a sweat suit; it takes that much to keep me comfortable. At night, while watching TV, I cover myself with a fleece "snuggie" and then put a quilt over my feet.

I had a call from my friend Linda Rose on Sunday. Strangely, I found the call unsettling rather than comforting. When her husband died about 6 years ago, she went through a prolonged bout of grieving. Even two years ago, when she and Janet McKinnon and I got together for a spa weekend, Linda was still going on and on about losing Dee. Both Janet and I felt that she should have gotten over the raw parts of her grief by then; neither of us liked Dee very much for the way he treated Linda, so it was extra burden to listen to her pine for somebody that mistreated her. Anyway, Linda didn't offer much in the way of emotional support, merely suggesting that I try journaling as a way of getting past some of the emotional issues I'm dealing with. She said that she found it very healing in getting over Dee; well, maybe you can journal your way out of grief, but you can't journal your way to improved kidney function! In parting she added that she would send a lot of good thoughts my way, that if she prayed, she would pray for me, but that she doesn't pray any more.  I know that she was raised as a Roman Catholic; the sister who lives with Linda was a nun for over 25 years; Dee belonged to Church of Christ and made Linda take a lot of classes in that faith, so it's not as if she has not had a life of faith before. Makes me wonder what's happened to make her stop praying.