June 4, 2012

Third week of clinic. i only have to go twice a week now. We arrived shortly before 7 a.m., sign in and wait to get called. We see Carl Burnett, a man who had a kidney transplant from his daughter on May 8, a week before I had mine. He apparently is driving already (he lives in Keller) and arrives by himself. We also see a young woman we had not seen before. She already has the full face and chubby cheeks that are the trademark of steroids. Will I look like that soon? We hear her tell someone that she had her transplant on March 29, so she's had it 2-1/2 months. A man from our apartment complex, who had a liver transplant about a month ago is at the clinic with his wife. She tells us that today they hope to find out whether his pro-crit shot is working and that his blood count rises. If not, he will need a transfusion which they'd rather avoid. I hear the man tell someone else that he doesn't feel very good, and other man suggests that perhaps a shot of vitamin B12 may help. I get called for blood work and a urine specimen around 8 a.m., and after that we go to the cafeteria for breakfast. I get scrambled eggs, a bagel, and starbucks coffee. Ramiro gets scrambled eggs, a whole wheat biscuit, home-fries, a sausage link, and starbucks with cream. We eat quickly and then I take my day's first quota of meds. We go back to the lab to wait to see the doctor. Around 9 a.m. I get called in for vital signs--blood pressure (137/63, much higher than it was at home--107/45), temp (97.7), I'm asked about my pain level (zero), and I get weighed: 105.6 I seem to remember that I was 105.4 last week--has the weight gain started? Or was it that wonderful pot roast we had at Margaret's house yesterday? We're asked to wait for Morgan, who will go over my meds with me. that consists of me telling her the number and dose of the pills I take, and she checks it against her list. We agree and I'm done with this part of the visit. Apparently an exam room is not ready, so we go back out to the lobby to wait to see the doctor. When we finally get called in, it's Michelle (P.A.) who comes in. She listens to my heart and lungs (everything sounds good), then looks at my incision and decides to pull out the staples. They mostly come out easily but two of them hurt as she pulls them out. She decides to leave the bottommost two in, but tells me to remind the doctor on Friday to take them out. She tells me that my creatine level is 0.6, really good. All my other numbers are good also, so no recommendations or changes. We're done with clinic, but we have to wait around for the nutrition class that starts at 11:30. We decide to go to the Courtyard Pharmacy so I can pick up some diabetic test strips. I got a prescription from Michelle so that insurance can pay for them. Unfortunately, Courtyard Pharmacy is not authorized to bill Medicare directly for diabetic testing supplies, and he recommends that I go to Walgreen's or CVS, which can bill directly. So we walk back to the hospital lobby to wait for the class. The class is called Learning to Live the Lean Life, and has to do dietary measures to prevent cholesteral and heart problems. Not much new information, but that's beause I've been through diabetes education classes, which touch on the same thing. No skin on chicken, don't fry food, use olive or canola oil if you must use oil, eat avocados, nuts, fatty fish like salmon and tuna (but it takes 3 servings a week for it to be effective!) for the good fats, use only nonfat dairy, limit whole eggs to 4 a week or use egg whites/egg substitutes. Yada yada yada. This is how we eat when we are home, so it will be easy for us to follow this regimen. I am worried about how Ramiro is eating here, because he's enjoying the variety of restaurants we've been trying out. I'll have to get him back on the straight and narrow once we're home. We stop at Walgreen's on the way home, where we get a lot of hassle about who wrote the prescrption (they cant decipher the signature) and I can't either. I tell them I see Dr. Yango or Dr. Fishbach at clinic, and they decide to go with that. But they don't have two packages of the strips I need, so I get one and will get the rest tomorrow. I need to find a mail order place that bills Medicare directly so that I can get them at home without a copay and without this hassle. I took the chicken thighs that my sister used in the lemon pepper chicken and chopped them up. I put them in a skillet and added some water and a little hot sauce. (the rice she made was nasty--she added so much water that the rice got mushy and she had to overbake it to dry it out). I threw out the entire 13" pan of rice. I popped 4 corn tortilla tostadas into the toaster oven that Ramiro brought from home while Ramiro mashed a ripe avocado. I chopped lettuce and tomatoes and fixed us chicken tostadas with avocado. I spread a thin layer of refried beans on my tostada, then the guacamole, topped it with chicken and lots of lettuce and tomatoes. It was delicious! Right after lunch Ramiro did the laundry, and we spent the rest of the afternoon just resting. Ramiro took a nap; clinic mornings start early for us.