Ramiro and I drove to Ft. Worth yesterday so that I could go to the Baylor Transplant Clinic for an appointment that was set up when I was discharged a month ago. I've been going for labwork with Dr. Moulton on a weekly basis since we've come back, but the Baylor team wanted to see me in a month to make sure that the Arkansas lab/doctor were getting it right. So far my labs here have been very good, so I did not expect any problems, although I did have a lot of questions.
My Baylor lab work looked great, and my creatinine level was 0.5!!!! Everyone is so pleased with my numbers. Bettina told me first, then Dr. Fishbach said he sneaked a peak at it before seeing me because he wanted to know what it was! I mentioned that I was getting some readings on my blood pressure cuff that I had "an irregular" heartbeat, and wanted to know what was going on. Dr. Fishbach said, after listening to my heart, that the upper chamber (atrium) was pumping just a little prematurely, so he suggested doing an EKG. The EKG shows "normnal rhythm" in "sinus' rhythm, which he said could be due to low magnesium. He checked my mag levels and sure enough, they were the lowest they have been. He recommended an adjustment to that supplement. I told him that my ankles swell up by the end of the day, and he said that could be due to the amlodipene, which is one of the two blood pressure meds I take. He talked about cutting it back some, but I told him that I would worry more about keeping my blood pressure at a good level rather than worrying about big ankles at the end of the day, and he agreed. He suggested compression socks as an alternative. I also mentioned that I'm getting cramps in my toes at night, and he said that was likely due to the magnesium. So, bottom line is that I'm to increase my mag dosage and get lab work in a week, and maybe another EKG to see whether it improves. The only other issue was that my Prograf number was 27 (don't know the units), and it's supposed to be in the 8-9 range. Dr. F thought the test result was a fluke, because he said that at 27, I would be having visible tremors, and obviously I'm not. Besides, as I told him, last week my number was 8.4, so I can't imagine it jumping up that much from one week to the next. So that will be tested again at the end of this week, and the Prograf reduced if it really is that high. Prograf has been a problem for me all along because I don't metabolize it, and it tends to stay in my system and build up. When I was first transplanted, I got a big does of it, and then I did not get another dose for the next 3 days because the level was so high in my system. When I was finally started on it, it was at 0.5 mg per day, which was increased to 0.5 mg. twice a day about a month ago.
We stayed at the Homestead Suites on University Dr., which is where my sister stayed when she was down there. Don't think we'll stay there again. The shower was not good, and didn't drain quickly enough, plus they don't do room cleaning unless you are there for more than 7 days.
Sunday, on the way into Texas, we ate a late lunch at Taste of India in McKinney. That is one of our favorite restaurants down there, and the buffet is a real treat. For dinner we got a salad from the Central Mkt salad bar, which we took back to the room and ate late. This morning we had breakfast at the hospital cafeteria, then got take out lunch from Esperanza's. We stopped in Sherman at the Whataburger and ate our lunch there. The beef fajita burrito was great. It had grilled onions and rice/beans. We also got a chicken fajita burrito, but are saving that for tomorrow; the beef burrito was so big we both made a meal out of it.
Of course no trip to FW is complete without a trip to Sprouts and to Central Mkt.
It's late and I have to go. Tomorrow we are meeting with Doug Elmore, an ins. rep for Aflac; we are interested in getting a cancer policy.
