Good news…for once

So I got notified that there is no indications of any stenosis in my artery feeding my new kidney according to my CT scan. This is great news. That means no need to do an angiogram to open up the artery.

Good news for once is great to hear. On a different note…

We went to visit a nurse practitioner the other day to evaluate insulin pumps. Those are ungodly expensive but worth every penny I’d think. They can cost upwards to 5,000 bucks. That’s extreme though. I think with my insurance I would end up dishing out about 800 to a 1,000 bucks. Still pretty costly and it doesn’t include supplemental supplies like the tubing and the catheters.

I also learned I probably wouldn’t benefit too much from using it since I would have to replace the insulin every other day or so. It’s because I use anywhere from 150 to 200 units a day of insulin. Yes it’s quite a bit. Exercise and better eating will help this.

I’m going to see a nutritionist to see what she can recomend. I already know I need to eat more food that has a low glycemic index. I also know I need to become more active. With the neuropathy and back pains it’s really tough for me but I have to do it.

I think I might pass on the insulin pump only because my case is a bit different. I am very very insulin resistant. And I already spend a fortune on medicine and Medicare. I don’t think I need to add onto that. I should probably talk to my wife about it and come to a final decision. Crazy!

A not so great way to lose weight

The other day I recall talking to one of my friends and my insulin regimen. It usually goes like this: long lasting insulin in the morning and bedtime. Short acting insulin before I eat my meals and snacks. All in all, that was about 6 shots a day. So every time I eat something, I have to take a shot. Unless of course I can manage to make a meal or snack that did not have carbs. Such as raw vegetables or pure protein. Of course, honestly, those aren’t too filling. But because of this, I told her it’s a great way to lose weight because I don’t necessarily want to eat because I don’t want to take a shot.

Yeah, that’s not really a great way to lose weight.

Honestly though, counting carbs in order to calculate how much insulin to take is a really great tool to losing weight. It makes you more conscious of what you are eating and aware of how much to eat. Portion size is really important to counting carbs. In many cases, where you think a package is only 1 serving, it’s actually 2 serving sizes. This is a tactic used by food companies to appear their food has lesser calories or fat. It’s not as if they’re lying. You’re just assuming it’s only 1 serving.

Another thing you’ll learn is that 0 does not necessarily mean 0. 0 could easily mean up to 0.5 mg or more! It’s one of those loopholes that seems to appear everywhere. I believe I’ve mentioned this before. Watch what you’re eating! This definitely goes for non-insulin dependent diabetics. Something to think about.

CT Scan of the kidneys

So this past friday, I had a CT scan of my donated kidney. They suspect there might be a bit of stenosis (abnormal narrowing of a bodily canal or passageway) of the artery feeding the new kidney. It was explained to me that everyone has different size arteries, and it was quite possible that the new kidney had a smaller artery than my own or vice versa. This is why the ultrasound was done, and it did suggest that I could have some stenosis.

It’s also possible the kidney might have shifted. Because it’s not behind the peritoneal wall (the membrane that holds all the organs), it could move because of how I might move my body. Of course, this makes me nervous since I can actually feel my new kidney and I worry every time I bend over, lean, or whatever. If this is the case, the artery could kink or go into a position that restricts flow.

The only reason they haven’t been too aggressive is because my kidney functions (specifically my creatinine, which last week was 0.98 – very good) are in normal ranges. But now (3 months post-surgery) is the time to act, and to fix the problem, which is not really a problem, before it becomes a really big problem and it’s an emergency situation. I agree. I don’t want to have to worry about this later when it’s a severe problem.

So now, what are the things we can do? If there is indeed stenosis and it’s a narrowing of the artery, then they will most likely do an angiogram. This would either involve a widening of the artery or inserting a stent (A slender, hollow tube inserted into the body to relieve a blockage.). I suppose if the kidney itself is shifted or kinking the artery, they may have to move it, but I’m not exactly sure what they would do in this situation.

Either way, I’m just waiting to hear the results of the test to see what they will do next. All I know is the surgeons and doctors at University of Washington are top notch and I’m in good hands.

Possibilities

So as of late, things have been going good. I’m starting to really get into a routine of taking my meds and insulin at regular intervals. I’ve been getting used to doing readings every so often as well too. As of now, I’m on at least 18 different medications and two types of insulin. I’ve also been getting used to taking my vitals twice a day as well. So it’s all been getting routine.

Today was the monthly visit to the Nephrologist at University of Washington Medical Center. He’s such a great doc. Today, when we saw him he apparently heard something he didn’t like. Basically he could hear the blood pumping through my artery at my new kidney. What does this mean? There could be a collapse of the artery at that location, or there could be a “kink” in the artery because the kidney is shifting. He said in the past they haven’t really done anything about it because my bloodwork looked really good, and it wasn’t very alarming. But he said it sounded louder so it could be getting worse. He said it was better to take care of the problem while it was small instead of letting it get worse and worse then having to take care of it when it was critical.

So what does this all mean? Well, I had an ultrasound today which will hopefully help determine that. If indeed there is a big issue (a kink or collapse of the artery), then the next thing would be to do a cat scan. The cat scan will tell us exactly what it looks like and what is going on. After the cat scan, if indeed there is a big problem, then the next step would be an Angiogram. Fun. Yes, it’s similar to the angiograms for the heart. Actually it’s exactly the same procedure, except in a different location.

Lots of ifs going on there. But you know, everything is possible. We knew that eventually we would have to do something about this. Best to do it now than later I suppose. Luckily recovery is not a big deal, maybe a day or two of taking care of myself, nothing I don’t do already. I can’t do anything stressful to my body like lifting heavy objects, but you know, I can’t do that now.

So that’s what’s been going on as of late in my world of Malignant Diabetes. How’s yours?

Dealing with “normal” life

Dealing with post transplant has been surprisingly easy for me. This is not to say it’s been easy on Meesh. Unfortunately, she’s had to deal with more than she should mainly because I either cannot or should not do it. She lifts all the heavy things, she cleans the litter box, she does all the food shopping, and well you get the idea. She does it all. And I’m so thankful to have been blessed with such an awesome support group. My parents and my sister have been tremendous help too.

Working has definitely been different for me. Before, I was lucky if I could work a half of a day without getting exhausted. Now I’m actually able to work a 9 hour day without even thinking about it. Having this transplant has been the miracle of my life, and I have everyone to thank for it, especially my sister.

Dealing with my diabetes has been a chore however. The medicine I’m taking makes it tough. I suppose I might just throw caution to the wind and just take my medicine and leave it at that but how disrespectful is that? Not only to me but to my sister? So I am working as hard as possible to keep healthy and keep my sugars in check. If that means sticking myself about 10 times a day so be it. It’s a small sacrifice to stay alive.

A word of caution to those diabetics that aren’t taking care of themselves: it’s really not as bad as you think. If I could do it all over again I would have bit the bullet and did all my glucose checks and taken my insulin.

Kidney Transplant

As most of you already know, I had a kidney transplant on July 29th, 2009. That’s just over a month ago. Since then, I simply cannot believe I had this procedure, since I don’t feel much different now than I did more than a year ago. It’s amazing how much of a difference having a kidney transplant makes.

I just want to send a great thanks for everyone who asked about me and wanted to know how I was doing. It really helped to be thought of and really gave me a lot of positive energy. Most of all I want to thank my sister for giving me the kidney. It still seems weird that I’ve got a part of her inside (literally) so it’s almost like we’re more than just brother/sister, it’s like we’re twins or something. LOL

So the other day I managed to get the bill for the surgery and hospital stay. It all came out to about 150,000 bucks. No, I’m not kidding. Luckily, I have great insurance and I probably won’t have to pay more than 600 bucks and the cost of the medication. Thank you Group Health!

But as of right now I’m doing good and I no longer have to do dialysis. Believe me that alone is quite worth it. Aside from that, the only other “side effect”, if you can call it that, is my neuropathy has gotten worse. Actually that’s not entirely true. Because prior to the transplant, the kidney disease would build up toxins in my body, it would actually become numb to a lot of pain. Now that I have a functioning kidney, those toxins are no longer building up and I’m no longer numb. So I actually feel the neuropathy now instead of numbing myself to it. Interesting!

Anyone else out there with transplants? I’d like to hear from you about how you deal with all the medications and anything else. Remember, transplant is a treatment, not a cure!

Dialysis fun

So far, dialysis has been going well. Since I’ve taken out my catheter and started using my fistula, I’ve had a rocky start, but things are progressing well. I’ve learned that taking the lidocaine can be a bit more comforting, but it does eventually wear out and in the 4 hours I’m at dialysis I still feel the effects of the pain. It’s really no big deal, but I have to admit having it at first is a great comfort. It also depends on how good the tech is in sticking you. You learn which ones are your favorites. Of course, all the techs are great. It’s the nurses you have to watch for.

My sister will be coming up for a visit for testing to donate her kidney. Pretty awesome stuff. Here’s to hoping that she’s a match. Then I believe I’ll start to feel a lot better after I initially recover from having a new kidney. There’s some promising outlooks going on.

Everyone has their bad days

I am a firm believer that we all have bad days. I mean everyone does. There are days when you feel frustrated, weak, hurting, whatever it might be and there’s nothing you can really do about it. But there are those who do nothing but whine and complain about it. They complain constantly, and are never happy with anything. Sometimes I really feel like I am that whiny person. Really. I know that there are days where I just don’t want to deal with the pain. Or the tiredness, or anything. It’s something I deal with everyday, and yesterday is no different than today, but sometimes you just have to whine about it.

Meesh insists that I’m never like that, but I feel like I am sometimes. And when it happens to someone else, I don’t think “oh my god I wish they’d shut up about it and accept it,” but instead I think, “OMG I hope I don’t sound that bad when I whine.” It’s true. I totally sympathize with anyone that is sick. You just have to complain about it. Sometimes there’s no reason except for the fact that it makes you feel better. And you know, sometimes it really really feels good to whine about it.

It figures!

So today was a bad day at dialysis. For one, I didn’t get dialyzed today. Apparently the needles infiltrated my arm and my arm swoll up pretty bad. One of the techs tried to stick me again to see if they could get it going, but it didn’t work out. This only happens after I get the catheter taken out of course. Yoshi’s Law. Go figure!

So now I’m hoping I get  to go in on Monday to dialyze and try not to swell up. I really gotta watch my liquids. Luckily I do pee quite a bit, so that’s saving me somewhat. But still it can get kinda crazy. I’ll be watching my weight real carefully too. I’ll go ahead and document that last I weighed, I was 152.2 lbs.

What a Saturday!

I’ve been wondering…

If I get drunk before I go to Dialysis, will dialysis sober me up? Has anyone tried this out? I know it would be really rude to go into dialysis drunk but I’m just curious lol. I know it cleans me up of anesthesia and pain meds. I’ve already experienced that. Any thoughts?