Phew

The stent is out!! :) I already feel better as a result, whether that's psychosomatic or not, who cares. Had another ultrasound on the kidney - the top edge of it isn't perfusing well, which we already knew, but the rest of it seems to be working well and the blood flow is ok so the cause of the cret. jump is most likely just me not drinking enough fluid. I shall be more careful for a while. Currently I feel like a barrel, having drunk at least 2 litres since I got home from clinic at 3ish this afternoon!

Some of the side effects are really starting to wind me up, particularly the nervous tremors and excess hair growth. Small prices to pay though after today's mini wake-up call!

Heh - looking at the post titles for the last few messages I've clearly had a bit of an up n down month. To be expected, I suppose. Hope it evens out over the coming weeks!

Spoke too soon

:( Nurse called this afternoon to say Cret has gone up to 145 which is too high, so I have to go in tomorrow AM for some urgent bloods and a scan before they decide whether my stent removal op can go ahead as planned in the afternoon. 

I've been feeling a bit rough this week, fighting off a cold and all the tremor-y tingly symptoms have been around quite a bit. Bah! Here's hoping it's just a little glitch, could even just be that I'm not drinking enough water or something!

Woo!

Finally down to two visits a week as of now! Mondays and Thursdays. Ironic really that my cyclosporin number has been all over the place, giving me the shakes really badly. I've not been sleeping well either - nurse reckons it may be the prednisolone. I dunno, but I am very very tired and been feeling quite poorly the last couple of days, but we've cut my cyclo dose down and hopefully my body will even out later in the week. 

Got my stent removal scheduled for this Friday (when they take out the plastic tube that's currently in my bladder supporting the connection to the new kidney) - can't wait, I'm very aware of it now and could really do with the related pain going away! 

Have also just started to do a little exercise again - just a short home circuit, 15 minutes worth. Managed it once so far *lol* and it utterly exhausted me! Second go a little bit later. Might have a nap first though....

Bound to happen eventually...

... I've caught a cold :( Nothing serious, but just tinged with a tiny bit of paranoia for obvious reasons, as I don't want any risks to my new kidney. The clinic nurses say to keep an eye on your temperature and if you start feeling really ill to call the ward or go to A&E. I'm sure it'll be fine though, just gonna stay in, keep warm and have some hot toddies! :) I've also got an infection in my jaw from a mouth ulcer that refuses to heal, which is really irritating! Like toothache, but more generalised.

This getting better lark is a bit of a full time job in itself! Take yesterday for example; get to clinic for 10, do all my usual weight/bp/temp measurements, wait to see the nurse, get fluid and bloods taken, wait around for an extra prescription (I've been put on statins cos my cholestorol is way too high), drop it off at the hospital pharmacy, then go up to the dentistry department to get a check-up there, then back down to the pharmacy to pick up supplies, then off to the GP to pick up another prescription I'd forgotten about when last there, then to the chemist to pick that up, only to be told they don't stock it and I should try somewhere else.... I needed a nap by the time I got home! :)

Hopefully from next week onwards I might be able to cut the clinic visits down to twice a week instead of three times a week which would be nice. Creatinine is hovering around 110 and my GFR is around 49-50 which is fantastic! They've finally started to talk about cutting the dosages too, very slowly, over the next couple of months. Can't wait to be having less steroids, getting rid of the shakes in my hands will be wonderful.

Also now have a date for my stent removal; the stent is the plastic tube that's currently in the connection between the new kidney and my bladder to keep it open while the surgery heals, which comes out after six weeks. I'm hoping that I'll stop having pain in that area once it's out, or maybe they'll find out why I'm still getting pain when they do the cystoscopy to get the stent out at least.

Feeling quite sad today. I've had quite a good few days, catching up with people and feeling good, so to wake up feeling so poorly again this morning is a real downer. This to shall pass, of course. Just a reminder that I need to take it easy and not rush back to everything.

Hmm, bit of a slip up

I appear to have got a little bit complacent today! Not only did I forget to take my morning dose of cyclosporin after clinic today, I also forgot to take my daytime dose of the other immunosuppressant, *and* then cooked myself some lovely venison for dinner but made it too rare but ate it anyway, which I'm not supposed to have at the moment (they recommend us transplantees eat like pregnant women after surgery, for completely understandable reasons)!

What am I bloody playing at?! Testing myself or something? Rebelling against being so regimented and careful? I can't help feeling like I'm pushing my luck, but in some odd way I'm doing it deliberately and I don't know why. Called the out of hours number in a panic earlier, they reassured me and gave me some instructions to get back on track. I've just managed to scare myself into being more careful in future rather than cause any kind of real setback, hopefully. I fully expect a telling off from the doctor on Wednesday morning, though, and quite right too.

I'm being a lot more careful about my physical recovery; not lifting anything heavy or doing too much, the lady with the hernia I met is a real cautionary tale to me. A couple of hours of activity still leaves me really shaky so there's clearly still quite some way to go yet.

In other news, the aforementioned venison, cooked with blueberries, was glorious; my first foray into new cooking skills was a success! :) Got some mates coming round for dinner twice this week so I have some new things to try for them also. Mmmmm.

Happy New Year

Had a very relaxed New Year, just a couple of friends over, dinner and a bottle of wine. Packed a few other friends off to various clubs and found myself grateful I didn't have anywhere else to be! :)

Feeling decidedly porky now - have put on half a stone compared to what I weighed before the surgery. Putting it into perspective it's only back to about what I weighed before I got sick in late 2007, but it's really the moon-faced-ness that I can't abide - I know it's all to do with the drugs but I really don't look like me when I look in the mirror, and the bulge around the site where they did the operation means I can't get into many of my pre-op clothes, so it'll be tracksuit bottoms for a while longer yet.

G and I managed to leave the house together at the same time for the first time in weeks today; his labyrinthitis is still there and I can't walk very far or very fast, but we made it up to Camden and managed to find some furniture that we liked, hurray! Finally we're going to start being able to unpack properly!

I now have designs on getting some kitchen gadgets, so I can learn a few cooking skills like I planned while I continue to recuperate. Reading back over the last couple of weeks, I have a feeling it'll be two steps forward and one step back for a while yet.... must try not to be too impatient to get better.

I think sometimes I forget what a big deal this has been/is/will be, cos it's become kind of every day while I'm in it. Then at the oh-so-regular clinic I talk to others, people at the same sort of time frame as me, especially the ladies I was on the ward with, and I'm always so impressed at how well they're doing and how amazing it is that lives can be changed so dramatically by the medical team, and then I remember that that applies to me just as much.

I got asked what my New Year's Resolutions were the other day. Aside from not spending any overnights in hospital, the only thing I can think of is not to waste any time. :)