Transplant Athlete
Lesson Learned
I'm amazed I'm still alive...At the start of dialysis yesterday, I weighed 76 kilos. I asked them to take off 5 kilos to see if we could find my actual target weight. Yes, Dialysis is all about trial and error. With about an hour to go, I started cramping. I asked the Tech to stop the fluid removal, which she did, temporarily it seems. The cramping got worse with ten minutes to go and I realized that the machine was still taking fluid off.
Since my blood pressure had been high for a couple months, I was afraid that hitting my target weight would drop it to normal, which would feel really low to me. I asked for fluid. My weight at the end of treatment was 73.3 kilos (since I was still cramping, we decided to put my target weight at 74 kilos). That's 74 kilos with shoes, so it's about a kilo below my weight from the hospital on Tuesday.
Back in November when I was having the most problems with blood pressure and hospital visits, I was going up to 84 kilos between treatments. That's 10 kilos above where I should have been.
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One More Hospital Visit
I had fluid in my lungs Monday night...so I went to the Emergency room. They ran tests through the night and they scheduled me for early morning dialysis. The treatment session barely started when the technician (Winny) smelled something funny. When the smell reached the Nurses' station, she decided to terminate my session. She was pretty sure the smell was coming from the water purifier and not the dialysis machine. As she was taking me off the machine, the water purifier made a noise like it was shutting down, then sprang back to life. Yipes.
I had to wait for WALT to finish with another patient and he came down with the alternate equipment. Dr. Nazzal came in and said "take him down until he cramps." I was only 1 kilo over my target weight, but WALT was told to take off 5 kilos. After the treatment I weighed 74 kilos, my blood pressure was pretty close to human normal, so my target weight was way off. Since I didn't cramp during the treatment, I'm probably still above my 'real' target weight. Yesterday, one of my blood pressures was 122/77. I haven't had a pressure that low in months. Once I find my true target weight, my blood pressure should come down to the point where I don't need blood pressure meds.
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Denied
We got the news yesterday that my dad's kidneys are not suitable for transplantation. My sister is still willing to go through the process, so hopefully the testing will begin ASAP.
In the meantime, my Nephrologist decided awhile back that he would only cover me for 30 days, we thought that would be enough time for me to get a transplant, but that is now unlikely. Since the Davita clinic I now attend is restricted to my nephrologist's practice, I'll have to switch clinics when I switch back to my old nephrologists (Metropolitan Nephrology). It means a longer commute...roughly 25 minutes each way, but hopefully it won't be for long.
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Maybe It's Not The Potassium
I talked with the Nutritionist at my local clinic this week and she seemed to think that my hypertension was NOT a result of any Potassium deficiency. She thinks it was a coincidence that my hypertension came down after I increased my intake.
That's certainly possible. So...my hypertension is still unexplained...luckily it's gone away.
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Transplant Games
US Transplant Games 2010 - Madison, Wisconsin...I'd like to be on a PACTour in July, so I'd have to miss these games.
World Transplant Games 2011 - Goteburg, Sweden.
Sailing anyone? I wonder if the Swedish bikini team will make an appearance??? I suggested bringing a nanny back with me from Sweden, but ABL says no way...
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