I'm moving a bit gingerly today, in part due to a full weekend of brunches, lunches and fun wedding times. The wedding was beautiful - great weather, lots of great family and friends to celebrate with, and a memorable service and reception. Maggie and Pete were happy throughout. I was honored to have been in the party, to stand at my sister's side as she made her pledge in front of god and everyone. There are some great photos floating around on Facebook, thanks in large part to my cousin Andy Zimney - great photos Zim!
The other news of the weekend, the biopsy results! Turns out my creatinine was high because of an 'acute cellular rejection' with some small incident of IgA nephropathy. Of the various types of rejection, acute cellular is the least dangerous so far as I understand it. It is also much more hopeful than a chronic failure which would be untreatable. The nephropathy is likely a slow burn type of issue that may or may not be an issue. It is not terribly well understood largely because it isn't often an issue. A cellular rejection tends to slowly raise the creatinine levels as the surrounding tissues attack the transplanted kidney. As is standard, I got a three day dose of steroids to reduce my immune system and give the transplant a chance to cozy back into my belly without being harassed by my t-cells and what not. The steroids are not without their side-effects which added to the general excitement of the weekend. Synthetic prednisone mimics a bodies stress response, which is what we all experience when we are under stress. The feeling of being on a relatively high dose of prednisone is similar to being totally revved up, where it doesn't take much to start a rambling conversation or to obsess over one thing or another. Being somewhat prone to rambling conversations and obsessions already, the effects on me were both familiar and a bit tiring. This is the other source of my ginger movement today.
After bopping around all weekend with visits to the Abbott infusion center, dinners, the wedding and so on, this morning I've been slugging through a fog, where my body feels a bit disconnected from my brain - my self somewhere in limbo between them. It's a bit tricky to track my thoughts enough to put down something coherent. There's a thickness behind my ears and eyes and my muscleys are all mooshy. On days like this it is hard for me to determine cause and effect - to suss out how much of my body is reacting to the drugs or stressful weekend of just a night of bad sleep. Consequently, being an introspective chap, I lay about searching out how I might respond to this situation - or more simply how I think of how I'm doing. Am I tired? Am I reacting to steroids? Am I coming off an emotional week where I was fairly convinced I was about to re-enter the doldrums of dialysis and waiting? All of the above? Maybe this is never a simple question - 'how are you doing?' - and we are only able to fake through it when our circumstances are stable for long enough to present a convincing story.
It is now Wednesday - I gave the thing a few day's space to see if anything cleared, and it has somewhat. I'm a few days away from the steroid run and my body has somewhat settled out. I've had a follow-up blood draw yesterday which held the creatinine low enough to keep everyone happy. Coming off of this will take a few weeks; I remember the feeling of just starting to relax after having the second transplant (the first going so quickly), how it took months before I started to feel like a regular person in the ways it seems to count. Normal walks through the grocery store and not anticipating taking my morning or evening drugs. Ellie and I have a few more days at MITY before drawing another great session to a close.
Sorry this took so damn long to post - and thanks for reading!
The other news of the weekend, the biopsy results! Turns out my creatinine was high because of an 'acute cellular rejection' with some small incident of IgA nephropathy. Of the various types of rejection, acute cellular is the least dangerous so far as I understand it. It is also much more hopeful than a chronic failure which would be untreatable. The nephropathy is likely a slow burn type of issue that may or may not be an issue. It is not terribly well understood largely because it isn't often an issue. A cellular rejection tends to slowly raise the creatinine levels as the surrounding tissues attack the transplanted kidney. As is standard, I got a three day dose of steroids to reduce my immune system and give the transplant a chance to cozy back into my belly without being harassed by my t-cells and what not. The steroids are not without their side-effects which added to the general excitement of the weekend. Synthetic prednisone mimics a bodies stress response, which is what we all experience when we are under stress. The feeling of being on a relatively high dose of prednisone is similar to being totally revved up, where it doesn't take much to start a rambling conversation or to obsess over one thing or another. Being somewhat prone to rambling conversations and obsessions already, the effects on me were both familiar and a bit tiring. This is the other source of my ginger movement today.
After bopping around all weekend with visits to the Abbott infusion center, dinners, the wedding and so on, this morning I've been slugging through a fog, where my body feels a bit disconnected from my brain - my self somewhere in limbo between them. It's a bit tricky to track my thoughts enough to put down something coherent. There's a thickness behind my ears and eyes and my muscleys are all mooshy. On days like this it is hard for me to determine cause and effect - to suss out how much of my body is reacting to the drugs or stressful weekend of just a night of bad sleep. Consequently, being an introspective chap, I lay about searching out how I might respond to this situation - or more simply how I think of how I'm doing. Am I tired? Am I reacting to steroids? Am I coming off an emotional week where I was fairly convinced I was about to re-enter the doldrums of dialysis and waiting? All of the above? Maybe this is never a simple question - 'how are you doing?' - and we are only able to fake through it when our circumstances are stable for long enough to present a convincing story.
It is now Wednesday - I gave the thing a few day's space to see if anything cleared, and it has somewhat. I'm a few days away from the steroid run and my body has somewhat settled out. I've had a follow-up blood draw yesterday which held the creatinine low enough to keep everyone happy. Coming off of this will take a few weeks; I remember the feeling of just starting to relax after having the second transplant (the first going so quickly), how it took months before I started to feel like a regular person in the ways it seems to count. Normal walks through the grocery store and not anticipating taking my morning or evening drugs. Ellie and I have a few more days at MITY before drawing another great session to a close.
Sorry this took so damn long to post - and thanks for reading!
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