Health Update

For those of you who are new to the Southern Transplant experience, heath updates are a regular occurrence here. I'm a 43 year old two time cancer survivor. As a teen, I was diagnosed with Hodgkins Disease which was treated with mantle radiation. In my early 20s, a Klatskin Tumor of the Primary Biliary Duct resulted in a Liver Transplant. Now, 20 years later, I've been diagnosed with calcification of the pericardium resulting in Constrictive Paricarditus and I'm being treated for Type I idiopathic Membranoproliferative Glomerulonephritis (don't worry, I have a hard time pronouncing it as well - just say MPGN.) All in all, it's been a long strange trip!

Last Monday, I had an appointment with Dr. Budisavljevic (again, don’t worry about the pronunciation – we all call him Dr. Milos.) He’s my renal (kidney) doctor – a very interesting guy from Sarajevo. I see him about once every three months or so. This time around, things seem to be doing well. My labs were good. I’ve got about 50% functionality in my kidneys which, according to Dr. Milos, is great. He said he’d rather see me have 50% functionality consistently for the next 40 years than to be at 100% with an unknown prognosis. Fourty years? Who’s he kidding? The likelihood of me seeing 83 is very slim. If I can get through all this health crap and see 70 I’ll be happy. Besides, he said he’d be long retired by then anyway. Some other recent developments with me include a small blip with my liver medications. I’ve recently started taking a medication for my gout (oh, did I fail to mention that as one of the side effects of renal problems?) The stuff is great! And it helps a lot with the constant pain I was having in my feet and hands. Anyway, the new medication wreaks havoc with the immunosuppressant meds that I’ve been taking since the transplant – it makes them hang in my system far longer than without the medication. We’ve dropped my levels, but now my liver functions are off. Anyway, it takes a little finagling until we get it all straightened out. My heart is still plugging along – though it constantly reminds that it’s still there and still working overtime. I only really have an issue when I have to exert myself quickly – as I told my doctor, “I can run a marathon, but I can’t sprint.” I can keep up heavy activity for extended time as long as I can pace myself. Both the renal and cardiac docs have mentioned the possibility of transplantation in the future – hopefully I can avoid that. Not sure if I’ve got it in me to go through that ordeal again.

Mel is again doing her Weight Watchers routine and doing very well with it. The doctors told her she might be looking at a liver transplant if she didn’t drop some weight. I think that was a bit of a scare tactic on their part, but it worked and we’re both eating healthier and getting some more exercise – though she’s much better at staying consistent with it than I am. In March she’ll be going in for some surgery – nothing too serious but she’ll be in overnight.

Both Noah and Zoë are healthy though they are not gaining much weight which is a concern for the doctors. They are both taking medications that curb their appetites. Neither of them is very big to begin with and this only compounds the problem. We’re trying all sorts of tricks to get them to eat more. It’s more than just a little ironic that while Mel is trying to eat smaller healthier meals, we’re trying to pump all the calories we can into the kids. Motivating Zoë to eat is still eluding us, but Noah has decided he likes to eat what he calls pizza burgers. He likes the big frozen burgers grilled and served with a slice of cheese and four pieces of pepperoni on each side. It’s hardening of the arteries on a plate but he devours them. How he manages to eat those and continue to hold or loose weight is the source of much frustration for us (especially when Mel’s trying so valiantly to loose weight.)

Anyway, that’s all for now. Hope this finds you all well.

Oh, and we're not even going to talk about the game.