I MAY NOT LIKE IT, BUT I'M GETTING USED TO IT!

So since my Lung Transplant, things have been going pretty well. My lung is doing well. Any problems I'm having are all side effects from the medications I must take. The biggest issue I'm having is from one of my anti-rejection medications which is causing kidney function issues.

Now, it's not like I wasn't warned about this prior to my transplant. The statistics show that 25% of Lung Transplant patients experience high levels of serum creatinine (the lab test which is an indicator of kidney function) within the first year after transplant. Here's a link to an excellent article that explains what Lung Transplant patients must deal with post transplant.

https://secondwindstl.org/who-we-are/articles-by-dr-hacheem/chronic-kidney-disease-after-lung-transplantation/

My kidney function is not good at this point. My lab tests all show I am dehydrated even though I am drinking 96 oz. of water every day. That's because my kidneys want more. My body wants more than I am capable of drinking in a single day. My Creatinine just keeps climbing higher and higher. I'm told it's nowhere near the stage where I need to be referred to Nephrology yet. But we do need to do something. 

OK, so what is it we need to do now? Whatever it is I'll do it. I can't speak for any other transplant patients, but after having gone through a surgery like that, from which I am still recovering 8 months later, I doubt there is anything they can throw at me that I won't just say "when and where" and go do it! I may not like it, but I have been through so much in the last 2 years, never mind what I went through with my IC in the last 13 years before I even got this lung disease. There isn't much they can throw at me, that I don't just suck it up and do it.

To help my kidney function - hopefully - the Transplant Team suggested I do two IV Saline Infusions this week (Wed. & Fri.). OK, no problem. Heck at this point, an IV is nothing anymore. These infusions took 3 hours each, but I brought my iPad and iPhone and kept myself occupied. Of course, my IC bladder does NOT like this and I had to go to the bathroom in the middle of the infusion. I've been hooked up to IV's so many times that I have my Ph.D. in pushing an IV pole to the bathroom; didn't even need to call the nurse. 

Monday I will go to the lab for yet another blood draw and they will check my Creatinine and see what, if any, impact these infusions have had on my kidney function. Hopefully they will have helped. If so, then my question is: will these infusions become a regular treatment? Because I can't see the two I had lasting more than a few days (the nurse that hooked me up said that's the case with these as well). I suspect if they helped, they may become something I have to do on a semi-regular or regular basis. I'm anxious to find out.

If so, I'm hoping I can do it at home and not have to drive to the hospital for them. A conversation I need to have with someone on the Transplant Team. 

Regardless, if it's called for, I'll do it! When I signed up for a transplant, I said I would do whatever was necessary to take care of this precious gift I'd been given. So, while this may not be fun, I'll do it.   I'm getting used to this stuff. I barely blink. I have my moments; I am human, but things like this have become so routine I'm used to them. 

So whatever it takes, I'm on board. I'd really like to avoid kidney failure, dialysis and a kidney transplant. I've had one transplant; that was enough for me. But if that's what ends up being necessary, then so be it. I think the Transplant team is working hard at doing whatever it takes to postpone kidney failure for as long as they can.

Here's hoping they can postpone it for a very long time!

Wednesday; Infusion #1

Friday; Infusion #2