Transplant Nephrology Appointment on Monday

This coming Monday I’ll be seeing my nephro again. I’m hoping things will be a bit more stable by then.

Some of the issues that have come up:
CMV positive blood test result- as you may remember from previous post, I had mentioned that blood tests showed that my white count was dropping/low. As a result of this, many of my medications were put on hold, including my antivirals.  Well, I guess that the amount of time that I was off of the antivirals was enough for my blood tests to show up as CMV positive. Pre-transplant, my donor was CMV positive while I somehow managed to be CMV negative. In healthy individuals, CMV is not something of concern, but it is a concern for those who are immunosuppressed…like a kidney transplant recipient.

Since my white count issue has been resolved, I have been back on the antivirals for a while now.  I have actually increased the dose of one of them from once a day to twice a day. He’s to hoping that will rectify itself.

Slightly elevated liver enzymes- another issue that has come up is a slightly elevated liver enzyme level. I have been told that it could be due to my new medications. Yet, even though I’ve been on pantaloc for a while, I have been told to stop it, as apparently pantaloc can sometimes elevate liver enzymes.  When I was having issues with my white count, my doctor had wanted me to stop/hold the pantaloc. I skipped ONE dose, and came crawling back to my pantaloc by the time I would normally take my next dose. I have really bad reflux and simply cannot be without it.  It makes me wonder how something I have taken for so long without issue is not affecting my liver enzymes.  Anyhow, this time around, I was prescribed omeprazole to use instead of pantaloc.  I used to be on omeprazole until my gastroenterologist switched me to pantaloc after giving me a endoscopy and a colonoscopy.  I wonder if these things are taken into consideration before meds are stopped/switched.  I’ll have to talk to my doctor about this on Monday.

At least my low white count has been rectified.  I’m really hoping that things will soon sort themselves out so that I can go back to work. I’m reaaaaaly wanting to go back so I can start applying for HR jobs! It’s amazing how much more BUSY I am/feel when I’m not at work.

I guess we’ll see what happens on Monday.  Wish me luck..

Florence: