Tuesday, September 10, 2013

A Bunch of Good News!

Hello again, dear Readers,

After a week at the glorious Cote d'Azur with my dear P and family too, I wanted to check in with some nice news from the lab yesterday.

But first, here's a shot I snapped at our villa with its own private pool.  You can see that the weather was just plain perrrrrrrfect:

So just to recap, I've been on a Prednisone weaning schedule, decreasing by 1mg/month since reaching the 10 mg mark.

To say it's been hard is an understatement and so as this month is one of traveling I decided to NOT wean for the month of September and remain at 8 mgs/day until the next scheduled wean down to 7 mgs in October.

The GREAT news is that since not weaning I haven't had one nap!  K, well, perhaps a couple 1 or 2 minute micro-naps but no more 2 hour bangers.

This in my new world is a very big deal as heavy fatigue and pain after 1 or 2 pm has unfortunately been the status quo since March, (when I weaned from 40 to 30 mgs/day), and for a while I was starting to wonder if it was all just the "new normal" of Stage 3 Kidney Disease, as I've read many a story about how tired people get in stages 3-5.  But alas, I'm thinking that a lot of that suffering was due more to the weaning than the CKD and THAT, is a good thing.

Not only have I not napped since not weaning, but the pain has decreased somewhat too.  Sure I still have fire up the spine daily after about 2pm, the odd waxing and waning headaches and other joint pains but to NOT be so drained that I just flop over is for me, some very welcomed and renewed hope for the future. 

So voila, there's good news #1.

Good news #2 is that after getting my blood and urine workups back this week I was most pleased to see that my Potassium levels are STILL within normal ranges and that's after eating even MORE beans and nuts and spinach and even quinoa as well as other significant sources of K last month.  FANTASTIC!   I must of course continue to be vigilant about all that goes down the gorge, but it's just grand to know that my body is handling the increased potassium and getting protein from plant sources more than fish/seafood/eggs, (which got me into cholesterol-trouble for a while there).

Good news #3 is that I am now officially NOT anemic anymore!  I had been since hospitalization and likely before that for some time too and it's wonderful to see that number as normal again for the first time in so very long.

Good news #4?  My kidney filtration rate, (aka "GFR"), is holding steady at 40.  Granted, it did go down by one point since the last blood test but still, a huge improvement from where it was after being released from the hospital back in January.  This also shows--I'm guessing, that the MPA is still solidly in remission and no longer nibbling on my beans like it had been all throughout chemo until remission was finally reached.

So there it all is and all after a MOST relaxing but too short getaway to the beautiful South of France.  Our villa was gorgeous, the pool was cleaned 3 times during our one week stay, the town was charming as can be and I am already missing that turquoise jewel of a pool and dining on fresh swordfish we would pick up at the market.  K, I just GOTTA add a pic of the first luncheon I made with that melt-in-your-mouth, delish fish:

MAN ALIVE, I swear it was the best lunch I ever made!

The green stuff is sauteed arugula with garlic tossed in the pan the fish was cooked in.  With Linguini, of course. 

Now I'm off to walk this ole Yeller of mine here under some most welcome bluebird skies.  Autumn is already taking hold over here and I love the changing smell in the air.

Thanks again for reading and be well, everybody.




+++vibes,

: J