Yesterday, December 4, 2013, I went to the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics (UIHC) for my six month post kidney transplant check up. Kidney-wise, I am doing great!

The following are my most recent labs:

• Sirolimus level – 11.7
• BUN – 8
• Creatinine – 0.9
• Potassium – 3.7
• Hemoglobin – 13.9
• WBC – 5.2
• Platelet Count – 233
• CO2 – 25

These lab results indicate that I am doing great.

My UIHC transplant team has decided that I can stop taking sulfamethoxazole-trimethoprim (Bactrim) which I use to take every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. Bactrim is an anti-bacterial drug. In addition, the UIHC transplant team decided that I do not need to have labs every week. Thus, I will have labs once every two weeks until February when I start having labs once a month. This means that I get to have much more freedom. I can travel and stay away from home for longer periods of time and now I have less medications to take. Finally, my next visit to UIHC will be in June of next year at my one year anniversary of the kidney transplant or as I like to call it kidney adoption day.

My new medication list only includes these:

• Cysteamine Bitartrate: 50mg cap, 11 caps 4x daily
• Levocarnitine: 100mg/ml solution, 2ml 4x dayily
• Mycophenolate Mofetil: 500mg tab, 1 tab 2x daily
• Cysteamine HCI BAC: Eye solution 1 drop each eye every hour while awake
• Sirolimus: 1mg tab, 4 tabs 1x daily
• Prednisone: 5mg tab 1 tab 1x daily
• Sodium & Potassium Phosphates: 250mg tab 1 tab 2x daily
• Docustate: 100mg cap 1 cap 3x daily as needed
• Sennosides: 8.6mg tab 1 tab 2x daily as needed
• Sertraline: 50mg tab 1 tab 1x daily
• Ondansetron: 4mg tab 1 tab every 8 hours as needed
• Acetaminophen: 325mg tab 2 tabs every 6 hours as needed
• Sumatriptan: 100mg tab 1 tab as needed

Nevertheless, I also ended up getting very sick yesterday with acute nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea, blood pressure 147/103 with a pulse of 109 and temperature of 98.9. Thus, I went to the emergency room (ER) at Alegent Mercy Hospital in Council Bluffs, Iowa. At the ER they started IV fluids and gave me zofran. They then performed serveral tests including urinalysis & culture, CBC with differential, comprehensive metabolic panel, fecal hemoccult, abdomen complete 2v, culture stool, fecal WBC, and giardia/cyrpto screen. The medial team there diagnosed me with a gastrointestinal infection and put me on the following medications ciprofloxacin 500mg tablet and prochlorperazine 10mg tablet. This is in addition, to the acute sinusitis I was diagnosed with on Tuesday which my primary care physician prescribed me cefdinir 300mg capsule.

Overall, I am doing pretty well for a post kidney transplant cystinotic (cystinosis) patient of 22 years old. My kidney function is awesome and I am gaining back all of my strength. The kidney is saving my life. My current vitals include temperature 97.6, blood pressure 126/86, pulse 102, and wight 102.8. thus, I am doing good. But, my friend Paige is not. 

Paige Orlinski needs a kidney to survive, she is only 12 years old. If you are willing to be tested to see if you are a match for Paige, please contact the transplant team at Egleston in Atlanta, Georgia by calling (404) 785-1405 and ask for Debbie. Tell them you wish to donate your kidney to Paige Orlinski. For more information on Paige and kidney donation please visit my post on Paige, “Save Paige’s Life and Get Tested.”