Transplant Day 61, Neutropenia
I’ve been fairly busy this week, with going back to work, finishing some odds and ends, etc., so I haven’t been updating my “Daily Vital Signs” page. I did do that today. My BP has been decent, weight is stable, and no fever. That last one is extremely important, as my blood work yesterday showed Neutropenia (my ANC is 0.88, which would indicate moderate Neutropenia).
I did speak to the Transplant Nurse, and the surgeon is decreasing my Valcyte to 450 mg once a day (it had been twice a day). It will take a little while for my white count to rebound, but if it doesn’t, they will probably start me on Neupogen.
I feel great, except last night, the fact that I’m now back to work full-time apparently caught up to me, because I was asleep by 8pm, and didn’t get up until 6 am today (except for some bathroom breaks).
Another thing I’m not used to is that I make about 4 trips to the bathroom while at work. Of course, I hardly ever used the work bathroom when I was on dialysis.
I can tell a BIG difference in my brain function since returning. I’m no longer “clouded” mentally. Prior to surgery, it was definitely noticeable, and made me frustrated. Now, I can think so much more clearly.
The “theme of the week” for phone calls seemed to be MRSA, which is Staph bacteria that are resistant to certain medications. I must have had at least 1-2 calls on this each day. Today, I spoke with the mother of an infant who had a cellulitis and abcess of the buttock from MRSA, and was hospitalized 2 months ago for it. Today, they are out of state, and his leg has a lesion exactly as before, but not yet as bad. So, he earned himself a visit to an out-of-state Emergency Department.
We also had a child admitted to ICU today with a heart rate of 270 and symptomatic. She has SVT. Although we have several admissions to the hospital each week, rarely is it to the PICU. Once they get her heart rate down, I’m sure that she’ll do OK.
I did post on MyKidney about Informed Consent with Transplants. Check it out if you have a minute.
Happy Fourth of July everyone!
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About
My name is Jeff, and I was born in 1963. I married Jackie in 1990 after we met in a psychiatric hospital (we both worked there). Kevin is our teen-aged son.
RN since 1989. I currently work in a hospital-based Pediatric Clinic.
Dog lover. We have 3 2 dogs: Kelsea (Springer Spaniel), Chester (Sheltie), and Digger (GoldenDoodle).
Hobbies: genealogy (main areas of research are Scotland, England, Ireland, and Northeastern Pennsylvania), computers, listening to music (Celtic, Rock, Classical; my current favorites are Enter The Haggis, The Screaming Orphans and Flogging Molly), and following news and politics (I’m a Libertarian but registered Republican, as Pennsylvania doesn’t allow cross-party voting in the primary).
I have 2 major chronic illnesses: Polycystic Kidney Disease and Charcot-Marie-Tooth Disease (a form of muscular dystrophy). I’ve also had gastric bypass surgery successfully (I’m 200 lbs less than my pre-op weight from January 2002), and most recently received a kidney transplant on May 3, 2008 at Geisinger Medical Center, Danville, PA. Thank you donor and donor family!
Philosophy: Chronic illness is all in what you make it; it is what it is, and I won’t let it limit what I do…
Feel free to send me an email; address here.
A Happy 4th of July to you too! You picked a good week to go back to work.
Actually, the fact that this was a 4 day week was the main reason I went back this week.