1. I hopped in the Camry around 5:45 this morning and jetted to the Providence Sacred Heart Medical Center for blood draws and a series of conversations with the transplant team. It was a superb morning at Sacred Heart. The blood draws went smoothly. I met another nephrologist, new to the staff, Dr. Samer Abdulkhalek. He was a calm, reassuring, easy going doctor, easy to talk with.
As I've written before, right now, as I enter the fifth month since my surgery, the primary concern with my condition is getting the immune suppression medication correctly dosed. I need these drugs as a safeguard to keep my immune system from rejecting my new kidney. I'll take them for the rest of my life.
So, if the dosages are too low, rejection is a possibility.
If the dosages are too high and my immune system is over compromised, viruses can exploit that situation.
For a while, my dosages tested on the high side and, as I've written before, the BK virus manifested in my system, but with a very low presence. The hope is that having reduced my dosages, my system will take care of this virus.
When I have blood work done again in two weeks, the doctor will have me tested for a second virus, CMV. I already take a medicine to prevent this virus, but if we discover the virus snuck into my system anyway, we'll increase the dosage of this medicine which should eliminate it.
These developments are unremarkable. It's all part of the post-transplant process of recovery and adjustment. Going forward, I'll continue to have my blood tested every two weeks and return in a month for another visit to the clinic.
By the way, I also had a splendid conversation with Helen, the social worker I've talked with ever since I enrolled in this program back in 2018, and I had a quick conversation with Nurse Angela who encouraged me to get out more, keep washing my hands, do all I can to avoid being in the presence of people who are sick, and to wear my mask in situations where I'm unsure, like in stores or other public places, if people around me might be ill.
2. I left the Sacred Heart complex feeling encouraged, feeling happy after the tests and conversations.
I then embarked on the busiest and fullest day I've experienced since the surgery.
Here's what I did:
I dropped in at Auntie's Bookstore and purchased a copy of the book Perma Red by Debra Magpie Earling. It's on the Leah Sottile list I'm reading.
I enjoyed a most delicious turkey sandwich at Great Harvest and bought a big oval loaf of Asiago Sourdough bread.
I roamed the aisles of Trader Joe's. I bought some items.
I visited the Camera Corral in CdA and dropped off my favorite 50 mm lens, hoping their technician could repair a lens cap problem. I'll find out next week after the woman whom I talked to returns from a short vacation.
I filled the Camry with gas at Costco.
I went to Hippo for a car wash.
I ordered a grande latte at Starbucks.
I left the Camry for Debbie at Pinehurst Elementary and drove home in the Sube.
For the first time in over four months, I was out and about from about 6 a.m. until I returned home at 3 p.m.
3. So, because I took my auto focus 50 mm lens in for lens cap repair, I got out my other 50 mm lens tonight, a totally manual lens, and started to get reacquainted with it. I'm posting these pictures I took last night of Copper. I can tell I need to relearn getting the aperture and shutter speed working together better.If I succeed, I should be posting better, I hope sharper pictures, but even though these phots are not great, here they are! If I am going to make progress, I'd like to have a record on this blog of my less successful efforts. (I had some fun with the first photo using the vignette editing feature.)
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