Three Beautiful Things 06-21-2025: Morning Steroid Infusion, Quick Shopping and a Latte, Dealing with the Infusion Aftermaths

1. I knew going into these two steroid infusions on Friday and Saturday that one effect might be sleep deprivation. 

After Friday's infusion, that night I went to bed around ten o'clock, hardly slept, and I woke up at six and learned from my Fitbit, not to my surprise, that I'd slept only three hours. 

I was due at Infusion Services at 8 a.m. and I actually felt pretty good. 

I had a strong home made latte, gathered myself, and drove to CdA without a hitch, my drive made very pleasant by listening to the June 12th Deadish program, which I continued to listen to in the infusion chair and on my way back home. 

Nurse Jillian was a calm and efficient pro, the only nurse on staff on this Saturday morning, and she moved quickly, quietly, and helpfully between the handful of us she served. 

It was a really good morning at Kootenai Health. My vitals were solid, both as I arrived and as I left, and I was strong on my feet as I rose from my chair and walked back out to the Camry. 

2. I stopped in at Pilgrim's, hoping to purchase a baguette for Sunday's family dinner, but their oven was on the blink, so I bought few other items, and headed across the street to Trader Joe's and now I have a baguette to take to dinner.  I bought a few other things, there, too.

To fuel me home, I bought a Morning Glory muffin at Pilgrim's and 16 oz quad latte at Union and had an uneventful and pleasant drive back home. 

3. Back home, I thought I'd sleep, but I didn't. My insides were mildly agitated by caffeine and steroids, so I relaxed and rested. 

I worked puzzles, read stuff online, messaged with Debbie,  dealt all day with persistent hiccups, and experienced a return of heartburn, which I'd not experienced for well over a year and a half.  I kept the hiccups under control with peanut butter and milk, my go to remedies, and two hours after I took my regular medicine around 8 p.m., enough time had passed that I could take Tums at ten and again around 1 or 2 in the morning and the Tums knocked out the heartburn. 

I slept seven hours Saturday night, a great improvement over Friday. 

Now, here on Sunday morning, I will, instead of taking 5 mgs of Prednisone be taking 60 mgs for the next. three days and then taper down on Wednesday and Thursday and return to my regular 5 mg dosage on Friday. 

I see the transplant team at Sacred Heart in Spokane on Monday, June 23rd early in the afternoon and then will have whatever labs they order.

I look forward to a restful Sunday. 

I look forward to talking with the medical pros in Spokane. 

I hope to find out if the Spokane docs can tell if the treatment is working so far, and, if they can't, finding out when we'll know if this steroid treatment is cooling off the inflammation in my kidney. 

Aside from the annoying hiccups and heartburn yesterday and aside from being a bit of a sleep deprived zombie at times (!), I feel good. 

Thanks again and again to all of you who read these updates and extend your support, love, and encouragement. 

Your kindnesses and thoughtfulness are a significant boost to my well-being!