Whew! In the last month we haven't been home much on the weekends. Abilene to see a friend's son get baptized, Houston for my dad's birthday then to Denton to drop the girls off for Spring Break with their mom, Abilene again to pick-up some furniture and back to Denton to pick up the girls. I think it will be a while before my back forgives me, LOL.
Ben had three appointments on Tuesday: one with his primary about his knee and hip [Ben had knee surgery after being discharged from the Navy for an injury to the left knee. Years of compensation seem to have led to problems with his right knee and hip], more labs, then a meeting with nephrology.
His primary felt a little helpless, since he can't really prescribe the usually pain medications due to the negative side-effects on the kidneys. He also said he would like to do an MRI, but he can't because they could need to use contrast - also bad for the kidneys. So, for now, it is a waiting game. His primary wants to wait until after the transplant to look further into possible damage to Ben's right knee.
Ben's appointment with the nephrologist was scheduled for 2:15. I'm not sure how long we waited, but we ended up being seen by Katherine, the P.A. in the nephrology department. She knew that the nephrologist was behind and that we had been waiting for quite some time, so she offered to see Ben because she is familiar with his case. It is always a pleasure to meet with Katherine. She is a "straight shooter," which leads to some pretty amusing visits, considering Ben's sarcastic sense of humor. The labs had not come in yet, so they just discussed symptoms and such, to see if there has been any changes with which to be concerned. She called the next day, after she received the lab results. Everything continued to be stable, but she still isn't happy with where his blood pressure is hovering. As a result, she instructed him to cut out one of his blood pressure medications and to begin taking a whole pill of another medication he had previously been cutting in half. We just have to be extra careful about potassium intake now.
Well, we are all looking forward to going out to the lake this weekend. We are going to go visit Canyon Lake. We are planning to check out a couple of the campgrounds and will hopefully be able to camp tonight and go swimming for a while tomorrow. I will be sure to take pictures to share later. I hope everyone has a wonderful and blessed weekend.
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