The medication they put Ben on to get his pH back in balance seems to be working well. When he had labs done last week, his potassium and phosphorus levels were better. We thought we were doing pretty well again, until he started feeling odd again last night. He was feeling nauseous, had a sticky cotton-mouth type feeling, and his eyes were burning [generally and indication to him that his BP is high]. Well, his BP was running between 130-150 / 89-95; this-morning his bottom number was up to 100. His BP is generally regulated fairly well with his medications, usually running right around 120/70, so this was definitely reason for concern. He took his BP meds about 6:30 this-morning and gave it sometime to take effect, but the bottom number was still 95 an hour or so later. He put in a call to Katherine at the Renal clinic and she scheduled him to come in for some more labs this-morning; she made him wait in the office until she got the results, just in case he needed to be admitted and start dialysis. Praise Jesus, everything else was okay, so no dialysis. She just changed him to a different BP med, one that will be taken twice a day, and wants him to check back in later this week or sometime next week.
We received a call from Nashville a couple days ago. They have Ben and I scheduled to fly in to meet the transplant team on August 1st. We do not have to go for a full week, as we originally thought; we will only be there for one day to meet the team and then head back to San Antonio until further notice. It still appears, however, that they will not begin testing potential donors until after we meet with the transplant team. I must say, while I am happy that we won't have to be gone for an entire week, I was disappointed that we won't be going to Nashville until August.
After todays trip to the VA for more lab work, the Nashville trip may be expedited - if we are lucky. The PA mentioned speaking with someone who may be able to get the process to speed up a bit. Her reason for doing so is that the best course of action would be to get the transplant prior to beginning dialysis. Being that Ben has started experiencing more symptoms lately, we've had to adjust medications more frequently, and he is currently only 2-4 points away from Stage 5 CKD, we are really pushing the envelope at this point. Additionally, in regards to transplant, the mortality rate apparently goes up after someone has to start dialysis; thus the reason they want to see if they can speed up the process and get us to Nashville sooner. I really hope and pray they are able to do that. It will be a relief when they begin testing the potential donors. It will be nice to know if there is a match or not. If not, at least we will know one way or the other.
The twins graduate from 5th grade tomorrow - on to JH next year for them! I will probably take some pictures tomorrow and post them when I can. Hope everyone is having a great summer!
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