Tuesday, May 25, 2010

(Ruby) Toosday Noozday

STRANGER IN A STRANGE LAB

Fast action on the kidney front this week. I was to obtain stat labs yesterday morning at my local Quest Diagnostics facility here in Livermont. I was as always quite nervous about this since this facility is the rudest, least organized and seemingly inefficient example of labs that I have seen. The addition of two tests to my weekly standing order caused slow-motion mayhem. Suddenly all sorts of personnel were moving in super slow-mo with lab orders seemingly filling the air everywhere in the office. Wildly wide-eyed, they floated slow-motion orders and accusations at each other while I stood in stark amazement at the scene. Finally I was brought in for my blood draw, and after more head-scratching (their heads, not mine) it was done.

MORE (OH NO!) TALES OF FOLEY

Yeah, you are as sick and tired as I am about more Foley whining. But you aren't the one wearing it, and I am, and "it's my party and I'll cry if I want to" so there. Anyhoo, my return to cardiac rehab was much better than I anticipated, but it definitely was noticeable to me that I had my pal along for the walk. The rest of the day was everywhere from uncomfortable to excruciating despite "adjustments", pain meds and complaining to my poor wife. My goal yesterday was to schedule a removal at UCSF either tomorrow or Thursday while we are there for other stuff.

I called my wonderful Heart Transplant Cordinator for some ideas and she said Urology ordered the catheter to stay in 10-14 days. Ten days is up tomorrow, but she told me I would need to contact a urologist since the heart folks are only responsible "above the diaphragm" This cracked me up. She advised me to check with Kidney Transplant whose jurisdiction starts at the diaphragm and goes South. Too far South and you cross the line into Urology's territory. Any further South, well, you better call your podiatrist cause now you are in some serious trouble. Maybe after that it falls under the Border Patrol, I dunno.

AND NOW THE LATEST

This morning the Kidney Transplant PA called us and told us the creatine from yesterday was better, so no biopsy and overnight stay tomorrow. Still not good enough so I will attempt another expedition to the Caverns of Quest for more sampling of my fluids. A decision about biopsy will be made Thursday when we will be there anyway for Heart Clinic. She will contact the urology folks about my concerns re: Foley, so some relief may be near.

So thankfully that is it up to the moment. Oh yeah, by the way, Leslie sent us a link to a blog that her old high school buddy Josh Cooley does. He was quite the artist and musician and now works at Disney/Pixar. Check it out just for a yuck or two. It actually is spectacular to look at. http://cooleycooley.blogspot.com/


Bob/Irv
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RJ/Bob/Irv is a 61-year-old beloved husband, father, uncle, brother, motor racing fanatic, and Livermore resident who received a heart and kidney transplant in February of 2010. Bob's recent years have been defined by his health, which forced him into early retirement. Unfortunately, many of his days were spent in a dialysis center or at various medical appointments, primarily due to his living with diabetes for over 40 years. Numerous were panic visits to various Emergency Rooms all over California for treatment of chest pain. But now no more dialysis and no more late-night dashes to UCSF! The main focus of Bob's family, friends, and doctors has been a prompt transplant, so that he can get back to traveling with his Sweetie, driving fast cars, enjoying great music and laughing with his friends. This blog will function as a way to communicate with all interested parties and to keep everyone informed. And hopefully it can serve a great purpose also, in making people more aware of the importance of organ donation and how each life saved has a positive effect on dozens of related friends and relatives.