Doctor's Appoinment

Saw the nephrologist again today. The appointment that they rescheduled from before Christmas. I received good and bad news. Which would you like first? How about the Good. My test results came back very good. The protein levels in my urine are back in the normal range. Normal! It's actually pretty amazing. This is more than we ever hoped for. Kidney function is good. Creatanin levels are good. It's all good. The doctor actually used the word "remission", which occurs in only forty percent of people with my type of kidney disease. The prednisone did what it was supposed to do. Now I get to go off of it. Finally. Yippee! The key now is to see how long the remission will last. He says for some people it lasts only a few(3-6) months, but he has seen people stay in remission for two-three years. Not a lot, but he has seen it happen. What does all this mean? It means that as long as the protein leaking from my kidneys is controlled, my kidneys will not sustain further damage. Every minute that we can keep that from happening is a mintue longer that I don't have to worry about kidney transplants or dialysis in the next five to ten years. The only bummer is that because 25 percent of the receptors in my kidneys shut down before we found out about the disease, I will still have some of the symptoms I have been having. Lower back pain, abdominal pain, blood in the urine, chronic fatigue. Bummer. The other bummer is that as my weight has gone up, so has my cholesterol. I gained fifteen pounds in the seven months I was on the Prednisone. Ugh. I have always had very low cholesterol. Until now. So it's diet and exercise for me. I started last week and have already lost two pounds. Go me! I haven't mentioned it because secretly I am embarrassed that I gained so much. I'm sure I'll have more to say about it later, but right now I'll be keeping kind of quiet about the whole weight loss thing. So overall the news is good. I know I tend to dwell on the negative a lot. But I am happy. I couldn't have asked for better results. Now I conintue to pray that things go as well as they have.


P.S. Getting very excited about this weekend. This is the scheduled forecast. WooHoo! C'mon snow!