Month 8 update

I had my 7-month checkup with Dr. Assefi Tuesday, and he said everything was great. My creatinine, which had peaked at 8.7 just before transplant, then was hovering in the 1.6 range after transplant, has now dropped to 1.2, which is well inside of the normal range. Anne was so excited that she called to tell me in person, rather than just leave a voice mail.

His nurse had pointed out that perhaps my magnesium was getting a tad low, I mentioned that to Anne (who said it really wasn't) but she sent me back a list of foods that were higher in magnesium that I should consider. I first thought she had made a mistake, because it was almost the same list of foods that I COULDN'T eat for the last couple of years before transplant.

Peanut butter! Nuts! Chocolate Pudding! Avacado! Banannas! Whole Milk!

I called this the "died and gone to heaven diet". Now I completely forgive Anne for that little shorts-gluing incident way back when.

Other things that I've noticed (or have been noted to me) since the transplant:

-- I seem to be needing a lot less sleep. I was really tired every day before transplant and would fall asleep on the couch after dinner, then needed 9-10 hours of sleep each day to function. Now, 7 hours is plenty.

-- My color looks much better -- and now people tell me that I wasn't looking so good last fall, compared to now. So now they tell me that I looked like crap.

--My program manager commented the other day that I've been hyper-productive in churning out the various presentations, policy documents, white papers, etc that I spent quite bit of time working on. I am having lots of fun at work right now, even given the extremely interesting project I'm focused on.

-- My tremors are starting to abate some, largely because they have finally gotten the Prograf dosing about right. Same for the headaches.

So, on with life. I'm already making plans to head back to the camp on Kelly Creek in Idaho in August for another week flyfishing on the stream. Last year, when packing up, I wondered if it was going to be the last time I would ever see that magical place. Yes I will again.

Glenn