Status Update: Feb. 2, 2014

Hi everyone, and for those who follow American Football, happy Super Bowl day!  It's actually on right now, as a matter of fact.  I'm way behind on keeping up with my blog, but will try to get back on track this month.

The last two months were full of tests, although I've covered many of them in my last entries.  The last things done were the monthly INR and porta-cath flush.  I've been on 5 mg. of Warfarin for quite a while now, and it was keeping my INR steady at ~2.5 (the range is 2-3), but my Jan. reading went to 3.1 and they reduced my dosage to 2.5 mg. two days out of the week.  I thought for sure the numbers would drop below 2 with that level, but instead they've stayed mid-range, so the dosage change stays for now.  So far we haven't been able to figure out what made the change.

Blood work was done during my Dec. porta-cath flush and it was noticed that my creatinine level had been climbing over the last six months.  It's been out of range high ever since the transplant, but normally not enough to worry over.  My oncologist did lab work again during the flush in mid-February, but the number had reversed itself back down toward the high end of the range, although still not in it.  Good that it didn't continue climbing at any rate - one less thing to worry about.  I'm pretty sure she'll run the tests again during my next flush (in late Feb.) so we can see if it's stabilizing.

In general I've just felt a bit off since December, between the weird high blood pressure upon standing, the tightness in my throat/neck, and some tenderness in my abdomen - enough to keep me from continuing my exercise program.  During the downtime I actually gained 3 pounds back (which I suppose might be considered a good sign as being sick usually causes me to lose weight).  I've restarted the exercise in a limited way - bike only, not swimming, and definitely not the heat of the sauna, in case that played a role in some of the earlier respiratory issues.  I'm back to doing the same number of miles on the bike, but in two 30-minute sessions, rather than one, to see if the abdomen tenderness gets better or worse.  If it improves, or at least doesn't get worse, I'll try to get back to same miles, in a 55 minute session.  February will be my 'get back on course' month (hopefully), and I'll start tracking the numbers again in March.

Just to play it safe I'll probably go see a gastroenterologist - need to ask my primary care physician for a referral for that, and I've been avoiding it.  We checked out so many issues these last few months, and all came up negative - I think he's beginning to believe the symptoms are psychosomatic, and I'm beginning to wonder the same, if it weren't for the fact they felt quite real.  On the general schedule, I also expect my oncologist to schedule a PET scan after my next appointment in late February.  For me, that's the BIG test.  I used to have it done quarterly after the transplant, and am now down to annually.

The flip side of the coin is that I've gotten a lot of writing done.  I think (hope) that I've finished the final drafts of books 1 and 2 of my young adult series, and am about a third done with the first draft of book 3.  Hopefully I'll finish the first draft by the end of the month - we'll see.  I'm detail outlining book 4 now too, so I'm hopeful that I'll actually go right into that 4th and last book of the series right after the 3rd one, doing the first drafts back to back.  Fingers crossed on everything, of course.