Monday 11/15

After a less than stellar weekend, today's scheduled trip to URMC brought plenty of good news and a plan to work on a couple areas of concern. We love our medical team, but it never ceases to amaze us how far off schedule they always are. Visits are regularly between seven and eight hours...but I digress, back to Alyssa.

The weekend was a little rocky. She had to deal with a rather nasty headache and a case of the "shakes." Her hands were shaking so much that she was unable to even hold a pen, resulting in Mom taking over the writing of her thank you notes - well at that's Alyssa's story and she's sticking to it. Blood pressure and pulse were also high (160/115 & 120.) Much of this may be due to a high level of Tacrolimus, which is a drug that she takes twice a day to help prevent rejection of the new kidney. All of these are common side effects Tacro leading her Dr. to half the daily prescribed amount for the next couple of days. It's all part of the delicate balancing game that is part of dealing with a transplant recipient's life. Alyssa has really been very fortunate to-date, with a minimum of drug changes needed.

The rest of her labs were some of her best so far. Phosphorous was up to 1.4, White Blood Cell count back to normal and negative results on all of the virus panels that were run. And how about that Creatinine - .67, which is just outstanding! Staples came out today and Dad learned how to do the daily flushing of her catheter. She even got the go ahead to drive very short distances.

It's the kind of day that we hope for every time that we go to URMC. How can you not be happy when you see the Doctors continually smiling and shaking their heads in amazement. Alyssa is beating the odds, but that shouldn't surprise anyone.
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