The creatnin jumped up again as soon as I left hospital. In one of the urin samples they cultured BK virus. BK is a virus diagnosed first in the seventies in a person with those initials. It is one we all get as kids and it remains inactive unless you become immune suppressed. 5% of transplant recipients develop active BK. It can damage the kidney. The effects can be reversed if caught early. Otherwise it is like a mild flu, aches in the mussels and systemic tiredness, but not bedridden.
In the last two weeks of April I have been in and out of hospital having tests and more tests and Yes, they did do another biopsy last Friday. The result of all this is no firm diagnosis, but all the indications are that it is BK virus.
For the time being the doctors have halved my immune suppression medication (cyclosporin) to allow my body to fight the BK virus. They hope that I will not start to reject the transplanted kidney while this is happening. The doctors are monitoring me through blood tests three times a week. So I am going to see a lot more of the hospital for the forseeable future. Meanwhile I had the skin clinic check and they cut out two suspect moles and froze off a viral wort.
After a week of lower cyclosporin I am feeling a lot better, so I am optomistic that I am recovering from the BK virus.
Thursday, April 29, 2010
Four months on/ or What a cold can do
Everything was looking good after the three month biopsy came back clean. There was a longer microscopic test that took weeks to produce a result. it came up with a very small anomaly that is not diagnostic of anything, but might indicate a problem brewing.
I went to Perth for the Jewellers Conference and had a great time. Whilst I was there I developed a cold.I was quite pleased because I felt like a normal person with a cold. Before the transplant a cold would wipe me out for days or even weeks when I had to take to bed.
This time I had cold symptoms but didn't feel too bad, but the doctors at the hospital wanted me assessed anyway. So I spent the day after returning from Perth sitting in emergency( with a cold feeling like I would really rather be resting at home) from 10am until 3pm when they finally saw me and sent me for a chest xray ( it was clear). I was released at 6pm (feeling like I had wasted everyone's time).
Next morning, on Wednesday, I was back at the hospital for my clinic appointment. all seemed well. That afternoon I was recalled to the hospital for an extra blood test. Thursday morning I got a phone call to pack an overnight bag and return to hospital for more tests. In brief my creatnin level had risen from 120 the previous Wed to 220 a week later when I had the cold. So they ultra scanned me, gammer ray scanned me, blood and urin tested me and couldn't find anything wrong other than I had a cold. They wanted to biopsy me, so I was fasting, and arguing againsed it. (By this time I may have been a bit annoyed)
The blood tests showed improvements in the creatnin levels to I escaped without the biopsy.
I went to Perth for the Jewellers Conference and had a great time. Whilst I was there I developed a cold.I was quite pleased because I felt like a normal person with a cold. Before the transplant a cold would wipe me out for days or even weeks when I had to take to bed.
This time I had cold symptoms but didn't feel too bad, but the doctors at the hospital wanted me assessed anyway. So I spent the day after returning from Perth sitting in emergency( with a cold feeling like I would really rather be resting at home) from 10am until 3pm when they finally saw me and sent me for a chest xray ( it was clear). I was released at 6pm (feeling like I had wasted everyone's time).
Next morning, on Wednesday, I was back at the hospital for my clinic appointment. all seemed well. That afternoon I was recalled to the hospital for an extra blood test. Thursday morning I got a phone call to pack an overnight bag and return to hospital for more tests. In brief my creatnin level had risen from 120 the previous Wed to 220 a week later when I had the cold. So they ultra scanned me, gammer ray scanned me, blood and urin tested me and couldn't find anything wrong other than I had a cold. They wanted to biopsy me, so I was fasting, and arguing againsed it. (By this time I may have been a bit annoyed)
The blood tests showed improvements in the creatnin levels to I escaped without the biopsy.
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