Pat's Adventures in Dialysis, the "I Went to My First Series of Transplant Appointments and Saw 3 Nurses, 3 Doctors, 1 Dietician, 1 Social Worker, 1 Finance Lady, a Tech who took 12 vials of my blood (!!!!!!!!) :-(  (!!!!!!!!) and a Partridge in a Pear Tree)".  Well I exaggerate on the partridge, but it may as well have joined the party - lol.  And I still have more appointments to go to.  iPod shuffled to "Can This Be Real", The Natural Four. I was in high school when this was out.  It is one of those songs I liked instantly.

The entire exercise was to determine my viability for a kidney transplant.  Nurse 1 and Nurse 2 asked the same questions.  Doctor 1 was the surgeon's intern.  She wasn't sure what to ask. Doctor 2 was the nephrologist. She asked questions, talked about kidney function, explained medications needed after the transplant, live donor vs deceased donor, preferred ages of live donors and scheduled me for more appointments.  (note- this is not my regular nephrologist, so now I have 2 nephrologists).  Doctor 3 was the transplant surgeon.  He felt me up.  Well not really, he was checking for some veins in my groin and poked my stomach and my back and announced I was a good candidate for surgery. He also checked my ears (?really?).  Did I mention Brian was there for all of this?  "Mind Blowing Decisions", Heatwave.  Heh. Another group that could do no wrong. Was it them whose drummer's arm got cut off?  I need to look that up.  The should have had longer staying power.  Oh my.  No one's arm got cut off, but there were plenty of stabbing incidents. (Yeah, I went to wiki them).

The dietitian wanted to know if I was compliant with my renal diet.  She asked what was a typical day of eating was like.  She also wanted to see my blood work scorecard. I had the most recent one in my purse.  Something to be said about not cleaning out one's purse on a  weekly basis.  The good news is, this was the 1st time all my numbers were good.  Sodium, potassium and phosphorus are under control. Yay.  

The finance lady wanted to make sure my medical insurance was sufficient.  So far so good, but we need to check on medication copays.  And she suggested we investigate Medicare. "Funkin' For Jamaica", Tom Browne. "Betty Boop, boop be doop". Who doesn't start moving when this song comes on? :)

The social worker wanted to know about my support network, how I "felt" about my life right now, how mobile I am and some of my concerns.  He also wanted to know our financial status.  After him,the 3rd nurse came in with the blood order and sent us on our merry way.  We got to the office where they take blood another appeared to be a backlog. Eventually I was called.  The tech had me take a seat.  He looked at the order and took 1 vial, then another, then another.....  I'm like OMG, that's enough. He assures me that no, there a few more.  He stops at 12 vials. :(   During the draining of the blood, I wonder if I'm going pass out or just shrivel up because I will have no blood left.  Well I survived. I asked the tech was that a lot?  He replied no, he's taken as many as 22 vials of blood from a patient.  Strangely that didn't make me feel any better. Lol. "Just Gets Better With Time", The Whispers. (When this comes on I go find Brian to slow dance. ;-D   TMI, eh?  Lol)

Ok, well that was my yesterday.  I have a lot of assorted medical appointments, in addition to 3x week dialysis.  That's part of busy doing nothing.  

I want to leave off with where I ended the last entry. I finished out Monday in a regular bed.  The next day was Tuesday, Election Day!!  Signing off with "All Day Music", War. The iPod took me down Memory Lane today. :)