UPDATE ON KIDNEYS

Had my follow up visit with the kidney Dr today. Good news. All tests were negative. So in a nutshell I have Analgesic Nephropathy. Apparently this is becoming more and more prominent with long term use of acetomiophen, Ibuprophen and the NSAIDS (Celebrex, Vioxx,etc). As a rule, kidneys do not regenerate, but after the pains meds are stopped, the damage can sometimes be reversed/and hopefully stopped. My creatinine levels and ratios did improve over a couple of months ago. It's going to take a while to adust to new medication, even though it's straight narcotic, my pain relief is not as effective. I can't tell yet if it's the pain medication or my pain is worse and the Vicodin wouldn't have worked either. The nephrologist said the new medication was a fairly low dose and likely needed to be increased. So all in all, I'm very relieved that it's nothing worse and can at least be managed.

CATCHING UP

Week before last was a continuous string of Dr's visits and medical tests. It seemed Mama always had a new complaint - which really isn't new, but she thinks it is. In the past, she only needed glasses for reading and now she now has new glasses that she should wear all the time. I got her the Transitions lens so she wouldn't need to keep up with 2 pair of glasses. Well, it doesn't register that she needs to wear them all the time. She went to daycare yesterday, and came home, couldn't find her glasses. Hopefully, she left them at daycare. She's now wearing my old drug store reading glasses. Her pulse rate has come up, and her digoxin level is back to normal. Her blood sugar is beginning to fluctuate, but I'm not about to take away her Snickers at this point.

Mom L seems to be downsliding, usually when we walk up to her there is some spark of recognition. She had no clue who I was and gave her canned answer she gives everybody. She still remembers John; said "that's my son". I guess the best I can come up with is she was just 'vacant' and just spoke some word-salad. We suspect she had a stroke; her left hand is completely balled up and can't be opened. However, she has figured out how to feed herself with her right hand. The staff tells her she manages to attend all their staff meetings.

Shiner is on the mend again, but moving much slower and doesn't stray too far from front door. All his handicap appliances have arrived and now that he is moving around,we need to figure out how to use them.

It must be the week for back pain. I guess I'm having sympathy pains for Booby. It's been my worst week ever. Pain pills just barely dulled it. I'm afraid I've narrowed it down to my dietary indiscretions. I made some home pimento cheese and had it several days in a row. Fresh strawberries popped up in the grocery store. When Doug and Tyrrell were here, I made a dessert with whipped cream. Now I'm on Slappy's Training Table and really watching what goes in my mouth and today is my best day so far.

Poppy is busy trying to make my studio habitable. It's not fun for him to work in the cold weather. We ordered a new space heater to try out in the studio - it was a dud -sent it back. I've got a buch of painting to catch up on; my pain sure got in the way of most of my activities.

Poppy and I finally got to break away and go to a movie yesterday. So nice. We saw Vantage Point and thoroughly enjoyed it. Of course, these days, we're easily intertained.

So now I start to catch up!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

TRIP TO THE KIDNEY SPECIALIST

First of all, I was impressed with the Dr. He was very unassuming and thorough. He told me that my Creatinne levels were high for a woman - because women don't have much muscle mass. Based on my history, his first guess is that the kidney dysfunction is from long term use of Tylenol (acetominophen) in my pain meds and he will recommend that family physician prescribe straight narcotics.-I've been taking Vicodin for a long time and it contains Tylenol. He said that it's becoming more prevalent that Tylenol is a culprit in kidney dysfunction. However, I am scheduled for a kidney ultrasound Monday; plus 24 hour urine and lab work. If those results don't give him enough information, I will need a biopsy. I see him in 2 weeks so hopefully, I will have some clue as to what is going on.
Well, Shiner has torn his ACL. He got excited and tried to run on hard wood floors. Another learning experience - there is a whole cyber world out there for disabled dogs. I have now ordered a non-skid cream to rub on his feet; gripping pads to glue on is feet and if that fails, non skid boots. So he is now on crate-rest and pain pills. Lordy!! Lordy!!

GOOD REPORT ON EYES

I had a follow-up appt with eye specialist today and the result was good. No tears, the pull on retina is ok, the floater is becoming more transparent and the hemorrhage on the optic nerve has cleared. Still no lifting nor bending for 2 more weeks and I'm clear for a year unless I have more problems.
Mama received her passport and it only took 2 weeks. I was expecting quite a wait. I guess an 82 year old white female doesn't pose a significant risk to national security and she zipped right thru. She chipped her front tooth Friday, so yesterday was Dentist day. One side of tooth was repaired. Apparently she grinds her teeth at night and we have some more work to be done. So we'll budget that over the next few months.
This week is the week of Dr's appts. Tomorrow is my appt with the kidney specialist. I'm anxious to get this one behind me. Mama has follow up about her heart rate Friday. Can't remember if there is one Thurs or not.
We had some anxious moments Sunday. The wind blew a tree onto a power line and the large mountain to the south of us was on fire. Fire fighters from several counties fought it all night and they evacuated a five mile radius. One home was lost and one severly damamged. It's estimated that 400-500 acres were burned. If affected a large gated community that was being developed. No injuries - Thank God. They are monitoring hot spots at this point and the mountain is covered in a haze of smoke. There were 2 other major fires at same time. One at Black Mountain and one up near Marion , all from downed power lines. The wind is gone and it's going to rain today.

MAMA'S PULSE

Well, Mama's pulse never came up - stayed in the 40's. They worked us in at the Dr's office yesterday and he said I did the right thing, that the Digoxin was probably the culprit. She had lab work and an EKG. EKG was normal. The office called yesterday and her Digoxin level was elevated. So he decreased her dose by one half. She was to receive her 1st new dose today. When I went to give it to her, the dosage looked like what she had been receiving; I checked the old bottle and the dosage was the same. Called the pharmacy and there was definitely an error and they were very apologetic. Gave her 1/2 tablet until tomorrow. There is another point to this. Know your medicines and check all your drugs when you have them refilled. Whether it's a new medicine or just a refill. Generics look different from company to company-alway ask if the pill looks different. This the 3rd error I have caught in 4 years. The elderly are at greater risk, just by sheer volumn of prescriptions.

PICTURES OF HAIRCUT

Poppy took a couple of pix of new hairdo. It's been fun and very low maintenance.

Mama isn't doing too well today. We were walking out the door to go to church and she had a weak spell. Her pressure was good but pulse was low - 44. So we are just watching her for today and if it doesn't get worse, will take her to Dr in am. More than likely it's one of her heart meds. Of course she had already taken her digoxin - which is probably the culprit. However, I won't give her Atenolol tonight and depending on what pulse is in am, I'll hold the dig til I can talk to Dr. So she is hanging out in bed. She's gotten up a couple of times with out getting dizzy. Pulse is still hanging in 40-50's.

My eye seems to be improving. I still have an annoying little floater that's just hanging out and getting in the way. Flashing lights seem to be less. They're not as noticable in day time. When I move around and the lights are dim or out they are more pronounced - weird.