Transplant update

I'm still worrying over my higher blood sugars.  It seems like my baseline has taken a shift upward.  I still go below 100 sometimes before meals, but not as often.  My postpradials have been higher too.  I have had 4 over 200 now.

I still come back down, which means that my islet cells are still functioning.  They are just now working as well as they once did.  The upward trend came after the switch from Cellcept to Rapamune.  That probably has something to do with it.  It could be several factors though.  I was taken off of the Cellcept because of the colonitis.  Maybe I wasn't getting all of the nutrients from what I was eating.  I think I was eating as much as I used to, but was still experiencing a steady loss of weight.  Now I probably am absorbing all of the calories that I eat.

I still feel fine, which is the good part.  I have energy and just feel healthy.  So that's nice, but I can't blame the higher blood sugars on any type of infection.  I did have a headache yesterday, which might account for the really bad numbers of yesterday.  I was 146 before supper, 188 at bedtime and 143 this morning.  That is the worst streak ever.  It has led me to break down and call Janet.  She is having Dr. Bellin call to discuss it with me.  I'm anxious to see what she has to say.


Two days have passed, and I'm still not feeling well.  I still have the headache and now nausea and fatigue.  I must have caught something.  And its now the 4th of July weekend, so I'm not happy about being laid up.

Yesterday when I began to feel worse, I called Janet again to let her know.  Dr. Bellin called to see how I was doing.  We discussed my symptoms and don't think its the CMV again.  The CMV had a gradual onset and this is more sudden.  I felt fine 4 days ago.  I'm hoping that when the headache ends, the other symptoms will follow, but if I don't feel better soon, I'll have to go to a doctor.

I asked what she thought about my recent higher blood sugars.  She says that she and Dr. Hering discussed that and decided that it would be too risky at this point to change immunosuppressants again.  The concern is that it might cause a rejection.  There is another drug similar to the Cellcept that I was on before.  Its called Myfortic and has a coating to help prevent the stomach issues that caused me to have to give up on the Cellcept.  That is the backup plan, but we are hoping that the Rapamune will still do the job.  Another strategy that Dr. Bellin might consider is to lower my dose of Prograff.  She says that sometimes it can have a detrimental effect on the islet cells.

I have my 2 year checkup in Minneapolis on the 20th.  The timing couldn't be better.  Hopefully, my numbers will be better by then, but if not, the testing should tell more precisely what the problem might be.  And its always good for the moral support.

Well, bad new posts aren't nearly as much fun to write, but are an important part of the whole story.  I'll end with some happier flower pictures from my garden.  It has been a good summer for flowers.  Plenty of both rain and sun.  And here's one of my in my new kayak.  We had fun trying them out last weekend.