Today was Jim's 6 month visit to his kidney doctor. While this is always an apprehensive time, he did get good news that "everything is progressing as normal". In layman terms.....his kidney function is still slowly deteriorating, but at a normal rate. His Creatine level is 3.6 (normal is 0.70 - 1.30) and only slightly increased from his last visit which was 3.0 which is good. His Vitamin D is still low and the dr. was going to give him a prescription for that.
His BUN level was high at 78 (normal is between 8-25). BUN stands for Blood Urea Nitrogen. It is an indirect and rough measurement of renal (kidney) and liver function, measuring the amount of urea nitrogen in the blood. Since too much protein causes this to increase, the doctor suggested not eating so much red meat (yea...that will be easy for Jim). So more chicken and fish it is!!!
Overall Jim is feeling pretty good. Other than the fact he has a torn muscle in his right rib cage that happened at work last week, he seems good. He did have another flair up with gout a couple weeks ago and handled it like a trooper. We seem to know the right medications to take now to try to head it off when he feels it coming on.
His next appointment is in 6 months. Let's hope he stays healthy in the meantime. Prayers are welcomed.
My thoughts.... Today was good. I plan on moving forward with our vacation plans for this June heading to Florida to relax on the beach. Not knowing what the future will hold, these times are precious.
