Renal etc

Today I had a mammoth trip to Lincoln County Hospital meeting with two consultants as well as having my Hickman Line checked and prescriptions issued.

All in all I spent four and a half hours in hospital, but unlike previous visits there was relatively little waiting.

The day began at 9:40 when I arrived at Renal. Nurses took my wee sample and tested it, before taking blood pressure and measuring my weight. All standard procedures. My BP was a little high apparently but not excessive.

Then in to finally see the Renal consultant (I say finally because I have been aiming to get an appointment since June).

It seems the damage to my kidney is irreparable, a direct cause of the Myeloma. There seems to be no other underlying issue. The GFR remains stubbornly low (currently 13) and creatinine levels remain high (another bad sign). There seems to be medically speaking nothing that can be done to reverse the damage at this stage. The functionality does not warrant dialysis yet though this needs to be reviewed and may eventually need to happen. Further down the line, once the Myeloma is out of the way there may even be cause for transplantation, but for now it is not necessary to do so. I should continue to drink a limited amount of fluid (not the 3L I was drinking!)

My main concern in the short term concerns the timing of final phase of the stem cell treatment and this was to be answered at my appointment in Haematology at 11:30.

Prior to this though I needed the usual line check and following Renal appointment and ahead of Haematology a large number of blood samples (8 or 9 vials) to test a whole range of products as well as Hepatitis (precautionary ahead of any potential dialysis). The whole process took ages to set up , though much quicker than if I had it done by cannula.

At Haematology I met with a different consultant to usual as my regular was enjoying a holiday (Spain, I was told). The bloods which I brought up myself were handed into the phlebotomy dept and I went into my appointment. The view of Haematology is that since the kidney function is solely down to the Myeloma, it should be possible to proceed with my stem cell treatment in Nottingham, but under caution in regard to the chemotherapy drugs used. In practice this will mean lowering the concentration and ensuring I keep my fluid intake up during the procedure. Concerns were raised at a slightly elevated white blood cell count and this might be allergic or parasitic in nature, though unlikely to be the latter. More sampling and testing to be done!

In the short term my prescription remains the same. There is a possibility the quantities may alter following blood tests and maybe even water tablets if water retention is not reduced.

So it’s a mixed picture – certainly my kidney continues to disappoint. October the 2nd in Nottingham is the date and venue in the next round of the battle and we’ll see when my Stem Cell treatment will begin.