I was “scritching” Andy’s neck, which he love, love, loves!
Uh oh! I feel one.
See that lumpish thing at the 5 o’clock position below my thumb? That’s a new mat, and I …
Mats are fine undercoat hairs in a tangle. When these hairs are shed, if not combed out – Andy hates being combed – they end up in mats. When you pull them apart, the hairs can be removed in a fluffy handful from the P.O.’d kitty!
=(^+^)=
No major news about me today, just that the heat is murderous for dialysis patients with kidney failure because of the difficulty we have hydrating adequately without getting too much fluid build-up between sessions.
My strategy is simple: Stay inside in the air conditioning!
Unfortunately, it means an event I especially look forward to, the Class of 1966 monthly luncheon, is one I will need to skip this month.
Too much fluid intake, the usual hot weather strategy, results in excessive weight since the kidneys and sweating are inadequate for using and losing fluids trying to control body temperature, making the goal dry weight after dialysis harder or impossible to achieve and that excruciating muscle cramps are guaranteed!
I note too that heat prostration and heat stroke develop more quickly in people with my medical issues because we can’t keep cool outside in hot weather as easily as healthy people.
Living with dialysis is like being a living science experiment sometimes. Top it with WG/GPA, my other complications, and…ugh!
I gave a blood sample Tuesday to be used to determine my current cANCA level, an indicator of how active the WG/GPA is or isn’t in my body. It took two pokes to find a source of blood. WG/GPA is a vascular disease. That means a good vein or artery is difficult to find!
My cANCA antibodies level has been within the “normal but rising slightly since last checked” level last time checked three months ago.
Since increased cANCA antibodies are how my rheumatologist, pulmonologist, or nephrologist tell if I’m “in remission from WG/GPA or not” or “and trending toward it”, they know either to increase my Cincalcet (Sensipar) medication, decrease it, or leave it at the current level.
That medication has been the only one I need now to stay in control of that disease.
When I first came down with it, my doctors had me on 13 different oral medications, injected insulin, and dialysis and plasmapheresis sessions!! I definitely felt like a science experiment then.
Because the medical treatments wiped out my immune system at that time, I was placed in the University Hospital/ Denver transplant ward, which meant moonsuits, practically, for anyone entering my room or when I left the room (rarely) to get a bit of exercise.
One nice part about being in the transplant ward is you could ask for Hagen Daaz ice cream, and they’d bring it! LOL! I guess it was compensation for being a mess medically and being isolated from the germy folks.
The transplant ward experience was good practice for that future COVID-19 pandemic 17 years later, though I had to get my own dang ice cream!