Greetings from the “Big D”

Happy St. Patrick’s Day from Dallas. A planned overnight trip to Dallas for a couple early morning appointments on Friday turned into a (hopefully short) stay at the UTSW Clements University Hospital. With a little Irish luck, which our genealogical research surprisingly shows Becky would be more likely to tap into than I would, this will be a short detour on her transplant journey.

Over the last few weeks, a couple different issues have cropped up. First, there were a few lab numbers that the medical team wanted to follow up on. That led to appointments for “special labs” to verify there were no rejection related antibodies and an ultrasound to verify the kidney still looked okay. Second, Becky’s nausea and other GI issues have ratcheted up a notch to more severe stomach pain and cramping.

After we left the early morning appointments, we headed to the car so Becky could take her meds before we got on the road home. She wasn’t able to keep them down. The transplant team had repeatedly reminded us of the importance of these meds and had told us to go to the emergency room if that became a regular problem. Since this has happened a few times over the past couple weeks and we were right here at UTSW anyway, we decided to head over to the emergency department. After some initial conversations between the emergency department and transplant team, they decided to admit Becky to the hospital to see if we could get some answers.

The good news is that all the extra tests, ultrasounds, and bloodwork that have been done over the past couple days continue to show the liver and kidney are still working well, and there are no signs of rejection, infection, or other major problems. That’s all good.

The results related to Becky’s GI issues are less clear. The most probable theory is that Becky’s system is extra sensitive to one of the anti-rejection drugs. It’s known to cause nausea and similar issues, and since she has a history of reflux and IBS on a good day, adding this and the other laundry list of drugs may just be extra hard on her system. For those that were in the loop for her last emergency room visit in Austin a week or so ago, that diagnosis of splenic infarction as the cause of her stomach pain has been ruled out. There was evidence of that condition pre-transplant and it is not likely to be the cause of her current problems.

At this point, midday Sunday, the medical team has reduced the strength of the suspect medication and is scheduling an endoscopy for Monday to see if there are any other issues going on. That means another day/night in Dallas, but waiting for an appointment as an outpatient could mean waiting until May or June. So we’ll hang out in Dallas for another day. It’s been a roller coaster and Becky’s tired of feeling “sick.” She’d like to get some answers, even if those answers are simply ruling out another underlying medical cause, and I have to agree with her.

One final note ... One good indication that, in spite of the GI issues, Becky’s feeling better overall and getting back to herself is that she had her own list of questions on her phone for the doctor today. :-)

Your continued thoughts, prayers, and kind words of support are heard, felt, and appreciated.

Happy St. Patrick’s Day!