The Progeny
Biopsy Report
Not quite as wonderful as we'd hoped, for Loren has a 1a rejection. It's not bad, really. It just means that they are going to increase his CellCept--his major anti-rejection med--and have him come back for another biopsy in one month.
(I just spent 45 minutes trying to find a nifty website I'd discovered while interned at Mayo in 2005...it showed the different stages of rejection through the the wonder of stained slides....but I just can't find it. If anyone can, I'll send them something yummy through the mail)
ANYway, there are other levels: 2, 3, 4, and probably 2b and 3b, etc. I just can't locate the exact demarcations, but 1a and 1b are considered minor.
HOWEVER, it is pretty much indisputable that Loren's recent sickness is the cause of this minor rejection. The doctor thought he might have had a flu, even though the culture didn't come back positive. They can't test for every strain of flu, and the fact that Loren had a fever is the main reason for his immune system going into overdrive.
See, the immune system tries to fight off the sickness, and ends up fighting the donated heart.
Comprende??
At this point I am tempted to resume harping on one of my favorite rants about....oh never mind. It doesn't seem to do any good.
So yeah, we are just a little bummed out, but things are not bad overall.
_______________
In other news, I finished editing the "Christmas" letter yesterday, and actually printed off 40 copies today. This is rather tedious, since I have to do it on my printer, which entails flipping over two pages and re-running it through the printer to get the two full pages, front and back. One of these days, I'm either gonna hafta drop a kid off the letter now and again, or stop running on at the mouth...er...keyboard.
Hopes are to get them in the mail by the end of next week. Maybe. I'm delivering all the local ones I can, to save on postage. (there are 100 copies of the family picture, just to give you an idea of why my stomach is doing flip flops)
I had started to put cutesy stencil painted stars and doves on the envelopes, for the sake of breaking the blinding whiteness with a little color. It wasn't long before Ma gave up on this idea. The hearts were running, and the doves began to look like blue flames from the Olympic torch.
Let's face it, Ma is never going to be as crafty as other women. Next year, candy cane stickers, or something.
_____________
BUT, just to demonstrate some of my diversity, I was down cleaning at the church this afternoon, and due to the canceling of last Sunday's services, I noticed there would not be as much straightening and sweeping needed.
A good thing.
Then I went out to start the zippy red car and promptly flooded it.
Not a good thing.
Much sitting and much cranking and much annoyance and yes, even frustrated stomping on the accelerator and more useless cranking later, I suddenly remembered something I'd read from a car manual in my teenage years.
(let it be noted, Ma can actually remember her teen years, and Ma has actually read (part) of a manual)
I pushed the pedal to the floor, held it and resumed cranking.
"VVRRRROOOM!"
Sometimes we have to take whatever small victories we can.
Tweet
(I just spent 45 minutes trying to find a nifty website I'd discovered while interned at Mayo in 2005...it showed the different stages of rejection through the the wonder of stained slides....but I just can't find it. If anyone can, I'll send them something yummy through the mail)
ANYway, there are other levels: 2, 3, 4, and probably 2b and 3b, etc. I just can't locate the exact demarcations, but 1a and 1b are considered minor.
HOWEVER, it is pretty much indisputable that Loren's recent sickness is the cause of this minor rejection. The doctor thought he might have had a flu, even though the culture didn't come back positive. They can't test for every strain of flu, and the fact that Loren had a fever is the main reason for his immune system going into overdrive.
See, the immune system tries to fight off the sickness, and ends up fighting the donated heart.
Comprende??
At this point I am tempted to resume harping on one of my favorite rants about....oh never mind. It doesn't seem to do any good.
So yeah, we are just a little bummed out, but things are not bad overall.
_______________
In other news, I finished editing the "Christmas" letter yesterday, and actually printed off 40 copies today. This is rather tedious, since I have to do it on my printer, which entails flipping over two pages and re-running it through the printer to get the two full pages, front and back. One of these days, I'm either gonna hafta drop a kid off the letter now and again, or stop running on at the mouth...er...keyboard.
Hopes are to get them in the mail by the end of next week. Maybe. I'm delivering all the local ones I can, to save on postage. (there are 100 copies of the family picture, just to give you an idea of why my stomach is doing flip flops)
I had started to put cutesy stencil painted stars and doves on the envelopes, for the sake of breaking the blinding whiteness with a little color. It wasn't long before Ma gave up on this idea. The hearts were running, and the doves began to look like blue flames from the Olympic torch.
Let's face it, Ma is never going to be as crafty as other women. Next year, candy cane stickers, or something.
_____________
BUT, just to demonstrate some of my diversity, I was down cleaning at the church this afternoon, and due to the canceling of last Sunday's services, I noticed there would not be as much straightening and sweeping needed.
A good thing.
Then I went out to start the zippy red car and promptly flooded it.
Not a good thing.
Much sitting and much cranking and much annoyance and yes, even frustrated stomping on the accelerator and more useless cranking later, I suddenly remembered something I'd read from a car manual in my teenage years.
(let it be noted, Ma can actually remember her teen years, and Ma has actually read (part) of a manual)
I pushed the pedal to the floor, held it and resumed cranking.
"VVRRRROOOM!"
Sometimes we have to take whatever small victories we can.
Tweet
posted by Ma Hoyt | 8:31 PM
3 Comments:
Does this mean Daddy has to go in sooner for his next biopsy?
Way to go with the letter and the car Mommy!
Yes. He would have normally been scheduled for another one in 3 months, with a reduction of his Prednisone (probably to nothing) to kick in two weeks before that biopsy.
Then, if that biopsy had been zero, he could have been off the Prednisone. We would like to see that since the med wastes bone and is one of the reasons he is on Fosomax.
Instead, they have increased his main anti-rejection drug and they'll do another biopsy in one month. If he comes through with a zero, then they'll probably schedule the next one three months from that, with the Prenisone reduction to take place two weeks before it. Or not.
(is any of this making sense?)
So basically, he's been set back 4 months....I think.
Yes, it makes lots of sense, and thanks for the extra details!
(and thanks for repeating yourself, sorry about that.)
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