Thank You, Prograf

I guess I have been a little unsure of what to post about next.

The next several years passed rather uneventfully health wise for Bryce. He had a kidney infection Memorial Day 2007 driving back from Idaho and spent a couple days in the hospital in Brigham City. Regular blood tests are part of his post-transplant life now, so that helped keep him healthy and be able to catch problems early.

I remember on our first date he mentioned something in passing conversation about "When I had my kidney transplant..." I didn't think much of it at the time, and I don't really remember talking about it more, although I know we did. I saw the dozens of prescription bottles on his bathroom counter when we were dating so I knew enough about it by the time we got serious because I mentioned it to my Dad when I had my conversation with him telling him Bryce and I had decided we wanted to get married. He told me that taking on that kind of health issue could be taxing, so to make sure I knew what I was signing on for. I didn't think much of it: I was in love and had found the man I wanted to spend eternity with. His health was good at the time and since I wasn't around for the transplant I didn't have any first hand experience with what it meant when his health wasn't good.

The first few years we were married his kidney did great. No major sicknesses and no hospitalizations. There were several instances of gout which would get him down for a few days, but his prescription for that helped and he always bounced back.

We celebrated the anniversary of the transplant with the Cook's each December with a party.

In 2010 we moved to Wichita. When he had regular blood tests at our local hospital there they would send his results to Dr. Senekjian, allowing us to keep him as Bryce's nephrologist and work with him for prescription changes and what not.

The beginning of 2012 Bryce's regular blood work showed that his sugars were high. Dr, Senekjian suggested getting a local doctor in Wichita Bryce could go see for new issues that might arise and help him handle, since he was too far away for an in person appointment. We got a referral to see an internist, Dr. Tatpatti who ran further blood work. He diagnosed Bryce with post-transplant diabetes. One of the potential side-affects of an anti-rejection medicine Bryce was on, Prograf, was that over a long period of time it can cause your body to stop producing insulin, causing diabetes. Obviously you can't quit taking the anti-rejection medication! So we changed Bryce's diet pretty drastically to see if that would make a difference.

It didn't.

Dr. Tatpatti put Bryce on a prescription to keep his blood sugar regulated. That seemed to do the trick. After a few months of it being pretty steady we quit monitoring it so much and things were fine.

The Summer of 2012 we moved back to Utah so we were able to go back to Dr. Senekjian as Bryce's Primary Care physician. It felt good to be back with a doctor who knew the whole history and was so easy to work with.