1/12/24

 Ethan had to go and get lab work done this morning. We got to the lab, signed in via QR code and then sat in the car waiting for the call. And hour went by. I finally said to Ethan, “let’s just go in and check where you are in the Que.”

We went in and asked. Apparently they tried calling us and my fat fingers typed in the wrong number. Ugh!

Ethan got his blood drawn and we left. Total time there…2 hours. It takes them forever to enter in manually all the tests that NYC wants to run. 5 pages of tests.

I checked the labs as they came in, later in the day. Lo and behold….they never did the one that Ethan’s local doctor put orders in for. I didn’t have the forethought to mention that to them. Why would I? It is already in the system. What I don’t know (obviously) is how it all works. There has to be a reason it didn’t automatically pop up.

Once I noticed that the test wasn’t performed, I sent in a message to my chart to see if someone from the doctor’s office can call the lab and add the test on before they discard Ethan’s blood product. I am still waiting on an answer. 

As the results came back, they didn’t look great. Ethan’s kidney values were elevated in an alarming way. I am hoping it is due to Ethan not drinking enough.

I asked Ethan if he had been drinking and flushing his kidneys. He said that he forgets and doesn’t feel great after he gulps copious amounts of water. That is understandable. When I showed him the vast difference in elevations between his elevations after kidney transplant and now…his elevations now are far higher. FAR higher. We do have a follow up appointment in a week and a half. 

Ethan was frustrated but understood that he is in the drivers seat with this. I feel like when he gets lax on his drinking, his values elevate. He does get down knowing he has to be worried about these things at his age. Who wouldn’t? But this is the situation. I hope he chooses to flush his kidney and do the things that will keep him healthy.

He mulled it over and then next I knew, he was filling his water jug up. I saw him drinking a steadily this evening. FLUSH!

We still haven’t gotten the rejection medication levels back yet. My guess is that they are therapeutic and this is NOT a rejection issue. We will see. I will be emailing his doctor tomorrow to give her the heads up and see what she says. I have a feeling that she will want to repeat lab work at the very least!

As the day progressed, the wind picked up and we were dipping our toes, knees and waist into this storm. We lost power and sat in the dark as a family for a few hours. Luckily we had our phones to play games with one another. Avery helped Paul understand the strategy of mancala (I love that game).

Avery and I are supposed to fly out in the morning. We will see how this weather will affect our travel plans.

As we sat in the dark, the dogs snuggled up, cuddled under blankets and napped. 

The green area on the test results is where the normal range should be.