5/11/16 update

One month birthday.  One week since discharge.  Today is a double big day.

Today was also a long day.  At UWMC at 8:30 and home at 6:00.  Still, better than inpatient for 24 hours! 

The biopsy results will come tomorrow but the doctor doing it said that all the pressures were good.  He also said that I was still 'wet', retaining too much water.  That is common and probably due to meds, especially prednisone.  The hated prednisone.

Some medication doses were adjusted and one, Potassium, added.  Depending on the biopsy results tomorrow, the prednisone dose may be lowered a bit.  When I was in the hospital at first, I took 30 mg of it daily and then it was lowered to 25mg.   Some transplant patients are able to taper down to no prednisone, others are on 5mg indefinitely.  I have been on Potassium for many years.

I am still too 'wet'.  So the diuretic dose got doubled.  There is still fluid around the left lung and the feet and ankles are still puffy.  The hope is that I will 'dry out' and the diuretic can be stopped or eased.  The dose is now 40mg twice a day.  At one time with the LVAD, I took 120mgs total per day. Potassium is now part of the daily regimen as the diuretic takes it for a ride on out of the body.

Tomorrow we get the actual biopsy results and will post them.

Good day and good night,

John