06/09/2016 Update

John had a blood draw, an appointment with Heidi the Physician's Assistant, and biopsy yesterday.  The blood work showed that John's white blood cell count fell dramatically since the last blood test.  As a result, the dose of Mycophenolate has been cut in half.  Mycophenolate is one of the lifetime immunosuppressive medications, and an anti-rejection drug.  One of its purposes is to lower white blood counts.  Apparently it worked!  It is toxic, especially to women of childbearing age.

The doctor that did the biopsy, Dr. Levy, said that the pressures were all good.   The biopsy results came back again with the best possible result, 0NSR.  Zero No Significant Rejection.  The dose of prednisone, the dreaded prednisone, was lowered again, to 12.5mgs.  And the 12.5mgs will be taken in the morning where before John took some in the morning and some in the evening. This will be a good thing because a side effect, one of many,  is restless sleeping.

The white blood cell count seems worrisome to the medical staff and they are asking for an extra blood draw next Wednesday.  We had settled into a routine of visits every two weeks.  But, they ask, we comply.  We have two more of the biopsies at two week intervals and then we start having them monthly.  That will be nice.

John signed up for the Run of the Mill 5K race/walk in Mill Creek on June 25th.  He expects to finish last, but just wants to finish.  (And get the t-shirt! for finishing!)  We, Colleen and John, have been walking every other day to get distances up.  We walked 2.6 miles in one stretch today and Mick and John walked just a bit more than that on Monday.  So the 3.2 miles is attainable. 

John