11.14.2017 medical update

I had my 18 month check up on November 6.    Heart-wise everything looked good.  The blood test results mostly were good.  The white blood cell counts are finally in range.  But the tacrolimis (anti-rejection med) test was out of range, high.  So I am to lower the dose of tacrolimis and start taking mycophenolate (an anti-rejection med) again.  It was stopped because of the low white blood cell count of earlier.  A nice thing is that the invasive biopsy has been replaced by a blood test, the Allomap test.  Even better is that the Allomap test is now done at the UWMC.  In the past it has been at a small clinic away from campus.   The Allomap test take several days to return results but the result was 35, a bit lower than the past two which were 37.  We understand that 35 is a better number so that is good.

I still have puffy feet and lower legs due to Amlodipine, a blood pressure medication.  It seems to be the only one that works on me so it will continue.  The cardiologist recommended thigh high compression stockings to help with the puffiness.   Hopefully this will also help with the plantar fasciitis that I am experiencing.

I have two more three month checkups and then we go to six month intervals.  At the appointment in early May I will take a treadmill stress test.

John & Colleen