Doctor Day Update

Yesterday was Doctor Day and Dr. Aragón was all smiles about my improvements. Most of my tests are normal, or at least improving, and I officially no longer have anemia (which was being caused by the renal failure). My creatinine level went from 5.0 to 4.9, to which I responded with a disappointed face, to which the doctor responded with “Tranquila, Calma, paciencia, you are getting better, chavalita!”. He again reminded me that it might take 2 more months for my kidneys to be back to normal. He said he has faith that I am in the top 70% who recover fully from where I was, and not in the 30% who don’t. As much as I’m learning about patience, I guess I’m still struggling with it. But still, I am thankful for a doctor who believes in me and a God who is healing me.

One thing I found humorous about Doctor Day (and one thing I couldn’t imagine would ever happen) is that my glucose level is low. The doctor actually told me to eat more sugar (WHAT? I know, right?!). I’ve been eating a lot of fruit, and the occasional Dove dark chocolate, but I’ve been staying away from most sugar to avoid the “fat, fat, fat” ness that was promised to me in the hospital. It seems to be working, because I’ve now lost 27 pounds since leaving the hospital! The wii fit says I still need to lose 20 more, but I’m just celebrating the over-halfway point right now! However, after my instruction to eat sugar, I was quick to obey, and Chase and I indulged in some delicious Ghirardelli ice cream last night. I only lost .2 pounds today, but it was totally worth it.

Most of my medicines will stay the same this week, although he did change my prednisone (steroid). The original plan was to take me down 5mg every 10 days, and I had about 3 days left at 70mg. However, when he saw some of the side effects (a rash, a couple small lesions on my leg, and some undesirable stretch marks), he got nervous and decided to speed that process up a little bit. So starting today I am down to 60mg and will go down 10mg  every 10 days until I reach 30mg, where I will stay for awhile.

I’m discovering that it is actually really hard to eat healthy (along with keeping the house clean and doing other things I need/want to do). My days are very full. Making everything from scratch takes a lot of time – time that I’ve never really had before with working full-time and other commitments. I am enjoying it, but also wondering how in the world I would do this if I was working also (or even if I had kids to take care of!). Today I made a fruit salad, and I cut up a cantaloupe, a pineapple, strawberries, and green and red apples.

It tastes delicious and I’ll be enjoying it for the next few days, but it took a good hour or two to prepare it. (Thankfully, the most recent episode of Biggest Loser kept me company while I labored!)

My lunch today was a grilled chicken salad and the fruit salad. The grilled chicken salad included lettuce, carrots, tomatoes, green onions, craisens, chicken and maybe a little Caesar dressing (oops…I cheated and had some salt, but I just love Ceasar dressing!) Yesterday was vegetable chopping day, as we had the salad for dinner last night (leftovers are my favorite!) so I didn’t have to do all of that today as well, which was nice! Tomorrow I think I’ll make some black beans – I’ve never not used a can before (silly sodium restrictions), so we’ll see how that goes.

So that is the update on me. The Lord is good and he is teaching me so much. It feels like I’m re-learning how to live. But He’s here. My eyes have been opened and I see who I was and I see who I want to be, and He’s walking with me…the whole way. It is hard and I do get scared, but He tells me *“Cease striving, know that I am God. And I’ll be exalted in the earth. Just be still, don’t you worry, I’ll be here. I will strengthen you, surely I will help you. Just wait and trust in me.”

*lyrics from a song titled “Cease Striving”