More appointments today. We saw our regular kidney doctor today for a check up. All was good. We saw the surgeon today that did Steve's surgery. All was good. The surgeon said to come back in 6 months but to keep sending all test that he has done at KU so he can keep up on what is going on.

Steve will probably only do blood work once a month as long as he feels good. She did say today that she want to keep an eye on his iron. He was slightly anemic. Not unusual after having a kidney taken out to be this way. Normal is 13 and he was slightly below 13. As long as he stays between 10 and 13 he won't have to get iron shots. Dr. Brown said this is normal and she is not worried but does want to watch the iron. We will see her again the end of April.

The next thing is another ct scan, which was what the plan was from the cancer doctor 3 months after surgery. So is going to get that done. Sometime in May he will have another ultrasound done on his kidney to see if the cysts have changed or any other issues show up. This will be done at KU. Sometime this week one of the doctors from KU will be calling with the results of all his test he had done last Friday. This is quite impressive now with all the doctors he has seen or will see.

Doctor B primary care
Doctor B Nephrologist
Doctor AJ Oncologist
Doctor L Urologist
Doctor H KU Urologist
Doctor W KU Nephrologist
Doctor G KU Cardiologist

You try keeping appointments straight with all these people and see if you are still sane. I don't believe he could be getting any better care.

Today was a long day. We arrived at KU at 6:30a.m. this morning and arrived at home tonight at 6:30pm. Steve started at the lab drawing blood this morning and urine. I think they drained him. They took 15 vials. At 7:30 they took him and did an echo cardiogram etc.., then about 2 hours later he had an ultrasound of the stomach. Next they started a stress test on his heart did some preliminary stuff and then gave him the nuclear shot and we had to wait 3 hours, came back and they scanned the heart again. Most everything that was done today was testing of the heart. We saw one heart doctor today. Dr. G and he talked with us a while and said he would call next week with the result of all the test. Most likely everything will be fine but he said there are a lot of people walking around with heart problems and they don't even know it. They have little or no symptoms. If something would be wrong they would have time to correct it before the transplant (2years away). That is why all these test are being done to make sure every area of him is in good shape.

We were impressed today at KU when they mentioned Steve's Nephrologist in St. Joe, Dr. Brown everyone praised her highly. KU has worked with her for years and had so many good things to say about her.

Our next appointment will be about what they call socializing with some of the transplant doctors, nurses and case worker. We will be doing this the first of April. We go and talk with them after watching a video about a transplant. We are suppose to watch the video and write down our questions. I sure hope there is not a test over this.

We still need all the prayers. Thanks so much and we will keep blogging it might not be as often due to a lot of time between appointments now which is a good thing. Gives Steve a break from this.

Love Steve, Christy & girls

Sorry I haven't updated in a while but there hasn't been any new developements. We are just waiting around until the next wave of appointments. Steve did have blood work done on Monday and we didn't call to get the results since this has been such a every week hassel with the lab. We decided this week if the numbers wére not good the doctor would call us. He is doing blood work every other week. For the most part he has been feeling food. He has a bad headache once in a while and still can't seem to figure that out. The doctor still thinks it is his blood pressure. We think he blood pressure has been really good now for quite a while. Through all of this he has become very good on the Wii. Yes we (I) purchased one the day after Christmas. Since then I think 5 new games have been purchased. His lastest game is flying airplanes(this is what he always wanted to do). Needless to say it keeps him out of my hair for a while. Steve, Triston, and Trey play the most. Blair plays quite often and Emily occaisonally. I have to addmit I have only played the thing 3 times since it was purchased only because Steve gets mad if anyone beats him. The first time I played Steve in tennis I beat him and we haven't played since.

Well it is getting late and I am going to catch some ZZZZZZ's.

Love to all and should have news by the April 1st. Take care.

Keep the prayers coming. Steve, Christy and girls.

We have the paper work sent back to KU transplant center and they are ready to start Steve with some testing at the end of the month, checking his heart, lungs, etc.... KU also called today to set up an appointment in April for us to come down. Not sure what this is all about. They have done this so much it is routine to them. KU did approximately 108 transplants in 2008, on an average 2 per week. We talk with someone from KU at least twice a week. All these conversations with them get me excited but this is part of the process. As far as we know it will still be 2 years before Steve will be cleared for transplant. We have a lot of unanswered questions but I am sure will get answers when we go to the appointments.

Steve's creatinine and potassium were both 5.0 this week. Up from last week. I'm know doctor but I think he is a bouncer. One week it is down and the next week it is up. So I predict next week it will be down. We should find out the whole blood work up at our next visit with Dr. Brown which will be the end of the month.

Keep praying it is working.

The Schmitz's