What a day

If I don't have to go anywhere tomorrow it will be perfect.

Today was too much.

I went to Jerusalem for the blood draw today so we could test parathyroid levels, which is a time dependent test so it has to be drawn in the main lab. I got there to find out that they moved the main lab. It was only a couple blocks away, but really, that wasn't cool.

From the lab I walked to the bus stop via the shuk. It was fun. I bought whole wheat pitas for PDZ,. He will enjoy them even though I can't eat them. They are good but they are full of phosphorus and I would rather cheat on chocolate if I am going to cheat. I bought him a bag of six and quickly figured out that even if I had money to spend that was all I was carrying the rest of the way to the bus.

It wasn't a quick trip in the end. I left the house at 8:30am and I got home at 12:30pm, too late to nap before the kids got home, they came home happy though. They were even happier when I let them make pizza out of (non whole wheat) pitas for lunch. It was a fun project for them.

Napping today was not happening. My doctor called and insisted on an appointment this evening. I was out of lab slips, so I needed to see her anyway. A 6:15pm appointment was made, but that meant no nap while the babysitter was here from 5-7pm. It also means that I didn't have to take all of the kids to the appointment or find a babysitter. She was already found! Not a bad trade off.

The end of the story is, despite feeling less tingling and twitching my calcium is down more and my phosphorus is on its way up. It was 6.0 before the Renagel, down to 4.8 two days after starting it (under 4.5 is normal so we were close) and has gone up steadily from there and is 5.4 now. My calcium has also gone down quite steadily since I started the Renagel, which is the opposite of what we wanted and expected. Since I am feeling better she isn't pushing for IV calcium now, but she did call the nephrologist while I was there. He is going on vacation on the 26th and wants this heading in a better direction before then. The hope is that the Renagel will still do what it should, which is lower the phosphorus so that my calcium levels can stabilize (in the normal range please!). They are going to continue checking blood levels every two days and decide what to do next week. For now we are just holding tight.

My PCP also referred me to a dietician. She is hoping that she can help me with the low phosphorus diet and help me figure out how to get more protein into my diet.

I am so incredibly tired. I can't finish the update. I hope to write more tomorrow.