Dad’s BP was 158/79 with a pulse of 60. The creatinine
went from 2.9 to 2.4 (1.6 is high normal). Of the proteins found in Dad’s
urine he said none of them were “abnormal” but that they were 3 times higher
than they should be. I asked if it could be from muscle breakdown and Dad
asked if diet played a role. Both answers came back “no”. The
kidney has a barrier where it can filter the blood to clean it, but should
leave the protein behind (to stay in the blood). Dad’s barrier isn’t
doing its job and the doctor is looking to see if he can do anything to improve
that situation.
As we were wrapping up, the doctor asked about how Dad was
feeling in general. Dad came by the store for a visit yesterday and he
spoke about his lack of energy interest in doing things (although he went to
the community concert by himself last night and Kyle’s baseball game the
night before). Anyway, I brought this up to the doctor and mentioned his
anemia. The doctor then talked about treatment with a drug called EPO, a
hormone secreted by the kidneys to stimulate red blood cell production.
Red blood cells carry oxygen. I have asked Dad’s regular doctor
(Nichols), his PA (Trevor), and cancer specialist (Mokabadi) about using this
drug and they all said Dad was not “there” yet. While not encouraging the
direction, I’ve wanted Dad to try this simply for the improved quality of life
I thought it might provide. This doctor explained that there were risks
such as stroke, if his body makes too many red blood cells, and tumor growth,
which is why Dr. Mokabadi wanted to do more tests. Dad would have to get
a shot every two weeks and have his blood checked every interval. I tried
to stay neutral in advising Dad as we asked about the side effects and
negatives to this approach. There really didn’t seem to be many, besides
the inconvenience of the shot frequency and blood tests. If there is some
underlying condition they have not discovered the EPO may aggravate that
condition.
Even if that is the case, I still believe this is the correct
course of action. Dad is slowing down both mentally and physically and I
believe it is due in part to the lack of oxygen. I’ve seen him climb the
hill to tennis and have to stop halfway. He mentioned that he parked in
front of our store to walk to the concert and the walk back exhausted him.
This is a non-invasive treatment that may offer some benefit.
They were not able to start the shots today. They have to
get approval from Dad’s insurance carrier. We will keep you posted on the
progress.
