Kidney Clinic: A Support Group of Two, very very cool! - delicious chicken dinner coming up!

Just hung up this acrylic by Patrick Otis Cox that I bought when he and wife Yin came to my New Year's Day Party. It goes w/my lavender living room walls.

It was so cold this morning I actually heated up my car before I stepped inside. I hate being cold. Now it's lovely outside. Sunny and 45.

When I go to Kidney Clinic, I always park on West 13th Street. It's free. About a 12-minute walk.

I had a 9 am appt. There were only half a dozen people there including a man who was sound asleep in a chair. I pulled out my terrific Christopher Hitchens book and began reading. This is an autobiography of Hitch, considered by many the best essay writer of our time.

He went to Oxford University and knew Bill Clinton, who he calls a 'professional liar' and always has some other incredibly awful things to say about him.

Soon a tall man walked in, sat down and began chatting with his neighbors. Fortyish, he was "three months in" from his kidney transplant.

The sleeping man awoke.

"Lance, is that you?" I asked.

Sure enough, it was Lance. We'd met May 31, per my blog post.

After our vitals are taken, we're sent back to the examining rooms.

Lance and I sat in opposite rooms and were able to talk.

It is so fantastic to be able to share my story - and have Lance share his - this is why there are support groups.

The great news for me is that the numbers for my BK virus went down dramatically. I called my daughter Sarah the minute I got home to tell her.

My creatinine is 1.1.

Blood levels BK...786...down from 12,000 (it used to be in the millions)

Urine levels BK...321,000...down from 1,700,000

A new young nephrology "fellow" came in to see me.

"You look Chinese," I said to him, "but you have an Indian name."

"I'm from Thailand!" said Dr. Kawin (his first name, pronounced KAH-win).

I told him my daughter had been to Thailand and loved it. She bought me a beautiful jacket and paid only $40 for it. Thanks to neighbor Nancy Myers for taking the photo.

He agreed the things are really inexpensive. In Feb., Kawin will work in Boston. He wants to be a Transplant Nephrologist.

That reminds me that we have several French-Thai restaurants around here I have yet to try.

Lance and I were sharing stories about diabetes. Since he's a duo-transplant - kidney and pancreas - he apparently no longer has diabetes.

BTW, my A1C was normal, which is a miracle. That's cuz I see-saw from high to low.

The phone just rang. "Caller unknown," it said. I thought they might be calling from Kidney Clink so I answered it.

"Is Mr or Mrs Deming there?" she asked.

"What dyou want?" I asked.

"We represent Chimney Cleaning (I didn't catch the name, darn!)"

"I'm not interested, but good luck and have a nice day," I said.

"Bitch!" she said.

"You're a bitch!" I yelled.

I was so proud of myself b/c I'm a really nice person and I was able to talk back.

Naturally I tried to find the company she was calling from and left a message at Suburban Chimney Company. Michelle just called me to 'apologize' for a woman who used to work for them and took a lot of names with her when she left.

Okay, on w/the show.

Lance and I are sharing lo-blood sugar stories. Before he got his pancreas t'plant, he had many lows. We all do. One time he passed out. Luckily his wife Michelle found him and called 911. They knew just what to do.

I told Lance about my worst low, thother nite, when my sugars went down to 43. I said I was gobbling every carb in sight and my mind was in tatters, not thinking well at all.

Lance said when he had one of his lows and his mind wasn't functioning right, he actually injected himself w/insulin.

OMG I shouted, totally understanding how that can happen.

He said that whenever we're low, we always overeat, we don't need that many carbs and then we swing the other way.

So true.

I have a code written on my kitchen bulletin board.


The reason Lance was sleeping in the waiting room is b/c he comes all the way from Lyndhurst, NJ, and leaves at 4:30 or 5:30 in the a.m. b/c he has to contend with traffic going to Manhattan. Hope I got that right, Lance.

And I complain about leaving home at 8:20 a.m.

Dr Kawin, the nephrology fellow, said he got his medical degree in Thailand.

I asked if it was difficult to t'fer credits and he said No. That's b/c for a while America had a shortage of doctors, so they made it much easier for doctors to come to America.

My nephrologist for the day was Dr Gitana Bradauskaite, a very knowledgeable woman w/ beautiful long hair, orig. from Lithuania.

We were talking about Prograf making my hair fall out. She named some other antirejection meds that might not have that side effect - including cyclosporine (its generic name), which is an earlier version of Prograf (tacrolimus), and something called Rapamune (Sirolimus), which she likes very much.

"Your body either likes them or can't take them," she said.

I'll stick w/my Prograf and my Women's Rogaine.

Was wondering what I'd eat for dinner and then I remembered I'm defrosting - not to be confused with deforesting, which is what the unconscionable corporations do - a huge turkey breast I got from points accumulated at the Giant Supermarket.

Before I left for Kidney Clink this morning I left Scott a message. "Please bring me your big roasting pan." I left the oven door open and when I got home, sure enuf there was the pan.

I'm using Scott's recipe for the breast - mayo and mustard - plus I added balsamic vinegar and chili powder. I hand-basted it since I'm a bread-baker and don't mind getting my hands dirty.

That reminds me that Lance, my kidney buddy, used to be a chef! But his friends at Verizon persuaded him to go there, so now he's the guy that climbs up poles and down into holes. His body is as good as new!

Driving home from Clinic down Old York Road, I saw a familiar bright blue Nissan with what seemed like very familiar bumper stickers. Sure enough it was Nicole, my dtr/law, with Grace in the back seat.

We pulled up neck and neck. "Look, Grace," said Nicole, "there's Bubby!"

Grace, of course, was in the car seat on her Elmo.



Grace, how come you're so cute!