Back to the subject of dialysis

It's Wednesday already and I haven't filled you in on Monday's visit to G'ville. I'll fix that right now.
Glenn had his chemo treatment without any problems. We were disappointed that his kidney function went down again to11%. The Dr. seemed pretty disappointed about that and asked if Glenn had made an appointment for the fistula, which he hadn't yet. So he (Glenn) called to set up an appointment with the vascular surgeon. We don't have a date for it yet. We go back this coming Wednesday to his regular check up and hopefully they will have given him an appointment with the surgeon for that day as well.
It's just hard to believe that Glenn's kidneys are functioning at such a low level because to look at him you wouldn't know anything was wrong with him. He is tired sometimes from the chemo, and retains fluid from the steroids, but other than that he doesn't have any obvious outward symptoms of kidney disease. He doesn't feel sick. I don't think his color shows any indication of how bad the function is, although I wouldn't describe him as having a pink complexion, but he hasn't for a long time. It hasn't gotten progressively worse with the reduction in his kidney function.
I've told you before that the Dr. believes there is something else going on with the kidneys besides the blood disease. Monday he mentioned autoimmune disease. I looked up treatment for that and it is just what the Dr. is doing for him: cytoxin (chemotherapy) and steroids. Next week I will ask him about doing a blood test for autoimmune disease because that is easily diagnosed from certain blood tests. I believe he was tested for that before his transplant. I looked through his lab tests, (I keep a copy of each one). He did had one and it was negative, so I have questions for the Dr. about that. Because of his theory about an autoimmune disease, he wants to start Glenn on chemo more often and by mouth (a pill), instead of IV and wants him to take it every other day, with steroid on the other days. If he starts that, it will be in three weeks when he's due for his next treatment.
 I am happy to report that his edema has gone down a lot and continues to go down. He says he feels much better and not so bloated now. He looks better and his clothes fit better, too. He also didn't need any blood products yet because his counts were still in the safe range. I won't say normal, just not to the point of needing anything. He has enjoyed doing work for Flighttime Radio, the program that he helped start several years ago. He's helping them with marketing and getting guests for the weekly Saturday afternoon show. He had  his "buddy", the sheriff  on a couple weeks ago to talk about the city's air fleet.
I didn't intend to ramble on so long. I must be getting that from Glenn! You all know how he can talk as long as you will listen. I sure know it! So I'll stop before I get that reputation.