Another December, another annual check up! Glad to say that I'm still fine - creatinine 129, BP 112/75 and cholesterol down a bit. After taking allopurinol for the last year, my urate level has dropped from 525 last December to 332; I now have just an occasional slight twinge of gout which lasts for a few minutes but am otherwise not affected at all by it.
I'm always delighted by the treatment at the transplant centre; this is the one where my initial tests were done in 2012 but the operation in 2013 was the centre near my brother in London. I arrived 20 minutes early due to buses being on-time and having just sat down was surprised to hear my name called. There were a good dozen other people waiting there and I felt almost guilty at being called before them!
Consequently I had finished with the consultant by my appointment time, and so had time for a chat with the same transplant nurse whilst waiting for bloods to be done. She is the same one who looked after me during the tests and she still remembers me and my recipient brother. I am glad that patients like me help make her job rewarding! She is frankly a real treasure and I would be disappointed if she left.
On the same sort of topic I should mention cutting my head on a Thursday at the end of November: I went to A&E at a smaller local hospital at about 3.30pm and was out (with the wound glued) by 4.40 which is pretty darn good in my book. Why do people criticize the NHS?
BTW, that's not the fastest turnround that I have ever had in an A&E. One Sunday about 20 years ago my back went into spasm and my son drove me in; they treated me and sent me out in just under a hour! I think that speed was explained by the time of day - at 2pm the expected sports injuries had not yet arrived. I do still see a chiropractor about my back when it starts to hurt.
