Anything's better than posh isolation

As expected this week I started taking Cyclosporin again, the anti-rejection drug that I would need to take if I were to have a Lung Transplant. The plan, as I have mentioned before, is for me to tinker with the dose over the next few weeks till we can all be satisfied that the dose I'm taking equates to a therapeutic dose in my blood. This means that for the next week or so I'll be going twice weekly to get blood taken to check for the level of the drug in my blood. We're looking for somewhere in the region of 250-300 mg/ml.

When that dose is stabilised I'll probably be on Cyclosporin for a good 6 weeks before going to Newcastle to get the GFR test repeated to see if I can, in fact, tolerate the drug regime I would be on post transplant.

Now the extensive checks conducted on my kidneys by the renal and urology consultants when not on Cyclosporin suggest that there is nothing structurally or functionally wrong with my kidneys, but that then has me wondering why the initial GFR test showed a problem with my kidneys in the first place. Surely the absence of Cyclosporin is the only variable between then and the recent barrage of tests so if I go back on it then it stands to reason that the GFR will give me the same response as it did last time. Well maybe, but remember it wasn't just the Cyclosporin that was removed from my repeat prescription these past 9 months or so - there were also had a couple of other drugs (an antibiotic and an anti-hypertensive) that have the side effect of damaging the kidneys changed for more kidney friendly versions. So maybe it was them that caused the dodgy result in the GFR test and it had nothing to do with Cyclosporin at all.

All these things will be answered when I go down to Newcastle again in early March. It really can't come quick enough. I've got bored of wondering what path my life is going to take and now just want answers, even if it's not the one I hoped for. At least then I can come to terms with it and get on with whatever life I can get on with having.