Second appointment with my local nephrologist, as opposed to UCLA transplant nephrologists. There was not too much in the test results. Creatinine and potassium was a bit high, but likely due to not enough fluid intake, so she was not worried. Tacrolimus readings were a bit low, so she added another 1 mg pill to my evening dose. So now I am taking 3 mg in the morning and 4 mg in the evening.
We spent a lot of time talking about COVID and what kidney transplant recipients should do. She mentioned some of the studies that I read about as well. She agrees that getting a third shot seems to improve immune response to the virus, but there is no approval in the US for multiple vaccinations yet. She did say that she could not officially “recommend” me to get a third shot, but it will definitely give me more protection. So, in addition to dealing with a plethora of medications and trying to stay safe, I have to find a clinic that will not ask too many questions when I show up this late for a COVID shot.
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Weird. I guess I never published this post. I will just continue instead of starting another post.
It does appear that COVID cases are getting worse, not better. I saw a news story on NBC (TV is stuck on channel 4 for Olympics) that tsaid there we are at over 70,000 cases per day now. I also heard that he Delta variant case spike in the UK lasted from May to July. If the US follows the same trajectory, then we are looking at mid-September for infection rates to start dropping. My doctor friend at Harbor-UCLA hospital basically said they are preparing for this latest surge to last into September.
Here is a chart of hospitalization for Los Angeles county:
This is an interesting chart for Orange County:
I think you can see that as more people were vaccinated, the weekly new cases for unvaccinated people were dropping as well. However, as the Delta variant becomes prevalent, new cases for both groups show an increase, especially the unvaccinated. Since I am basically in the unvaccinated group even though I got two shots of the Moderna vaccine, I am super worried. I mentioned my boss’s annual track day party that I was planning on attending next weekend earlier. Well, I emailed them to say I feel it is too risky for me to be indoors with a large group of people, so I am stuck at home.
Data for all of United States. There were 123k cases on July 30th. That is early November 2020 numbers and that surge overwhelmed many hospitals and nearly delayed my transplant for several more months. If you are confused by politicians and the CDC, just look at the case data. I cannot understand why people still will not get vaccinated.
Life with chronic diseases 