Foot Massager – First Use

I moved the massager upstairs to my bedroom. My room is not that big so the massager is quite noticeable since it’s pretty large. Here is a photo with my iPhone 8S for size comparison:

It took some reading but I think I have the orientation and usage figured out. It’s still not ideal for calf massages since you’re supposed to put the massager on a bed or ottoman and let the weight of your lower leg push down on the massager. Being seated, I don’t think there’s enough pressure against the rollers for a good massage. However, the massager weighs a ton so it’s not that easy to move around. Even switching from foot to calf mode in the same spot sucks.

I tried it for about 15 minutes each on my feet then calves. You definitely fell more of a tingling in your feet afterwards. It actually makes the neuropathy numbness worse. Hopefully it’s just a reaction from improved blood flow and I’ll get used to it after more use. No pain yet after one day so hope that lasts too.

Appointment with Vascular Surgeon

I didn’t actually see the surgeon. Today was just an ultrasound of my arm. The tech was really nice and we were done in <15 minutes. She said my fistula looks normal but there were spots where the blood vessel narrows, probably causing higher flow pressures and pissing off the dialysis machine. She will show the results to the surgeon and they will let me know what he wants to do, if anything.

Right now is that awkward period where I don’t know if a donor transplant is coming soon, or never. If UCLA accepted by sister, then I can tell the dialysis center and my nephrologist to use the chest catheter until the transplant happens. But without knowing UCLA’s decision, I have to move on like the transplant is not happening, and I may need the fistula for five years or even longer.

Part-time Confirmation

I got the letter from HR today confirming my conversion to part-time status at work. In addition to what I wrote previously, I will also only accrue vacation at 75% so only 3-weeks instead of 4 annually. However, all my stock awards will still vest at 100% of schedule plus I’m still eligible for full benefits.

I’m not sure how long they will allow me to stay part-time since it’s very rare at our company. There’s probably only a handful of part-time salaried employees out of the 7,500 people working there. I think it will depend on transplant news, whether UCLA accepts my sister as donor, or if I transfer my UNOS wait time to Arizona.

Cloud Massage Foot Massager

The massager arrived early. It came in a huge box this afternoon. Even though I bought it from another online store, it was fulfilled by Amazon anyway. I think in the near future, all online shopping logistics will be handled by a few companies, with Amazon being the largest. The unit weighs 24 pounds so it was hard to lug up the stairs. Then I had to bring it downstairs since we don’t have room in any of the bedrooms for it yet.

It looks okay. I plugged it in and tried it on my feet and calves. The instructions and the box photos do not match however. I wanted to make sure the massager was orientated properly but it appears the manual was written in China, and the English structure was a bit weird. I think I’ve figure it out, though for calves, the instructions want me to put in on a bed or ottoman. Did I mention 24 pounds?

I think I’m going to move it to my bedroom after clearing out some space. For diabetics and those with neuropathy, they suggest 2-3 sessions of 15 minutes. That means I need something to do while sitting there. Our living room is kind of sparse whereas all the electronics stuff is in my bedroom. I hope this works and actually helps with my neuropathy pain.

UCLA Punts!

I’m so mad and disappointed right now. As I posted before, UCLA transplant center met yesterday to decide on whether my sister can become a donor, after being told to wait for three years. Instead of making a decision, they chickened out and asked for another biopsy of her kidney. Two years ago, UCLA performed a biopsy for the same reason, and failed to obtain a sample. At the time, when we asked them to do it again, they declined saying the “tumor” was too small and deep in the kidney. Now, two years later with basically no changes, they want to do another biopsy? Why do I get the feeling they’re asking for extra procedures to collect more money from insurance?

Both times my sister had a radiologist read the CT scans and send their results to UCLA. Both times it was determined to be a benign growth but UCLA didn’t accept the findings. I understand the need for a biopsy the first time. However, after failing to obtain a sample, they asked my sister to wait two years. What were they expecting? If it was cancerous, then it would have grown like crazy and probably killed my sister. If it was benign, the no growth was expected. Did they think the “tumor” would disappear on its own? It’s clear that the cyst was benign but now they change their mind? It’s not an academic exercise. I had to sit through two additional years of dialysis, risking rejection by UCLA as a recipient due to health changes. Does patient suffering play any part in their decision making? Do they want to be 100.0% sure of success before performing the transplant. So confused.

I think the last text from my sister said the donor committee is consulting with the recipient surgeons. I hope somebody steps up and makes a decision. This kicking the can down the road nonsense sucks.

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My sister came by our house so I talked to her in person. The donor coordinator said the surgeon that performed the biopsy two years ago was not at the committee meeting. My sister spoke with him at that time. He said if we wait two years, a benign cyst will grow about 1 mm per year, and that’s what happened. My sister’s cyst grew from 10 mm to about 12 mm. If it was cancerous, it would grow a lot more. He also said if it only grew 1 mm per year, he would be satisfied that it was benign. I think the committee that met yesterday just went through a checklist and came up with the same answer: biopsy. Surely the medical records have her failed biopsy documented so I don’t know why they would suggest the same thing. Right now, the donor coordinator is trying to reach the original surgeon, and also consult with the recipient surgery team. The answer can’t be “same” after two years of enduring dialysis.

We wait. If the answer is still negative, then we may have to switch transplant centers a third time. Maybe Cedars Sinai, USC Keck, or UCI Medical Center.

Stretcher Girl Reappears

I just noticed today that stretcher girl is back. I actually didn’t see them wheel her in but saw the two guys leaving with an empty stretcher. When I looked over at the other pod, she was already in her seat. No idea what happened but obviously she is still not able to walk or drive herself to dialysis.

I was thinking that it may be cool to share some info on each patient so we can get to know each other, though HIPAA probably prevents that. Maybe just first name, age, and reason for kidney failure? My info would probably say “idiot’s kidney failure due to not taking care of his health.”

Part-time Work Update

Even though the pain in my right foot has not come back, I still can’t fall asleep. I think it’s a combination of staring part-time work and wondering about UCLA transplant committee’s decision about my sister.

I got confirmation from HR today that I will be classified as 3/4-time starting this week. I already went into my calendar and blocked off more time on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Since the work schedule is pretty flexible for salary employees, I assumed an 8-5 work schedule with an hour lunch to come up with the 40 hours. Since I’m now 3/4-time, I left 2-5 pm free. That adds up to 30 hours total for the week.

HR said they will send me a letter with all the details on salary and benefits changes. I know that I’ll lose 1/4 of my salary, plus receive no pay for holidays. We have nine fixed holidays and two flex days. I wonder if I’ll lose all 11, even if I’ve taken the two flex days this year already.

It’s a big hit financially but I was going to run out of vacation days soon. I’ve already taken 26 PTO day this year, plus four sick days and the two flex holidays. That’s a total of 30 for only six months (I was out on leave all of January). I have about 12 days left in my PTO bank, plus I’ll pick up ~9 days for the rest of the year for only 21. That will probably only last until Thanksgiving so I would have to make the change at some point if I don’t get a transplant this year. For transplant, since I’m out of medical leave days per FMLA, I’ll have to use the three month unpaid sabbatical leave if it comes up before November 11th.

Health and Quality of Life

I was writing this at the bottom of the previous post but thought it was different enough for a separate post.

I definitely feel that my health and quality of life is a lot worse since the heart bypass surgery last November. Right after surgery, I thought that I could get through the 8-12 week recovery period, and pick up life where I left off, even with the pending kidney transplant. Well, in mid-March with the COVID-19 pandemic, all that has changed forever.

Personally, I think my problem started with my experiment with peritoneal dialysis. In hindsight, I made the wrong choice back in April of last year. I decided to go with PD instead of getting a fistula and continuing with in-center hemodialysis. I don’t think it affected the need for bypass surgery since that was caused by years of bad eating and no exercise. However, since PD failed to work for the last two months of treatment, my blood really wasn’t getting cleaned. The blood toxicity probably caused some other health issues or at least made existing problems much worse. My urine output went from close to 2 liters a day down to zero, which is causing havoc with my fluid balance now. I also feel that my energy levels are a lot lower than before, plus the numbness in my feet due to peripheral neuropathy is a lot more intense now too.

At first, I thought working from home for a few weeks is cool, since I was just getting used to driving 40 miles to and from work again. However, as the pandemic got worse, and even healthy co-workers started staying at home, I felt like I was back in recovery: stuck at home with nowhere to go. Before, it was because I was physically unable to move around. Now, it’s the fear of getting COVID-19 and getting really sick or dying. Unlike heart surgery recovery, where you can feel the physical improvements and there’s an end-date, this COVID-19 mess won’t end unless there is a widely available vaccine. This could be soon or next year or never. I can’t imaging life if we never come up with an effective vaccine and millions of people like me are stuck at home for the rest of their lives.

Right now it’s hard to imaging the future. I go to dialysis three times a week, and sometimes I go to the mall parking lot to charge my electric car. I also go and get take-out lunch a few days a week but the rest of the time, I’m effectively locked up at home. That’s why I went to pick up dim sum this past weekend. It seemed like a low risk opportunity to get out of the house for an hour. Since the local Supercharger is much more available these days with less people driving, I should go out for more aimless drives rather than sit at home.

Sigh. In the end, the near future is dependent on the vaccine and if I can get a live donor kidney transplant from my sister. If the transplant happens, then the need for dialysis goes away (hopefully for many years). However, I still will be high risk due to all the post-transplant medications. If UCLA rejects my sister again, then I have to decide on whether to transfer my time to the Mayo Clinic in Phoenix, or stay as it for the next 5-6 years waiting for a deceased donor kidney. When I first started dialysis, I though it was temporary, and would last only a few weeks or months. When I switched to PD, I thought I was done with hemodialysis and would stay on PD until the transplant happened. Now that I’m back on hemodialysis and with my fistula not working well, I don’t know what to think anymore.

You never want to live in the past, but life was pretty good ~10 years ago. I just turned 40, started a new job, none of these serious health issues were apparent, plus traveling a lot and “dating”” a girl in Beijing. A short 10 years later, it’s all turned to shit.

All this time, I kept wondering what God’s role was in all this. Admittedly, I had stopped going to church when the last one I attended self-imploded. I spend a few years looking for a church, then ending up at the one I’m attending currently four years ago. For the first two years, I was pretty gung-ho. The church is more charismatic on spirituality than my previous churches, and I got all caught up believing that God will cure me miraculously. I think it even affected some of my dialysis decisions. “Why make long term dialysis plans when God’s going to cure me any minute now?!” However, when weeks, months, and years went by with no supernatural signs and wonders, I started to doubt and sleep in on Sundays (skipping church service). I still don’t know what to think about spirituality and healing in my life. I send group texts to my cell group letting them know about hospital appointments and transplant news. In return, they all reply with promises to pray. Together with my parents’ church and my old church in the South Bay, there’s probably a lot of prayer going on. Does that even matter to God? Should it?

This post has become way longer than I originally thought. The pain in my foot seems to have subsided somewhat. Maybe it’s one of those rare cases where the Tylenol does help. It’s past midnight; I’d better try to get some sleep before dialysis or I’m going to pass out on the chair again.

Good night. Hope there is good news from UCLA soon.

Exercise Triggered Neuropathy

Ugh. I’m starting a lot of posts with this word.

I was feeling pretty good tonight. I got over 5 hours of sleep today, broken up into several naps. I had a decent dinner, and my chest pain/pressure wasn’t bothering me too much. Anyway, I walked for about 20 minutes on the treadmill for about 0.6 miles. At the end, I started feeling a sharp stabbing pain in my right foot, right below the inside of the ankle. I think this is the first time that exercise made my neuropathy worse, or even appear out of nowhere.

I used to think that exercise helps relieve the pain somewhat. I did notice a huge wave of numbness in my legs/foot when I stopped walking on the treadmill. But exercise triggering the neuropathy pain? I didn’t expect that.

It’s been only 10 minutes and the pain is already excruciating. I took two Tylenol pills already but likely it won’t do anything. I guess no sleep tonight. I just hope it subsides by the time I have to go to dialysis. I can’t imagine sitting for four hours while feeling a constant stabbing pain in my foot.

I hate my life.

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Let me reiterate that this was a problem that used to appear every month or so. I can deal with one night of no sleep and sharp pain each month, though it was pushing my pain tolerance. Now that this seems to occur once every few days, plus my recent erratic sleep patterns, I am exhausted all the time. I was trying to get some work done around noon today but I kept nodding off in front of the computer. After about 30 minutes of this, I finally went to take a short nap and woke up at around 2:30 pm. Luckily, I did not receive many emails or text messages from work.

More COVID-19 in Orange County

Our work site is up to 102 cases of COVID-19, though that’s technically in Los Angeles County. In Orange County, it does seem the number of new cases is going down since Governor Newsome re instituted the stay-at-home order. Again, there seems to be some discrepancies depending on where you look:

*From: Orange County Health Care Agency*

Again, it’s weird that the total numbers tie but the daily data in the charts are totally different. Both definitely shows a downward trend after the peak in early July.

Since there are differences and I’m not sure what are the criteria for reporting a positive case, we can look at hospitalization data. This is from the OC Health Care Agency:

*Total hospitalization numbers include ICU patients*

Assuming the hospitalization rate is fairly constant for the population, then this is probably better data to look at since it’s reported by hospitals and includes only those with serious symptoms. Again, there seems to be a huge increase mid-June after California relaxed restrictions at the end of May, and a decrease recently. Hopefully, people will be patient this time (Orange County Supervisors and school openings) and not rush out again causing another spike in cases, hospitalizations, and deaths.

I’ve already visited the DMV so anyplace else seems less risky in comparison.

Dim Sum Brunch

Our families usually go out to eat dim sum on weekends. My nieces especially love dim sum so they go a lot more. Since there’s only a few choices near Irvine, we usually go to China Garden on the corner of Jeffries and Walnut. Usually there is a line on weekends so often we try to go early and line up for the first seating after they open. Here is the dim sum menu:

Prices start from $3.88 per dish and goes up depending on what you order. I think we usually spend about $15/person since they also charge for tea. It’s not on the menu but if you order six dishes, you can also order a lobster yee-mein (stir-fried lobster noodles) for $10. Since the COVID-19 lockdown, the restaurant has become take-out only since they do not have outdoor seating. I guess I could have ordered from there but I found a 4-star rated place in Westminster that only sells take-out dim sum. It’s called The Dim Sum Company and it’s located in a Vietnamese supermarket. I can’t find a nice picture of their menu anywhere so here is a picture of the food from their website:

Most of their dishes are only $3.22. I ordered seven items and it came out to $25 including tax. They’re also a bit more tech savvy so I ordered online the night before for morning pickup. There also deliver but we probably live outside their delivery area (13 miles). My parents actually went to the Vietnamese supermarket before and though the dim sum was too “rough” or not refined looking. Having actually eaten the food, it’s only okay. Some of tie items at China Garden taste better but is also more expensive. It’s definitely good for the price. The place was pretty busy at 9:00 am on a Sunday. You can order there as well so there was a long line to order, and a long line for pick-up.

In the end, it was a bit too far to go for dim sum (20 minutes driving each way and a 15 minute wait for my food). If I get the craving for dim sum again during the lockdown, I’ll probably just order from China Garden, which is only a 10 minute drive. Obviously, there is no nutritional information for dim sum from a Vietnamese supermarket in Westminster so I have to guess at the sodium and fat content of each dish. I’ll probably go back to my standard oatmeal and toast breakfast for the rest of this week.

Latest Weight and Body Fat

I have an original Fitbit Aria scale which is connected to my wifi network at home. Every measurement is sent to Fitbit’s server and the app pulls the data to your phone or PC each time you log in. All the weight plots I post are from the data that the scale collected over the past year.

Just now, I weighed in at 86.5 kg and 15.0% body fat. The body fat is measured by sending up a small current up one leg and measuring your body’s electrical resistance across the pelvis and down the other leg. I don’t think it’s that accurate but as long as the scale is consistent, it should be okay for looking at changes over time. Also, this is why the scale can’t measure body fat when I wear socks.

By looking at some random chart on hte Internet, it says I am between lean and ideal. That’s probably not right. Lean is the last word you think of if you see me, though I have lost a lot of weight since the heart surgery. Also, my BMI (probably an even worse measure) says I’m still overweight at ~27-ish. I think to be accurate, you have to get measured with fat calipers or go into a water displacement tank.

*Body fat % readings from Fitbit Aria scale*

The above is a chart from Fitbit with body fat % for the past year. Whatever the number is in real life, the resistance in my legs have gone down over time. It kind of tracks my weight loss over the same time period. The big weird drop was right after heart surgery when I was stuck in the family room living off the recliner sofa. Didn’t really weigh myself that much at the time.

In-N-Out Lunch Again

I went to charge my car after dialysis at Santa Ana Main Place. There are 14 Superchargers by the parking structure, 12 regular ones and 2 urban chargers. In the past, they were usually packed with people. However, with COVID-19, it has been fairly empty since no one is traveling or commuting. I took one of the urban chargers today and got about 45 kW of power consistently.

I was looking to buy something to eat before charging so I can eat in the car while waiting. I drove by the nearest Jersey Mike’s but they didn’t open until 11:00 am, an hour later. I thought about driving to Raising Cane’s or getting some chicken kabobs (my other standby lunch places), but decided just to wait it out. The charge took about 40 minutes to add 100 miles of range.

One the way home, I stopped by In-N-Out to get my usual Double Double with fries and a chocolate shake. I forgot how bad the food was for you; I should read my own blog more. There’s way too much sodium and saturated fat. Good thing it was more than three months ago so it’s not like a daily or weekly thing. Still…

The burger was awesome though. The fries, not so much.

Sleeping During Dialysis

Like I posted earlier, I didn’t sleep very much or at all this morning. I arrived at dialysis super tired. I usually watch videos or play games, but today I put on some music and was out during the first song. I thought the senior nurse wanted to try and stick my arm again but when I woke up the first time at 6:55 am (about an hour into the session), there was nothing. I don’t know if she decided to skip today since I was asleep? I was going to do something else but fell back asleep again, waking up at around 9:00 am. That’s three hours of napping, during what felt like the shortest dialysis session ever. I usually can’t sleep on planes, which is murder during long Transpacific flights to Asia. I would be overjoyed on the rare occasion that I did fall asleep on a flight. Yeah, this felt like that.

My blood pressure was still weird. Since I only measured 150’s in the morning, I only took the Olmesartan as recommended by my nephrologist. However, the BP readings went up a bit at the beginning of dialysis so I took the Metoprolol as well. It started in the 150’s, even with both pills, and ended up in the 180’s. When I took the final standing reading, it was still 162/90. Usually I would take an extra 10 mg of NIFEdipine but did not do so today. I’m still at a loss with what to do with the mostly high, but wildly erratic blood pressure readings.

I did leave dialysis at 86.5 kg. You would think my blood pressure would be a bit lower with all that fluid removed.

Not Going In To The Office

Once again, I was planning to go in to the office this weekend. My password for my work account is expiring and I needed to change it. In the past, I’ve had problems changing my password while working remote on the VPN. Invariably, the password change would be fine on the desktop computer but would not stick on the laptop. IT told us in the past to bring the laptop to the office and physically connect it to the network using the Ethernet cable. That usually solved the problem but it’s a PITA if you’re a remote worker, as I am becoming.

I was thinking of going in right after dialysis (and after charging my car at a Supercharger) but I just changed my password using my desktop at work through the VPN and Remote Desktop. I then logged out of the laptop and was able to log in again using the new password. VPN and email still works so I think I’m good. This saves me 90 minutes of driving and the risk of getting COVID-19 in case some idiot coughed or sneezed around my desk.

BTW, we’re up to 102 cases of infection at our local work site. It’s slowed down a bit but crazy to realize that number was 47 on July 4th.

Blood Pressure Fluctuations

My blood pressure (BP) has been pretty unstable since the ablation procedure. Some mornings I would get a low reading around 110/70, and other days I would get something around 180/100. If I take my morning BP medication when the readings are low, invariable I would be dizzy while walking into dialysis. However, since some of the drugs get filtered out during dialysis, my BP would usually rise during the session instead of dropping as fluid is removed from my bloodstream.

On Thursday morning, the BP reading was kinds of normal so I skipped taking the BP medications. My BP ranged from 120/70 to 180/100 during the course of the dialysis session. Prior to going to see the endocrinologist, I think I measured about 156/90 at home so I took the two morning pills before going to the doctor’s office. Imagine my surprise when the assistant measured a 186, followed by a 201. I told her that due to dialysis, my BP numbers are very unstable, and I have nephrologists and cardiologist looking at it. I was surprised that the endocrinologist didn’t mention anything during an otherwise very thorough office visit. She did end up calling me later to tell me she wants to discuss my BP. I hope she doesn’t issue me any more super expensive medications. I already have three other doctors prescribing BP meds and it seems none of them coordinate.

New Diabetes Medication

The endocrinologist I saw on Thursday didn’t like the fact that I’m not on any diabetes medications. She said that due to some of the drugs administered during dialysis, my glucose meter and A1C readings will be lower than actual. She ended up prescribing a newish drug called Tradjenta. We placed the order with my online pharmacy so I can get a 90 day refill. I just saw the invoice online. Since I’m over my out-of-pocket maximum for the year, I don’t have to pay anything. However, my work insurance plan paid $1,256.72 for the 90 pills. That’s $14 dollar for one pill.

I’m beginning to think the medical system in the United States is seriously broken. Why can the rest of the world pay nothing for drugs while we (Americans) pay ridiculous amounts for the same pills? Trump wants to pass a MFN (most favored nation) clause for prescription drugs. I think that means Medicare automatically gets the lowest price negotiated for the specific drug worldwide. That would likely shift the cost burden immediately overseas if drug companies have to charge the same price everywhere. I’m all for it since we (Americans) have been subsidizing the world’s medication costs.

Meanwhile, I’m not sure why I’m taking this expensive pill. Even if the glucose meter is low, I’m getting reading in the 80’s already. If I take the medication and I get readings in the 60’s and 70’s, I would be freaking out about hypoglycemia. If there is no difference in blood sugar readings, then how do I know the drug is doing anything? I can buy an awesome lunch or dinner for $14.

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The doctor’s office gave me a 7-pill sample pack of Tradjenta since the online prescription order takes a few days to get here. That’s like getting $100 for free! The drug companies must be making huge profits if they’re just handing out “$100” everywhere.

Trouble Sleeping (updated)

It’s just past midnight on Saturday and I can’t sleep. The main issue is the peripheral neuropathy again. No pain this time but the numbness is overwhelming. It’s been slowly getting worse over the past several months, but since I was preoccupied with my heart issues, I haven’t blogged about it that much. The numbness is pretty constant and goes about a quarter way up my calf. Since I still have some edema, it does feel a bit bloated, like the skin is being stretched. It’s probably just false feeling; if I can’t feel pain, I’m not going to be able to feel anything subtle.

My back is also a bit sure. I’ve staring at my iPad too long while sitting on my bed. Add the constant chest pain/pressure when I lie down, it’s hard to relax and fall asleep. The problem is that I have dialysis in about 5 hours so I need to get some rest. I’ve been kinda falling asleep on the dialysis chair and that’s definitely not good for my back.

I read online on some websites that dehydration can make neuropathy worse. I think the dialysis center is drying me out but the edema in my ankles say otherwise. I asked my new endocrinologist about medication for neuropathy and she mentioned gabapentin and Lyrica. She said both are not good drugs for someone with kidney issues. So unless the pain is unbearable, she doesn’t like prescribing those type of drugs.

Sigh… for some reason, I always had the thought that modern medicine can fix everything. Then I find out there are lots of chronic conditions that have no cure, and patients basically suffer their entire life with these conditions.

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Update: 8/1/2020

So it”s about 4:00 am and I didn’t get any sleep this morning. Okay, maybe 30 minutes here and there. At 3:30 am, my big to on my left foot started hurting. As I mentioned before, the neuropathy pain episodes are coming fast and furious. Usually I get a few weeks of respite between attacks but now it’s days. I still think it may be dehydration from dialysis lowering my dry weight, but it could be just coincidence. What has helped relieve the pain sometimes is walking or just kicking out my leg violently. I think that moves the blood down my leg to get a bit more circulation. I found this on Amazon:

*Cloud Massage Shiatsu Foot Massager Machine*

The way it’s designed allows for both foot and calf massage. I also found that sometimes massaging the calves will cause nerve response in my feet. It has a 4 1/2 star rating with over 1,000 reviews. However, it does cost $250, though if it gives me some relief, it will be totally worth it. I’d pay $100k for a machine that stops the neuropathy numbness and pain.

At this point, I may as well stay up and prepare for dialysis. Not going to get any sleep in the next 30 minutes. I guess it’s napping in the dialysis chair again. At least it’s Saturday and there won’t be any doctors or staff calling on us patients.

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Initially, Amazon showed Prime delivery for tomorrow if I ordered with the next 15 hours with one-day shipping. I decided to wait until after dialysis to make the decision since it was $250. When I just checked again, the delivery date has moved to Friday, August 7th, and there was no explanation given. It still had the Prime tag so delivery should have been Tuesday at the latest. I was going to order anyway but decided to search online for other stores. One of the search results was Vybe Percussion which sold percussive hand massagers. They also carried the same foot massager with free shipping, also delivering on August 7th. However, they also had a coupon code for 20% and the code worked. So instead of $250, I ordered the massager for $200 (plus tax). I guess you should always do a quick search before buying anything at Amazon (or Costco) since sometimes there are better deals to be found.

Hopefully it works, even slightly, since $200 is still a lot to waste if it’s ineffective.

Lowest Weight Evah!

I just weighed myself before breakfast today. I really didn’t eat much yesterday after dialysis so my weight actually went down some more. Ignoring the fact that measurements are from two different scales, and a different change of clothing, I weighed only 85.7 kg. That’s only 189 lbs. Less than a year ago I was at ~240 lbs so I lost about 50 lbs in 8 months. The weird thing is that my ankles are still a bit swollen from edema. They look fatter now than when I was weighing >200 lbs.

My mom is worried that I’m not getting enough nutrition, and somehow that will disqualify me from a kidney transplant. I’m not even thinking that far ahead since UCLA keeps rejecting my donor candidates. Also, the monthly labs at dialysis tests for albumin or protein levels in blood. My result was 4.3 with the normal range being 3.5 to 5.0. I’am still pretty tired though, but there may be lots of other reasons for that instead of malnutrition.

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Here’s a chart from Fitbit for this YTD:

Part-Time Work

It’s official. I’m now a part-time worker. I talked to my manager today and we agreed that I should switch to 3/4-time status, which allows me to keep all my medical benefits, but lose 1/4 of my salary and paid holidays. I think stock vesting is also pro-rated at 75% of normal. Since I don’t have Medicare Part D for prescriptions, my work insurance pays for all my medications so I need to try and keep it as long as possible.

The problem with 3/4 time is that I’m supposed to figure out which 75% of my job to work on. I’m basically on a special project plus I help out when other people in the department gets stuck since I’ve be there the longest. There’s no real good measure of the amount of work, just whether you’ve completed your responsibilities. For now, it’s so I can take the 10 hours off per week for dialysis. Once transplant happens, I probably have to go back to full-time but not sure how to do that from home without being assigned any daily tasks.

Just as well. I’ve been thinking that I’ve spend enough time at the current job. I just passed my 9 year anniversary. When I was first hired, I didn’t think I would make it past 5 years. I’ve been talking about getting a lower position closer to home since the commute was pretty brutal. With COVID-19 restrictions, the freeways of Southern California have not been congested at all. Anyway, maybe I can find an entry-level analyst position (that’s 5 levels below my current title), and take it easy until retirement.