Not much action going on the past few days. Literally. Damn me - I just had to crank up the incline on the treadmill and step up the speed last Monday evening. Dumb and dumber... I stressed out my Achilles again (!) and have had to lay off for a few days. Dammit - I was just trying to get my heart rate up. I know it’s a good think that my heart rate stays low when I exert myself, but I am always thinking about the stress treadmill test that I will do at UCSF on Jan 3rd. I want to be able to hang in long enough to pass with flying colors...

The only other stress treadmill test that I’ve done was about 15 years ago in Mountain View, and they were brutal with increases in speed and incline. Even tho I was jogging regularly back then, they ran me practically to falling down, gasping exhaustion. So shall I expect the same at UCSF?

I don’t know. It’s totally an unknown, so I want to prepare for some quick, grueling in intervals on the treadmill. It isn’t called a stress treadmill test for nothin’, right? It’s not gonna be a quick, casual stroll in the park, for sure...

The information that two-thirds of the potential donors don’t pass the physical requirements weighs heavily on me, all the time. I’ve already told you that I am not in “athletic” shape right now. So, what if I screw up and it prevents me from being a donor to my good buddy? What if all this turns out to be for nothing cause my BP, or heart rate, goes too high on the treadmill? What if they find some other crap going on that I know nothing about and have no indicative symptoms?

My friend and his family are so overjoyed at this life-saving offer of mine, to them it is a miracle. But Holy Crap, what if my body lets them (and me) down? They’ve already had a devastating let-down when his other donor was found to have kidney stones. Tiny, little grains, but enough to prevent the donation. Jeeze, I usually have elevated cholesterol - will that be enough to dun me?
Or what if my GFR, a measure of kidney function, is not up to par? I can’t imagine that other donors don’t go thru these same thoughts as I am...

One good thing is that I had an EKG last week and it turned out absolutely normal . Whew - what a relief. However, I had a none-fasting blood draw, and as I reviewed the lab results, I saw that my estimated GFR was low.... Yikes! I was freaking out a little bit, and then realized that when UCSF did the labs on my seven vials of fasting blood draws last month, they must have run the same tests and levels, and found them OK. Otherwise, I wouldn’t even be this far... I would have been ruled out right away, I think. OK. OK. All is well so far.

But I am gonna keep training and watching what I eat and, of course, guzzling, guzzling that nasty, old, life-saving water. My kidneys must think they are somehow in somebody else’s body already, with all the work they are having to do for the first time in their little kidney lives....