I have Lupus...It doesn't have me.

So I had an appointment with the kidney doctor yesterday. The fancy name for the kidney doctor is Nephrologist. His real name is Dr. Sunil Agrawal. For the purposes of this blog we will call him the kidney guy.

The kidney guy had some good news for me yesterday. When all of this started my kidneys were spilling 13 grams of protein which for the record is a lot. My kidneys are now only spilling 5 grams of protein in my 24 hour urine test and sometimes around 3 in spot checks. Great news. The kidney guy would like for me to get down to a gram or less to prevent chronic nephrotic syndrome which is a fancy word for kidney disease. In simple terms, it appears as though my kidneys are rebounding nicely and responding well to my current course of treatment.

Also, when all of this started my anti double stranded DNA which are antibodies my body makes to attack itself was in the 30's which indicates active lupus. Nick said in May while I was in the hospital my anti DNA was in the 700's. Yesterday it was 3. The goal was less than 4. My creatinine is also down from 1.39 to 1.28 which is also moving in the right direction.

I must add I'm a huge fan of the kidney guy these days because not only did he not get mad at me for playing doctor and reducing my steroid dose without his permission, but he reduced my steroids even more. I started at 60 mg of prednisone a day. At my last appointment he reduced it to 50, which I took it upon myself to reduce it to 40 since I spent all that time in medical school and all. Yesterday he reduced it to 30 so that is half of what I started with. Sweet!! I may always have to take steroids but the goal is to get it down to about 5 or 10 mg.

Ultimately I am starting to look much better clinically. Hopefully, the steroid bloat will subside and I will start to look better physically as well. Thank you for all the prayers, love, and support throughout all this. They are working indeed. I'm still grateful to my precious Liam. I've said it before and I will say it again...he saved my life. Without him I may never have been accurately diagnosed since my diagnosis came from my OB not my rheumatologist. I sure did let that stroke have it in May and now I sure am letting Lupus know who's boss!