John shows off his kidney guard that he velcros around his middle to make sure his kidney stays protected, at a recent farmers market. 

May 27: John has been doing great since coming home last month, but we recently had a little bit of a health scare at his normal check up. John’s creatinine levels were high, and he had a little bit of blood in the urine. We discovered this when we were getting our routine tests at Silverton Hospital at the direction of John’s Stanford team. 

Since the creatinine level was high and because of the little bit of blood in the urine, The medical team sent us up to Portland to get an ultrasound. It has been a month since John‘s last ultrasound, so they just wanted to check things out. We discovered that John had one remaining blood clot in his kidney: Back in California John had had three blood clots in his new kidney. We  learned in California that blood clots are common in the kidney up to three months after transplant. (We’ve learned SO MUCH new information over the past year!) So the medical team thinks that John’s higher levels of creatinine and the little bit of blood in the urine were most likely because of this last blood clot that will hopefully resolve itself no problem. 

In the meantime, John continues to have a lot of energy and he’s doing well with his new kidney protective guard that he wears around his waist. Our whole fam has been back at the Beaverton Farmers Market for the past few weeks and it’s been GREAT to see our friends and customers. Patty still gets tired, but not as much as before. In fact, she and John made a kidney update video at the market. You can watch it on our Instagram or Facebook page–it’s always fun to check out what John has to say in his informational videos. ????????