How Often Labs?

[C904]

I am curious about everyone that is at least six months post transplant, how often do you get labs done?  I was still getting labs done pretty often over the last three months because I had CMV.  I am almost ten months post transplant and the CMV is under control and I don't go back to see the doc for nine weeks and he said that is when I will do my next labs.  This makes me nervous and I have seen some stuff on here about people doing labs once a month even though they don't go for follow ups every month.  The nephrologist I see now was part of the transplant center team and he has been around the game for a long time and I trust him, but as I said I am nervous and was just curious to see how this compares to others.

[coravh]

I get my labs drawn about every 6 weeks but I am on steroid avoidance and my center likes to keep close tabs. I have friends on standard protocols and they get done about every 3 months.

Cora

[Chris]

I have been mostly Once A Month post tx unless like you I hag CMV and blood was checked more often. My first  few months post tx was once a week labs unless a bad result and needed a repeat. I have also been on bi weekly labs do to medication changes.
 
The thing is is that each center is different on how they do things. So far my center is the only one ho said to stop drinking caffiene post tx. I think cariad was not told that (we went to same hospital), but maybe since I had a pancreas that things are different than just kidney.

[ReneePa]

I worked in post transplant for a short amount of time; however, if they're having you come in at longer intervals....that's a good thing!  When they'

[ReneePa]

I worked in post transplant for a short amount of time; however, I noticed that if a person was doing well, they increased the time that they did labs...  6 months is pretty good!  Congrats on the transplant!!!  I would LOVE to be without a job if everyone could get kidneys!!!

[RichardMEL]

I tend to agree with ReneePa - that if they feel you don't need to go so frequently because you're pretty stable that's a good thing. I would say I am just 10 months out myself and I have been going every 3 weeks lately, but then again I have just been doing some long haul flying and stuff, so it's about making sure I'm doing OK in the tx dept (and I am ).

I would say though that since you are concerned about it then get those labs done earlier!! It's your right - if you have a concern ask the doc to be seen more frequently. It's your body and your life - if even to be assured that things are all stable then for your own peace of mind (and BP!) it would be worthwhile.

Just my 2 cents.

[Sax-O-Trix]

I was 6 months post-transplant as of yesterday.  I have weekly blood draws and go to clinic once every 6 weeks.
I suspect I will be doing weekly draws for a few more months until the Cyclosprine and Creatinine numbers level out.


P.S.   I live 75 plus miles away from the TP hospital, so those weekly labs at the TP lab are starting to be a burden.  That's an extra $80 a month in gas plus my time...

[RightSide]

I was having my labs done every six weeks.

But as I posted here before, lately my white blood cell count has dropped significantly, so they've got me back doing a lab every 3 weeks until they are confident that my WBC has gotten back up to a decent level.

[jbeany]

2 years out and once a month.  That's standard for all the patients at my center, and won't change, except to do it more frequently if there is a problem

[paris]

9 weeks between labs at 10 months seems a long time.  I am 13 months and just went to once a month.  I had been going every 2 weeks.  And my labs have been fairly steady for months.   I think I would question 9 weeks between labs --- a lot can happen in that time.    Let us know.

[bette1]

I'm down to once a month for labs and I've had my kidney for 16 months.  My transplant center keeps people at once a month no matter how long they have had their kidney.  I only go back for appointments every 6 months.

[Marina]

I  did  labs  twice/week  for the  first  4-5 months  due  to  some  infections.
I  was then  switched  to   1x/week.   
Things  seems  to  be  stable  now.  On  my  last  visit  (Sept. 12)    I  was  switched  to  every other  week.
I  was  told  at  my  next  appt  in  Dec  I  will most likely   start  doing  monthly  labs.     

[jbeany]

Actually, mine doesn't work out to exactly once a month.  I figure there's no point in getting blood work done after just getting it done for the doc directly in his clinic, so I always recalculate my schedule for local monthly blood tests after every 3 month appointment. 

[Chris]

Actually, mine doesn't work out to exactly once a month.  I figure there's no point in getting blood work done after just getting it done for the doc directly in his clinic, so I always recalculate my schedule for local monthly blood tests after every 3 month appointment.

I just have it set up where I have a standing order that mimicks my transplant orders (unless something else is needed) so that they both get my labs at once so no need to be poked by someone I do not know at the office and then do not get a copy of the results. An outside lab is used instead of just going across the street to have the hospital do it. Cost I guess

[jbeany]

My transplant hospital is two and a half hours away.  For my lab draws in between, I just go to a local, unaffiliated lab half a block from my house.  They fax results to my doc.  When I have appointments with him, though, I always get labs done that morning at the transplant center so he has the most up to date labs possible.

[paris]

I am like jbeany -- center is over an hour away, but get my regular labs at a local hospital 5 minutes away with standing orders there. My routine is very much like jbeany's.  My labs get faxed to transplant center, local neph and GP. And then they are online so I can view them, too.   

[RightSide]

I am like jbeany -- center is over an hour away, but get my regular labs at a local hospital 5 minutes away with standing orders there. My routine is very much like jbeany's.  My labs get faxed to transplant center, local neph and GP. And then they are online so I can view them, too.   

For some strange reason, my transplant hospital won't let me set up a standing order at any other hospital for blood tests.  Instead, I have to bring a requisition form to that hospital each and every time.  And each and every time that phlebotomy department has to enter the exact same information into their computer.   The tests are the same each time, I know them by heart already.  But I learned a long time ago not to argue policy with bureaucrats.

Also, no hospital near my home is able to do the Tacrolimus (Prograf) test in reasonable time.  They all send it out to some other lab which takes longer.  The nearest hospital to me that can do the Tacrolimus test on site is a half hour away.  (Which is still an improvement over the transplant hospital; in rush hours that hospital is over an hour away.)

[jbeany]

My transplant center refuses to believe that any other hospital is capable of testing tacro levels.  They supply boxes and fed-ex prepaid mailers.  I have the labs drawn and they give me back one of the tubes to mail out.  Irritating, but not that complicated, since the fed-ex box is only 2 blocks away from the lab draw station.

Not nearly as irritating as their belief that no other hospital is capable of doing an EKG or an MRI or an ultrasound!