Lower Grade Means Better Results

The care, concern and prayers that I've been blessed with recently only serve to remind me of how the Lord works through His own to encourage and bless and I just want to share my thankfulness in telling you a little about the results of my latest biopsy.

This short list will give a little background as to various transplant biopsy results and their meaning:

• Grade 0 [zero] is the best = NO rejection!
• Grade 1, 1A, 1B = *virtually* no rejection
• Grade 2, 2A, 2B = extremely mild to moderate rejection
• Grade 3, 3A, 3B = at this point, doctors become very concerned and load on the heavy duty meds to suppress the immune system!
• Grade 4, 4A, 4B = at this point, sometimes very little can be done to stop the heart from being rejected and you have an emergency!!

My biopsy result 2 months ago showed a Grade 3A which is why they chose the easiest and quickest route of large doses of prednisone, which in my case, meant 250mg for a few days, then 200, then 150, etc., tapering down to 80mg and then to 20mg. They also increased the cyclosporin by 25mg twice daily.

My biopsy results of 1 month ago showed a Grade 2 which is why they were able to decrease the prednisone a little.

This past Tuesday's biopsy results showed a Grade 1A which is excellent and they can now decrease the prednisone even more since it, along with the increased cyclosporin, is working well.

For any who have been on prednisone, you know it's a wonderful drug that does just what it's supposed to and we can be thankful that we have it around, but I will be very thankful to decrease the dose and hopefully to return to my previous daily dose of 5mg sometime in the not too distant future.

Because of the way they follow these episodes, I anticipate another biopsy around the end of November so they can check how the new doses are working and if all is well at that time, I likely won't have to have another until my annual check-up in the middle of March 2009.

Blessings to each of you,