Or something like that.

Last week, I noted that while my heart seems to have improbably recovered from its failure, my kidneys were not functioning correctly. The belief was that the massive dosages of diuretics and other fluid-reducing pills I have been taking for over a year were no longer necessary to help my heart, so they were overloading the kidneys. I stopped three of four cardio-related prescriptions, and cut the fourth in half, per doctors' orders.

On Wednesday, I had blood drawn again to see if that would do the trick. Today I got the results: pretty much, it did. My BUN, instead of being at 400% of the upper normal range, is now within the normal range. Potassium levels are 96% of the upper bound of "normal," instead of at 120% of that value. And Creatinine, the one that had them worried, is still high at 120% of the upper bound of the "normal" range—but eight days earlier, it was at 247% of the upper bound, so that's a huge improvement.

I'll go through this dance again in a month, and I'll see a nephrologist in January, but we're keeping the medicine doses the same. This is great news, because in the past week, I've had more energy than I've had in some entire months of the past year. I've had to be running around like crazy to get stuff done this week, and I haven't been heart-tired once.

And the best news of all? A new sodium daily target of 3000mg, up 50% from the 2000mg limit I've had since September 2006. I'll still have to monitor dietary sodium and limit what I eat, particularly at restaurants, but now I'll actually be able to eat at many restaurants, at least every now and then. I can eat fast food for one meal and still have something else during the day (just try eating a fast-food meal and have enough sodium left in 2000mg to eat anything else and you'll see what I mean).

Still no "Awesome Blossom" at Chili's for me (6360mg of sodium per order), but I can have a Mushroom-Swiss burger with fries and half an order of Southwestern Eggrolls, and still have 900mg of sodium left in the day for other food, like a Healthy Choice entree (600mg). This is a huge deal for me. Thanksgiving may not be a pit of despair after all!