Ricky Whicker

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Ricky Whicker is a 30 year old with cystic fibrosis and other special needs. He lives in Silicon Valley, CA.

10/09/2026

This boy right here.

He's been going to school, one class at a time, since before COVID, and just received his certificate from SJCC.

I am so proud of him!

07/30/2026

Updates on Ricky!

He went to CF clinic this month and his FEV1 (lung function test) was 90%, which is the highest it has ever been, if I am not mistaken. Yay for Alyftrek!

Secondly, a while back he started having pain and swelling in his right big toe. Eventually this led to a diagnosis of gout, specifically podagra, which is gout in the big toe. There are treatments for this but Ricky doesn't think it happens often enough to require treatment so he's forgoing that at this time.

The uric acid blood test just came back high, which means it is definitely gout as suspected. This is an autoimmune disorder, so now we are waiting for the autoimmune tests to come back as well.

It's always something!

07/16/2026

90% on his PFTs today! It's been 10+ years since we've seen that high of a number!

05/27/2026

Ricky had his twice-yearly abdominal MRI. This is done to check on his liver, since he has CF-related cirrhosis. They are in particular looking for cancer, which is more probable than the general population in someone with CF-related liver disease.

While they're in there they always look at everything. He has been missing his right kidney for a number of years now. It's actually there but highly atrophic (shriveled up to the size of a prune in his case). We are not sure why it happened, though I have theories. He has been functioning fine with one kidney. His kidney function numbers are always good.

Well this time around we got this result, which is alarming. The radiologist is noting that the LEFT kidney is "markedly atrophic" and being crowded by his (always) enlarged spleen. The spleen is on the left so this sounds correct. So what is going on? Are both kidneys now atrophic? That's super alarming. I emailed the doctor as soon as I saw this result but was informed that he's out of the office until Friday. Argh! I'm wondering if the radiologist got it wrong somehow?? I guess we will find out.

In good news, his liver is the same.

03/18/2026

As I type this, Ricky is having his port-a-cath removed. This is his second one and he's had it for I think about 12 years. His body had outgrown the previous one.

This one has seen him through many hospitalizations but now it's non functional and he's not going to need it anytime soon, so it's coming out.

Address

Los Gatos, CA

Website

http://cfboy.blogspot.com/

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