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Dialysis Discussion => Dialysis: News Articles => Topic started by: okarol on August 25, 2009, 10:17:35 AM
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Kidneys rocked his world
Charles G. Anderson Sr. Special to the Reporter-News
Monday, August 24, 2009
Chris Komorowski, 27, of Abilene, never dreamed that his whole world would change shortly after Christmas in 2008.
He had not been feeling well, had gained weight, and there was a weird taste in his mouth. Komorowski had always been healthy and active, so he did not think anything was wrong with him.
He had graduated from Abilene High School in 2000 and went to Abilene Christian University for nearly three years. He was active in gymnastics at AHS and at ACU where he was member of the famed Flying Cats gymnastic demonstration team.
After leaving college, he enrolled at Texas State Technical College where he studied digital imaging and then he went to work for a local company.
Chris’s mother, Beth, said that Chris had a sore in his mouth, and a local dentist had said he needed to see a doctor.
“We went to a rural hospital where I grew up,” she said.
“You need to go directly to the hospital, and you will probably start dialysis,” he was told after a series of tests.
He was in the hospital by 5 p.m. that day.
“A nurse came into the room and told us that Chris would start dialysis,” Beth said. “I told her she had the wrong room. I could not believe it.”
He spent four days in the hospital, and he had tests run to see if they could find what had caused his kidney problem.
“My kidneys were barely functioning,” Chris said. “I thought everything was fine, but the kidneys were not filtering the impurities out of my system.”
His dad, Ted, was also at a loss on what was happening to Chris. One day they thought Chris was in good health, and the next day he was taking dialysis.
“No one could tell us why his kidneys were failing,” Ted said.
“I was shocked and scared,” Chris said. “After a while, I decided that this had happened, and I needed to deal with it.”
He spends several hours a week hooked up to dialysis. His left arm has a big blue mark on it where he has been stuck numerous times with a needle.
“I am all tied up for about four hours,” Chris said half jokingly in speaking of his dialysis. “I read, watch TV or take a nap.”
Chris got an appointment at Scott and White hospital in Temple in July, and the doctors urged him to consider a kidney transplant. Other tests were run, and the doctors told Chris they just did not know what caused his condition. The tests showed that he did not have diabetes, and no one in his immediate family had any problem similar to what he had encountered.
“You may be a good candidate for a kidney transplant,” the doctors told him. “We are running more tests to see if you are well enough to take another kidney.”
His mother, father and a brother are the best sources for a match, Chris said. “If I am approved, they will run tests to see if they match.”
All three have agreed to be the donor if they match.
When his friends heard about Chris’s problem, some volunteered to help.
“Hey man, you need a kidney,” a friend told him. “I’ve got two.”
“It would all depend on whether there is a match,” Chris said.
Meanwhile, he is waiting to hear from the doctors in Temple and expects a letter any day.
If he is approved and no matches are found in his family or with his friends, Chris will go on a waiting list.
“If I get a kidney from a live donor, it will last longer,” he said. “If it is from a cadaver, they do not last as long.”
Chris explained that in dialysis, the blood is taken out of the body and cleaned and then put back into his body.
“I get changed out,” he said with big grin.
Chris weighed about 170 pounds when he was in college with the Flying Cats. By the time he started dialysis, he weighed 310 pounds but is back to 270 now.
“I found out a weight gain was one of the symptoms of my kidney problem,” he said.
He has taken some hard knocks because of his illness. Not only has he gained weight, but he no longer has a job.
“I plan to help out more around the house,” Chris said. “I still go out with friends, but even that has changed some.” He said they usually play games on the computer or do something at home as he is tied so closely to the dialysis treatments.
Chris has to be careful with his diet. He said there are some foods that would hinder his condition even now.
“If I get a transplant, I will always be taking certain pills and sticking to a diet,” Chris said.
“I had plans for an apartment of my own,” Chris said. “When this came up, all my plans had to be changed.”
“We are trying to go right on with life,” Ted said.
Chris lacks just a couple of courses at TSTC, and he has nearly three years toward his college degree.
Asked what would happen if the doctors said he is not a candidate for a kidney, Chris said he would just go ahead with life and deal with it.
“I hope to get a new kidney, finish my degree and go back to work,” he said.
Then Chris glanced down at the scars and blue marks running up and down his arm.
“I hope to go back to the same company to work,” he said. “If I can’t go back there, I hope to find another job somewhere in Abilene.”
Meanwhile, Chris is waiting for a letter from Temple.
“Whatever comes, I will face it,” he stated.
http://www.reporternews.com/news/2009/aug/24/kidneys-rocked-his-world/