Howdy from Texas

[FullBoat]

Hey all. Someone from another message board let me know about this place, and looks like a lot of good info. So, onto me.

I'm 45, and work at an ISP for the graveyard shift. Been doing that for about 10 years. So, I'm officially a vampire now.

I went into a dentist to have some work done on some old fillings that decided to explode out of my teeth. BP was very high. 210/110 if I remember right. They told me I needed to see a doc right away because of it. Well, went into one the same day. He put me on some meds, and had me do some lab work. As I was getting home, got a call from them(never a good sign). Said that my red blood count was shocking low, and with my high blood pressure, I needed to go to the ER NOW.
Get to the ER, and they do some more blood work. Hey, did you know your kidney's are only working at 20%? Ummm.. no? So, they admitted me. While I was in the ER, they tried 3 different blood pressure meds, but nothing was working. 2 didn't do anything, and 1 only lasted about 30min. As the night went on, they did a echo of my heart, and that looked fine. Then, came the CT. Turns out I had a 8mm kidney stone that was blocking my left kidney. Let the hits just keep coming.
So, after not eating anything for 48 hours, I had the procedure to get it removed, and a stent inserted. The Urologist sad that it looks like it had been there "a while", and my kidney looked like a gravel pit. He took out aprox 20 stones.
So, next day, I get both a blood transfusion, and iron transfusion to get my blood count up. And a lot of potassium as that was severely low.
And, finally after playing around with a lot of different meds, they found a few that worked on my BP. So, 5 days after being admitted, I was kicked out. Thank goodness.

Kidney's still aren't doing great. They're still at about 20%, so they're not getting much worse, but also not much better. My kidney doc is already talking about putting me on dialysis, and the transplant list. I might find out for sure in a couple of weeks when I go back to him, but wanted to learn everything I could beforehand.

I keep hoping that now that my stones are removed, and my BP is back to normal, my kidney's will start to get better. But, 6 months later, and they're still the same.

Glad I was told about this site, and thanks for all of the support beforehand.

[iolaire]

Welcome to the group.

You can get on the transplant list before starting dialysis. If you have that opportunity, take it immediately, six or so years from now you will be happy you did.

[cassandra]

Welcome to the site FB


   


Stay strong, get informed, take care, Cas

[kickingandscreaming]

    Kidneys can be very slow to progress downward, b :welcomesign;ut progress downward the eventually do.  I hope you hold at 20% as long as possible.  It took me until 6% to need dialysis .

[kristina]

Hello and welcome to IHD.
I do hope your kidney function carries on for a considerable time to come and I wish you all the best of good luck,
Best wishes from Kristina.

[Charlie B53]

Welcome to IHD!

With 20% function you can go a very long time before needing Dialysis.

I wold suggest you consider adopting a kidney friendly diet, reducing the work load on your kidneys will help them last much longer.

As for recovering function, don't hold your breath.  Scaring rarely ever heals into functioning tissue.  Once it is scarred it does not recover.

If some of your function loss is from the shock or 'stunning' of tissue then there is a good possibility of some recovery.  Maybe not a lot, but any is better than none.

20% is still within a functioning range.  Many patients have not needed Dialysis until under 10%.  I myself did start at 20% but I had major leg swelling and leaking, often which became terribly infected because I was all the time in the dirty rivers and lakes around here working on  boats.  That nasty stuff in the water and the open sores on my legs from the leaks, well, it wasn't the best combination.  Dialysis reduced my legs to normal.  No more leaks, no infections.  I am a whole lot healthier for it.

Consider studying at kidneyschool.org    Learn all you can about Dialysis, the differences in Hemo and PD, how to eat more responsibly.  You will benefit by being able to make better informed decisions.

Take Care,

Charlie B53

[Paul]

 

Hello FullBoat. Welcome to the site.