Hi all,
My name's Richard (obviously!) and I live in Melbourne, Australia. No, I don't have a kangaroo in my back yard
During a routine medical for my first job in 1993 they found protein in my urine and sent me off for more tests. The result being I was diagnosed with some sort of Nephritis and the doc I saw then gave me 2 years till I was either on dialysis or dead. This was in the first 5 minutes of the consultation! Suffice to say this guy rubbed us up the wrong way and my mother (now sadly passed away) managed to get me transferred to someone she had worked with previously and who is not only a lovely man but also professor of Medicine and head of department.
So after being given those 2 years initially, I went on to have a biopsy of the kidney and various other tests but my rate of decline was (thankfully!) pretty slow, though each blood test would usually bring a bit more creatine into the blood.
In 2004 (some 11 years after original diagnosis) it was approaching time for ESRF and I had a fistula created on my left arm for use in dialysis. I was also invited to participate in a study involving "early" and "late" start to dialysis and its impact on heath and quality of life. Fortunately I was selected for "late" start so I got to hold off even longer.
However in July this year I started hemo with approx. 6% function left. I was feeling OK but my doctor felt it was time to get going. Given I had 13 years I feel absolutely privliged with the massive amount of time I have had and the ability to do many things I wanted to do while I knew I still had a lot of freedom to do things. This included a lot of travel to various places as I have a bit of a travel bug.
So I started in July this year, although have been on the transplant list for nearly 2 years. I do 5 hours/3 times a week and wish I could do less hours in a session, but they keep telling me "the more you do the better for you".. yeah, well that's fine but if the chairs were more comfy it would help
My butt and lower back is always sore after a session despite pillows and other items I try to help. Well, I guess I have many more opportunities to perfect my comfort!
Due to bad eyesight and co-ordination home hemo or PD is not really an option for me, so I do hemo in the unit. Fortunately the hospital is right over the road from where I live (well OK, I bought the apartment with that in mind and fortunately I have been allowed to be an outpaitent there).
So anyway that's my story. I hope to contribute more on this site!
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