Dialysis patient's 20-year anniversary a rare event

[okarol]

Published: July 20, 2010

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Dialysis patient's 20-year anniversary a rare event
By Peggy Ussery

Long-term dialysis patients often become overwhelmed with medical treatments.

Her 13 grandchildren keep Debra Reynolds going.

There have been times when she didn’t want to keep going. After 20 years on dialysis, not too many people would blame her. Reynolds, now 50, hit her 20-year mark a few weeks ago at Dialysis Clinic Inc. in Dothan.

“Of course, there have been days where I wanted to die,” Reynolds said. “I got tired of coming here.”

It’s a rare anniversary. Most dialysis patients do not remain on the treatment nearly that long. Dialysis treatments are done three times a week, and each treatment can take about four hours.

“Good news is if you take very good care of yourself you’ll live longer ...,” said Dr. Les Spry, a spokesperson for the National Kidney Foundation. “It is distinctly unusual to have a 20-year dialysis patient in-center.”

Reynolds is currently on a transplant waiting list with UAB. Her kidney disease is hereditary — a cousin and an uncle both died of the illness. Reynolds was 30 and had just delivered her second set of twins at UAB when she was diagnosed.

The Dothan woman’s illness is known as chronic glomerulonephritis — part of a group of disorders that cause inflammation and injury to the part of the kidney that filters blood, according to the National Kidney Foundation. The disorders are the third most common cause of chronic kidney disease after diabetes and high blood pressure.

Dialysis filters a patient’s blood when their kidneys no longer can. Patients with acute kidney failure may only need dialysis for a short while until the kidneys heal. But patients with chronic or end stage kidney failure, such as Reynolds, will need dialysis the rest of their lives unless they get a kidney transplant.

Annie Maddox with Dialysis Clinic Inc. said the number of patients on dialysis as long as Reynolds is low. Compliance with treatment, diet and other medical recommendations are all key to how long a patient can live on dialysis, Maddox said. But, she said, after years on dialysis, patients grow weary of the treatments.

“It just gets overwhelming,” Maddox said.

Even Reynolds has stopped dialysis in the past. But she returned to treatment after others encouraged her to keep fighting.

Spry with the kidney foundation said it’s more common for patients to remain on dialysis for years if they do home dialysis. Life expectancy with end stage kidney failure is longer for those who have a genetic kidney disease or receive a transplant.

Along with her five living children and her many grandchildren, Reynolds said her faith helps her keep going.

“God is good,” she said. “And he’s been good to me.”
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Did you know?
- More than 520,000 Americans were being treated for kidney failure by the end of 2007.
- Also, nearly 370,000 residents with kidney failure received dialysis with the vast majority of those in dialysis centers around the country.
- There were 17,513 kidney transplants done in 2007 with more than 11,446 of those from deceased donors. The rest were from living donors.
- Only 10 percent of patients are likely to survive on dialysis for 10 years. Survival rates are much higher for patients who receive a kidney transplant.
Source: National Kidney and Urologic Diseases Information Clearinghouse

http://www2.dothaneagle.com/lifestyles/2010/jul/20/dialysis-patients-20-year-anniversary-a-rare-event-ar-603275/

[RichardMEL]

Sorry but I do not like this article. It seems to have a message (specially with the subject line) that is overly negative. If I was starting dialysis and looking at it as a possibly long term situation this article would get me down. Yes, it has to be factual, but it definitely seems a bit biased to me. We know plenty of folks who have gone longer on D and been fine. If I read this when I was just starting I might think to myself "Well what's the point of even starting if it's just going to mean hassle after hassle and I'll be dead soon anyway?"

just my three cents worth.

[Zach]

Annie Maddox with Dialysis Clinic Inc. said the number of patients on dialysis as long as Reynolds is low. Compliance with treatment, diet and other medical recommendations are all key to how long a patient can live on dialysis, Maddox said. But, she said, after years on dialysis, patients grow weary of the treatments.

“It just gets overwhelming,” Maddox said.

Talk about low expectations!