Can anyone help me with these numbers?

[SassyArizona]

I am kidney ignorant and trying to learn asap, these are my numbers and I feel like dog-do.  Are these decent numbers, hopeless, I can hold my own numbers, all I do is go to doctors and evaluations and sit on iv drips and take pills (then more pills)...

BUN 90
Creatinine 4.33
GFR 11

I don't know what to do anymore!

[RichardMEL]

In the end the numbers don't really matter. What MATTERS is that you feel crappy, and that (in my view) is what your neph should be focusing on - ie: your quality of life.

GFR 11 is definitely a stage that you'd be looking to start dialysis. Generally the accepted figure is around 10, but some have to start earlier (13-15) and others later (6-7). At GFR 11 I felt normal, and still felt pretty good at GFR 6. Everyone's different - this is why I made the comment that "in the end the numbers don't really matter" - of course they matter in terms of your bloodwork and where you are, but if you're feeling like crap and can't function well, that should be the real indication.

I'd explain to your neph how you're feeling and be prepared to consider starting dialysis.

[SassyArizona]

Thank you!!!

Mostly I wanted some reassurance that I just need to hang on for a tad longer and give the process of getting started and follow-up a chance to come full circle.

It's hard to not know what comes next, though it helps me to be better prepared.

[okarol]

I don't know if you want to "hang on" if you're feeling bad. If you are having potential donors evaluated and the wait is short, you might be ok. But sometimes it's better to start dialysis so you are healthy enough to undergo the transplant surgery. GFR 11 correlates with about 10% kidney function (I think) and less than 15mL/min is often when dialysis if begun. What does your nephrologist recommend? Have you decided on what type of dialysis you'd do?

[Stoday]

My creatinine was stable at around 5.8 for 9 months, so I didn't start dialysis. Then it suddenly jumped to 9.1 and I found I'd left it too late and suffered a wretched start.

[RichardMEL]

I agree with Karol. Right now you're not feeling well and that's affecting you on a number of levels. If you leave it it's more likely to get worse, than better, as your kidney function further declines (sorry ). You'd be more likely to have a better "introduction" to dialysis the sonner you start it rather than winding up, maybe, with an acute attack winding you up in hospital making everything that much harder.

I don't mean start tomorrow, but definitely get the ball rolling. As Monk might say "you'll thank me later"

[SassyArizona]

I don't know what exactly happened as I have no memory beyond the night before, I didn't wake up and was in a diabetic coma on September 9th (just home from ICU), I'm told I had pooped myself and wasn't conscious, when the paramedics arrived (the second time in as many days), they found me with a blood sugar of 16 and started an IV and did an immediate transport to our local hospital.

I am a 5-year post heart transplant patient so the best the local doctors can do for me is to get me out of here quickly, which fortunately they did, I was flown to UMC in Tucson by flight for life helicopter and I immediately started dialysis.  My attending physician and surgeon also assisted in my heart transplant and though I had been preparing and considering PD as recommended by my Nephrologist, she had many concerns with that decision and the risk of infection. 

I had been suffering from uremia for many weeks and definately felt like I was on a roller-coaster to no where good.

Long about day 5 my memory started coming back and I was able to think again and be in the present.

As I have previously shared, I had been completing a transplant evaluation through the Mayo Clinic in Scottsdale.  Those recommendations have now been transferred to my existing doctors and as I have live donors, UMC expects and has planned to do a transplant within a month, with it preliminary scheduled now for the end of October.  Both my younger sister and eldest daughter are presently being considered as live donors.  Therefore, the issue of a PD cath and it's placement was put on the back burner and I will be completing dialysis, 3 times per week, 3 hour each sessions at our local center, until transplanted.

In the meantime, I did have a perma-cath placed in my chest for access.  I just returned home last night from hospitalization since the 9th and having participated in dialysis without any incidents while hospitalized am happy to report that I feel better than I have in months.

[Epofriend]

Decision made! I am glad to hear you are feeling much better.