NATIONAL KIDNEY MONTH

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NATIONAL KIDNEY MONTH
Pair shares journey with kidney disease
Mar 22 2011 12:00AM  By Carly Omenhiser Sun Staff Writer

Vivian Johnson was living a normal life at 29 years old.
“I was doing all the right things, I thought anyway, as far as taking care of myself,” she said. But one day, in 1992, she began to feel something wasn’t right. She became so ill, holding down a glass of water was a challenge.

After visiting her doctor, Vivian was admitted to the hospital where she was inevitably diagnosed with kidney failure.

Her condition had already deteriorated to the point that she needed to be placed on dialysis.

“At the time I really didn’t know anything about dialysis,” Vivian said. “I had never heard of it, or seen anybody on it or knew what the process was of being on dialysis.”

Amy Free, of Dialysis Clinic Incorporated, a non-profit medical facility, said the most common causes of kidney failure are uncontrolled diabetes and high blood pressure, or hypertension.

“Eighty-five percent of patients at DCI are here because of hypertension and diabetes,” said Free, who has 22 years of experience with dialysis.

People who are at the highest risk for chronic kidney disease are the elderly, those with diabetes, high blood pressure, or those who have a family history of chronic kidney disease. African Americans, Hispanic Americans, Asians, Pacific Islanders and American Indians also have an increased risk.

Symptoms of kidney disease often go unnoticed. However, as the condition worsens, a patient may experience nausea and vomiting, lessened appetite, weakness, extreme tiredness, itching, muscle cramps and anemia.

The cause of Vivian’s kidney failure was hypertension, which she didn’t realize she had until it was too late - her kidney’s had failed.

“Don’t take lightly having high blood pressure and diabetes because they both can kick your kidneys out,” Vivian said.

Kidneys work as chemical filtration factories, regulating the body’s chemicals by removing toxins and excess fluids. They regulate salt, potassium and acid content, while also producing hormones that affect the function of other organs. Hormones produced by the kidneys help regulate blood pressure and stimulate red blood cell production.

What is dialysis?

Until Vivian could get a kidney transplant, which can take five to seven years in most cases, she would have to remain on dialysis to act as a substitute for her own kidneys.

And she did.

For six years, Vivian went to a dialysis clinic three times a week for three-to-four hours each visit.

“I was kind of scared at first,” she said. “They told me they would have to put some type of access (in) in order for me to have dialysis.”

Dialysis, or dialysis machines, work as artificial kidneys.

The two main types of dialysis are hemodialysis and peritoneal dialysis.

In hemodialysis, patients first have a minor surgery to create an access to the blood vessels. This access is made by joining an artery to the vein under the skin to form a bigger blood vessel called a fistula or graft.

Once an access is made, patients visit a clinic regularly to receive treatments, which remove the waste, extra chemicals and fluid from the blood.

Peritoneal dialysis is a form of dialysis that can be done at home and cleans the blood from inside the body.

To receive this type of treatment, a doctor places a plastic tube called a catheter into the abdomen, which acts as an access to fill the abdominal area with dialysate. With a machine, the dialysate draws out the extra fluid and waste.

Vivian receives her first and second kidney

Vivian received her first kidney transplant in 1998. After the transplant, she was able to come off dialysis for more than three years until her body formed an infection.

The infection caused her transplanted kidney to fail and she was placed back on dialysis treatment for seven more years.

“It was heartbreaking. After being on dialysis for so long and then you get a kidney ... and then having to go back (on dialysis),” Vivian said.

After on and off bouts with sickness, Vivian’s mother encouraged her to move to Enterprise to be close to family. And that is when she began treatments at DCI.

“Throughout that time that I was (at DCI), it was really nice. It’s more like a family because you see everybody three days a week,” Vivian said. “They have been really good to me.”

Treatments at DCI were going smoothly enough so Vivian felt comfortable going on a two-week vacation to Chicago.

However, a week into her vacation, a very important phone call came from DCI. A phone call she had been waiting for and didn’t need to miss – a kidney was available.

“I was so excited,” Vivian said. “I was getting ready to go into dialysis that day when they called.”

When she contacted the dialysis clinic in Chicago to share the news, they had just found out themselves and were just as excited.

Within hours she was on a plane to Birmingham last year to receive her second kidney transplant July 27.

It’s been eight months since then and she is doing well.

Inside the clinic, Vivian visits the nurses and friends she had become so accustomed to seeing during her time in dialysis treatment.

She grins ear-to-ear, exchanging waves and jokes with them.

In truth, Vivian was blessed. Some people living with chronic kidney disease remain on dialysis for a lifetime. Not all dialysis patients are candidates for transplant.

Don Pearson

At 17, Don “Chubby” Pearson was diagnosed with diabetes and has also battled high blood pressure throughout most of his life.

“At 17 years old, doctor says by the time you get 40 years old, they’re going to cut off your legs, cut off your toes and all this stuff,” Don said. “I wanted to be Superman. I ate what I wanted to, and didn’t exercise like I needed to.”

In 1996, Don was 36 years old, and working for the Florida Times Union newspaper in Jacksonville.

“For some reason I didn’t get oxygen to my blood,” he said. “I was going to work and I couldn’t open doors or anything.”

Don began having trouble breathing, and was transported to the hospital.

He was told the lack of oxygen in his blood was affecting his kidneys, liver and heart.

“They started to give me dialysis the day I went in, but the doctor said I was going to lose my kidney within two years,” Don said.

Don recalled the date, March 14, 1998, when his kidneys failed, and he needed to receive regular dialysis treatments. For three months, Don went to hemodialysis treatments, but later switched to peritoneal dialysis.

After returning to the Enterprise area in 2000, Don began having circulation problems in his right leg and had to have it amputated. Afterwards, doctors recommended he quit the peritoneal dialysis and go back on hemodialysis in Enterprise.

“I didn’t know what it was,” Don said, adding that the former clinic in Florida where he had his treatments just told him they cleaned his blood and didn’t provide further care such as medications or diet recommendations.

“They didn’t tell me to take any medicines or tell me to eat right. That’s one thing I love about DCI. They taught me how to be a kidney patient,” Don said. “It’s hard to be a kidney patient.”

“(Patients) have a lot of dietary restrictions and fluid restrictions because their kidneys don’t work. They really have to follow a strict diet and it’s very difficult,” Free said.

Don jokes about his mother’s reaction after she visited with a dietician and learned about the proper diet and other restrictions.

“My mom said, ‘Well I’m going to put everybody on the kidney diet,’” Don said. “She learned how to control my sodium. I was eating sausage, hotdogs and stuff like that. There are a lot of things you’ve got to get rid of. And I hate to tell you, but you can’t lie. If you want to live, you have to do what you have to do to live longer.”

Free said these are key things to being a successful dialysis patient.

“Try to do the right thing. Try to stay on your diet. Try to watch your fluids. That is what makes you a more healthy, productive patient,” she said.

In 2007, Don traveled to Birmingham where he was told he was not a viable candidate for kidney transplant.

“They said I couldn’t get a transplant because I have hardening of the arteries,” Don said. “That broke me down. But because I’ve been on dialysis so long, it became a routine for me coming up here.”

Living with kidney disease

Both Don and Vivian stress that living with chronic kidney disease is not the end of life. Visiting the clinic has become part of their life, but has not become their life.

“People think when you’re on dialysis that your whole world is like, you know, gone, and it’s just not like that,” Vivian said. “People live for years and years on dialysis. It’s all about taking care of yourself. When you do what they tell you to do, you really can’t go wrong.”

Each stress the importance of maintaining health and keeping regular visits with a family physician.

“Take care of yourself, just because you get up and are feeling good everyday (doesn’t matter.) Go to the doctor. See about yourself,” Vivian urges.

Don stresses the importance of living by a diet, saying people don’t want to, but once a person gets on dialysis it’s “tit-for-tat.”

“We live in America. We can eat anything we want to, any size we want to,” Don said. “Before I was on dialysis, I didn’t think about it this way. Now, I think about it everyday.”

Don said he is thankful for the doctors and staff, who have been taking care of him for the past 10 years.

“I hope I’m going to stay around here for 20 more years, or 25 more years,” Don said.

DCI celebrates National Kidney Month

DCI, along with other dialysis clinics and organizations, recognize March as National Kidney Month to raise awareness about chronic kidney disease.

Twenty-six million Americans have chronic kidney disease, while millions of others remain at risk.

“Early detection is the key to prevent kidney failure,” Free said, adding regular physician screenings can be the difference between treating a symptom and treating chronic kidney disease through dialysis.

“There is a simple blood test and a urine test that your primary doctor can do to screen you for kidney disease,” Free said.

Anyone considered high-risk should have the test completed at a young age so in case the test comes back positive, the kidney failure can be prolonged.

For more information about kidney health, visit the National Kidney Foundation website www.kidney.org or www.dciinc.org.

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