Could One Bad Decision Have Changed It All?

[Hilrose]

Hilrose, if I may ask what caused your kidney to reject?  That is so terrifying to me.  I just hit 8 weeks post transplant on 12/31/08 and rejection is so scary.  My transplant doctor said that medications are so good these days, that unless I am noncompliant with meds or there is some sort of trauma to the kidney  ie. accident, injury, untreated infection, etc., that there really should be no reason this kidney should reject.  I was pre-dialysis and received a healthy living kidney.  What are your thoughts?

I think it may be a mixture of things, I noticed on dialysis, my temperature was high for more than a week and during the day time I kept on getting cold and hot, my kidney area was experiencing sharp pains and felt like it was hanging and I only pass a little urine, and whilst passing urine I would be left with a stinging sensation and feeling really peculiar throughout the day. My blood count  dropped   between 7-8, I had the desire to eat chalk, smell petrol, smell nail varnish and this went on forabout 6 weeks, I was put on tabs and IV antibiotics,  and nothing worked. Then the doctor told me  they cannot treat the infection or identify where it was, it must be rejection, my neph put me on steroids and increased my immune suppressant drugs ( I was on a very low dose 1mg) which is now increased to 1mg twice a day now, since starting the steroids and increase of drugs, I am feeling better. I would agree with your transplant doctor regarding the meds, if you take them as prescribed, you shouldn't have any problem, I think because my kidney has never worked,   a report on a scan shows that it has shrunk or looks shriveled and I have a mass of fluid surrounding the  kidney, I may have picked up an infection in this area or bladder, I don't really now, I am due a MRI scan on 20th of this month and hopefully this will reveal a lot more information. I know it sounds weird, but I'm looking forward to my kidney being removed, I will then be of the immune suppressant drugs  and steroids, they have caused my blood sugars to rise, to put on weight, especially my face and stomach, I think I have gout since starting being on these drugs also, I have stomach pains and if all of this due to the meds, then I am happy to have the kidney removed and continue dialysis without the drugs and improve my health until I get a new healthily kidney.

[RightSide]

In my case, ABSOLUTELY!!!

There was ONE bad decision that got me from a formerly healthy guy to kidney failure and dialysis.  But it wasn't entirely my decision:

I was starting to get symptoms of an enlarged prostate (weak urination stream, difficulty getting urination started, etc.).  Not severe, just annoying.  So I went to see a urologist about 18 months ago.

The urologist ordered a prostate biopsy for me, to check for prostate cancer.  The biopsy was negative.  My urologist's diagnosis:  Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia (BPH).

So, the urologist said that as long as I could still urinate after a fashion, I shouldn't worry about it.  If it got much worse, he could then put me on medication. And I went home.  And I didn't worry about it.

What he and I did NOT know, was that urinary retention from the enlarged prostate was causing urine to back up into my bladder, and then into my kidneys, damaging both.  By the time I started experiencing symptoms of kidney failure (fatigue, dizziness, even bone pains), it was too late.

And here I am, on dialysis, on this website.

I'm still angry about it.  I have since learned that BPH  is known to TRIPLE the risk of kidney failure in otherwise healthy men.  I did not know that at the time.  And my urologist didn't even mention the possibility of screening me for bladder damage or kidney damage.  A simple blood test for BUN and creatinine levels would have confirmed that my kidneys were damaged to at least stage III kidney disease.

As part of my treatment for kidney failure, my nephrologist referred me to another urologist, who did a bladder cystoscopy and confirmed that I had severe urinary retention and that my bladder had been greatly damaged.  I wish my previous urologist had bothered to order this test.

BTW, a lawyer I talked to recently thinks I might possibly have a malpractice case against my previous urologist.  Other medical authorities say that early treatment of BPH may help prevent these more serious complications like bladder damage and kidney damage.  If my BPH had been treated 18 months ago, I might not be on this website today.

Moral of the story:  If you start having chronic symptoms that you never had before, and your doctor tells you "Don't worry about it," it might be worthwhile to keep worrying about it, just a little bit--maybe getting a second opinion.

[Budluv]

I am just on the tail end of my third transplant. Every once in a while I think about what I could have done differently to prolong the life of my third kidney. My inability to become a dedicated water drinker is my biggest regret. I love Coke. (had to switch to sprite... damn phosphorus) But I did what I did, I drank what I drank and I am where I am. Reminding myself of mistakes I feel I have made only makes me depressed. They are always there in the back of my head, reminding me to play it straight, and that's where I try to keep them. 

-Mike

[kitkatz]

I could have not gone to Kaiser the day I did.  The docs said another hour or so and I would have been dead. So here I am.