History to Present

For my first blog I thought I would just share my current situation up until today.    

I discovered about 10 years ago as my mother was going through the final stages of her own chronic kidney disease that I get to follow in her footsteps.   I remember attending the first meeting with her transplant team to learn about the different options.   My mom started her testing to get on the transplant list at that time.   I immediately chose to start my own testing to see if I could be a living donor for her.   It was in that testing that I found out that I could not be a donor because I also had kidney disease.    So my journey began right then.  I started seeing a kidney doctor.   I don’t remember exactly what my function was at the time but I do know that it was close to 50%.   I learned that there is not much you can do to slow my type of disease besides trying to slow the process by watching my blood pressure and eating right.   I admit that I’m good at the blood pressure part but the eating right was much harder.  

Fast Forward to last year’s doctor appointment.  I learned that my Creatnine number (the number that doctors use to gauge how much kidney function I have) had doubled which means that I have half the function that I had at the first visit.  So basically I have only 25% kidney function.   It’s weird to think that with 25% function, I feel fine.  I don’t have any symptoms whatsoever.   I’d like to blame my out of shape-ness on my kidneys but I’m just flat out of shape.   I got checked a couple extra times in the past year thanks to a good friend of my wife who is a pathologist and I now know that there are other areas of concern based on what I eat.  

Today is June 9, 2011.    At my last appointment my doctor recommended that I start the process of looking at my options for maintaining my kidney function as it is apparent that  I’m headed toward the point where a transplant or dialysis is needed to clean my blood properly.   If too many toxins are allowed to build up I will start seeing those symptoms that I’ve been blessed to not experience so far in my journey.  

The next phase is about to start because I am scheduled to meet with the UAMS Transplant Team on June 15.   It’s an all-day event with education and I assume testing.   I admit that I’m more than a little bit anxious about the day.   I have a lot of questions.   What if I am not a candidate for transplantation?    What kind of tests do they have to do to make that decision?  If I’m a candidate, what’s the next step?   If I make it onto the list, how long do I have before I need dialysis.  I’m not crazy about dialysis and want to avoid it as long as I can.  

I’m not typically the worrying type, but this is hanging over my head more than I care to admit. 

I would appreciate your prayers for my kidneys to miraculously stop deteriorating.  I believe in miracles and I know that God can if he is willing.  If that’s not God’s desire then I pray for his grace all along my journey.

Until next time ....  stay tuned