Kidney Failure - My Husband's Story 2

Although we knew in our hearts that eventually my hubby would need to do dialysis, we tried to avoid it. He was in denial, he thought that my taking medication his kidneys would eventually get back to normal. Of course it would not be true, when an organ in your body is damaged, it would only be Allah's power that can turn it back to normal. Divine intervention so to speak. Medication sometimes can help to reduce or prolong the damage.

In case of kidney failure, there is no symptom for you to know that your kidneys have failed. Tak ada kaitan nya kalau kita sakit pinggang dengan kerosakan buah pinggang. I have also learnt along the way that although we have 2 kidneys, only one is active, while the other is on a standby. In case of the active kidney failed in it's function, the other would be working as normal. For damaged kidney patients, it would mean that both kidneys are not functional anymore.

In hubby's case, physical symptoms were, his swollen legs and feet. They got bigger and heavier each day. His weight keep on increasing even though we have been controlling his diet. Blood pressure were always on the high end, his blood sugar level is already normal i.e between 5 - 7 mmol/L. The blood sugar level was normal because, the medication is accumulated in the kidney, since the kidney is no longer able to process them to discharge them through urine. His urine is getting lesser and lesser too.

Since the kidneys are no longer functioning, with the presence of fluids in the body not discharged out, the pressure on the other organs are also increasing, this is causing the blood pressure to increase. As the fluid in the body keep on increasing, my hubby was coughing and wheezing almost non stop, his chest was full of phlegm. For the past one year, I think, we became the largest consumer of tissue papers.

During the monthly visit to the hospital, his blood was taken for testing. Progressively, blood urea level and creatinine level in his blood had also increased. Starting with around Creatinine 200+ mmol/L in April 2010 to 700+ in March 2011. Urea level in March 2011 was 24. (I will put down the spec for normal people later). No way he could survive without dialysis, if we prolong it, he would have complications, may even be in a coma or worse.

The Neprologist - Dr Goh, advised him to be warded for dialysis. So on 15 March hubby was warded into Hospital Seberang Jaya for the second time in his life. On the 16 March, the first IJC (Inter Jugular Cathether - I think hehehe) was placed on his neck by Dr Goh. After that they performed blood dialysis on him for the first time.

A kidney patient will need to go through dialysis for the rest of his/her lives 3 times a week and at 4 hours per session. Cost wise, each session cost between RM150 to RM200. If you can get yourself listed to the government hospital (a long waiting list), then nit is free. Otherwise be prepared to spend around RM3000 per month (inclusive of medication). If you don't do dialysis, either after you have started it, death can prevail since your toxin level (urea and creatinine) will increase and eventually overwhelmed your whole body functions.

After the first session, hubby's condition improved a lot. The swollen on the feet seemed to have shrunk a bit, he was not coughing so badly anymore, the amount of phlegm was reduced too.

To be continued...

Spec for normal kidney function - blood test result (the only way to know)

Creatinine 51 - 124 mmol/L (millimol per liter of blood)

Urea 2.0 - 6.8 mmol/L