Yes I know that I am waaaaay overdue in updating here. I have a myriad of excuses but none are uber valid and so I'll just get on with it.
I've posted here in the past the steps I've been taking to help the kidney situation - I take my meds religiously, stay hydrated, try to eat well, maintain my blood pressure, and do my best to keep my bloodsugars in check but end stage renal failure is a lot like trying to make a delicious snowcone last on a hot July day, no matter how you try - you know how the story ends. When my nephrologist told me more than a year ago that I was going to need a transplant he told me that he never wanted to see me on dialysis. He told me why and I concurred. It's an ugly process and Q of L really takes a dive. So that day I made up my mind that I was going forward. If I needed a transplant - so be it but I was not going to do dialysis.
I hold that mindset even today but recently several of my docs have said that the snowcone is melting fast and that I need to reconsider. I even received an after-hours call from the transplant center and my tx coordinator did her best to change my mind. I told her that I was solid in my position and didn't think it was going to change. She then took the gloves off and apologized for sounding ruthless but told me that if my GFR and other numbers continued to slide that they could, in fact, deny me a transplant (although the goal of these centers is to help people, they really have to watch their numbers / success rates etc. and they take any steps necessary to do so). She told me that as toxins build up in my body that chances for a successful tx are correspondingly diminished. She gave it her best shot and had only succeeded in as much as me telling her that I would "think about it."
Well this was all she needed. I've told you before these people are GOOD at what they do and as much as I like to feel like I am a one-of-a-kind type of guy, obviously Becca had been down this road before. After I mentioned that I would at least think about the possibility of dialysis, she proceeded to tell me that even if I was determined to absolutely need it today that it would be 2-3 weeks before it could be started. This is because to facilitate dialysis, access to your bloodstream has to be made through a device called a arteriovenous fistula. To get one of these things you have to check into the hospital for surgery to have the fistula implanted in you (usually in your arm) and then the whole deal has to heal or "mature" for several weeks before it can be used.
Long story short - if there is even an infinitesimal chance that I would agree to dialysis, Becca wants me to have the fistula in and ready to go. And so this is the issue that is currently consuming my thought process. I have another appointment with my kidney doctor on the 30th of this month. I will get the latest blood test results and see where we go from there.
Thanks for checking in here. Take good care of your kidneys! : /
