WebKittyn Warbles
Friday, September 05, 2008
Captain, We’re at 20%
**Amusing photo at the bottom of this post**
I had my big kidney doctor appointment today. I was really afraid of this one, I was afraid yesterday when I went for the blood work and I was terrified sitting there today waiting for him to come in. It's been a bad week of way too much throwing up, that's not a good sign.
The news was better than I hoped for but still not up to 'good.'
When you have kidney failure there are two things you watch for: BUN (blood urea nitrogen) and creatinine. The BUN is the poisonous stuff. In a healthy body with working kidneys the BUN shouldn't be higher than 23 and the creatinine a 3. BUN over 60 and creatinine over 6-7 are bad, that's end stage renal disease and that's where I was when I started.
Last week my BUN was a 53 and my creatinine a 4.9. The BUN was a bit high but that's why I go for weekly blood tests and it was low enough to stay off dialysis.
This week my BUN was a 46 and my creatinine a 4.3. Again, not great and not good enough for him to say anything for sure but it was week two and they went DOWN. The creatinine is good, if the creatinine stayed like that I'd be fine but like I said, the BUN is the bad shit.
I was amazed the levels went down. Seriously.
He said to me that a person needs 10% kidney function to survive without dialysis. He guesstimated me at about 20% kidney function and followed that with "I think you're going to make it" and "it's not science here, Heather. This shouldn't be happening, you shouldn't be off dialysis." I'm cool with that, I like defying the odds.
The throwing up concerned him. He told me I have to do a '24 hour collection' next Wednesday. This means I have to pee in a container for 24 hours, save all the pee and bring it in the cab with me on Thursday for testing. If there isn't enough urea in the pee that means I'm puking it up and that's a bad sign.
Or it could simply be that my kidneys are only sort of working and they work enough to keep me off dialysis but not to process all the toxins. He told me I might be throwing up every day for the rest of my life. I can deal with that, I'll take that over having to go to dialysis for the rest of my life.
Then I asked the big question, when can I get this cursed catheter out of my chest. He knew what was coming, he finished my sentence for me halfway through. Since I've never used the graft and I really am afraid of those big red needles he wasn't willing to take it out yet.
I'm clear for a month as long as my levels don't skyrocket and the pee test comes out okay. It's sort of an uneasy joyous feeling, it can end at any minute with bad levels but the thought of 30 days with no dialysis really is a dream come true.
He upped the one blood pressure med (Coreg) and put me back on the other one (Lisinopril). The dialysis was making the pressure drop and while it wasn't high, it wasn't great (160/100).
When I go back next month he'll make the call. If the levels are holding out and I'm okay, he'll give the order to have the catheter removed. I will finally be able to take a shower. My 2nd shower since March 8th. I may never get out.
So we had to stop at the lab on the way home and get the container I'm supposed to pee in. I don't know what I was expecting but it wasn't that. This thing is HUGE. It's bright orange and it's HUGE. Could any human being possibly pee that much in24 hours??
It also has to be kept in the fridge. Move the orange juice over, make room for the giant pee pot of Red Hook. They give you a bag to put it in to bring it back but of course the bag has 24 HOUR URINE COLLECTION in big letters on it right next to the medical hazard symbol. Me and my pee pot, taking a cab ride.
All in all I'm feeling optimistic. Dr. Pagnozzi is a hard man when it comes to his work, he doesn't give words of encouragement lightly. To tell me "I think you're going to make it" means I'm doing as okay as I possibly can. Better than I thought I would be and I believe I can keep up the momentum.
Okay, here it is. The Great Pee Pot of Red Hook.
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Good lord… That looks like it holds half a gallon.
Much love and good wishes from your absentee seal.
on 09/05 at 09:39 PM -
They don’t expect you to FILL that thing do they. Geeze!
Just make sure you grab the right thing out of the fridge if you wake up thirsty in the middle of the night.
YummY! on 09/06 at 09:43 PM -
That looks like it holds 2 litres! I’m not sure if you pee that much in a day, let alone a week with kidney issues.
I’m sure by now you’ve gotten used to puking and just find it an annoyance, no?
Best wishes!
on 09/06 at 11:01 PM -
Seal - Not absentee, you just up and freaken’ abandoned me. Don’t think it doesn’t sting.
Yummy - I’m just dumb enough to do exactly that..
Bobby - It’s an annoyance but a painful one. It’s a deep stomach-wrenching sort of puking and while it’s going on, it hurts. Still better than dialysis though.
WK on 09/07 at 04:28 PM -
It’s funny- a while back I was working on a big project for my company to add BUN to our blood gas panel. We make portable analyzers for the stuff. The funny thing about it, everyone says that BUN is essentially useless to add to our panel.
Well, bah I say.
Also, that pee jug is really intimidating and huge. If I was handed that I’d probably want to whack someone upside the head with it. It looks like it has good whacking girth.
Utopia on 09/11 at 06:25 AM
<-- Steal me!
