I Didn’t See The Symptoms Of Chronic Kidney Disease

My son was 40 at the time told me he had chronic kidney disease. The first thing I said was, "Are you sure? You don’t look sick." Yeah, we will talk more about that statement later.

I started questioning him about how he had been feeling. How did it get this far without him nipping this in the bud? He had been working two jobs for over ten years. When he would complain about being tired and always wore out, I would tell him to give up one of those jobs. I thought he was fatigued and just needed a break. At that time, we didn’t know that his iron was low, and creatinine was high.

Chronic kidney disease was a surprise

He was a person who always had his yearly checkups, so this all came as a surprise to both of us. His legs started swelling really bad where he had to go to the hospital. That’s how uncomfortable it was. He was given some type of pills and had to wear compression socks. This wasn’t because of lack of water - all he ever drank was water. He was told to follow up with his primary care physician.

This was when he found out he had high blood pressure where he had to be put on strong medication right away. The medication actually made him sick, where it had to be changed a few times. He started having headaches and blurred vision.

Restricting his diet

He got sick again and had to be hospitalized. They put him on a very strict diet. He loved his food very “tasty”. Lots of things with salt. He immediately had to give that up. He had to stop eating foods with phosphate and ones high in potassium. This is when he found out he had to start prepping for dialysis.

The itch came on as a surprise. He didn’t know what was happening. On one of his office visits, his doctor told him that because his kidneys aren’t working that his system can’t filter all potassium. He also found out during one of these visits that he probably had high blood pressure for years, but never got treated for it.

Getting at home dialysis

It has been 5 years later. My son opted to do the at home dialysis. I was at the hospital when they put a tube in him. I thought he was getting something in his arm, so I was not prepared for this either. He has a very good job, a wife and 3 kids, and this was the only way he could keep working. As of today, this is working out pretty good for him.

As someone with several chronic illness, I get it and I understand. We all have our own battles to fight and sometimes they can feel like right out war. One thing I learned in my life many years ago - you don’t know another person’s journey and what they are going through. As we all know by now, yes you can look good and have an invisible illness.
Never judge a book by its cover, be nice. You don’t have a clue what a person is going through.