Being Diagnosed With Chronic Kidney Failure

After being diagnosed with lupus in 2013, I thought that I had gone through the worst. Then in 2014, I experienced my first kidney failure, which was a horrible experience.

The first sign of my kidney failure was a UTI. I was sent home from the emergency room multiple times over a month's time and they kept diagnosing me with kidney failure. During one of those emergency room visits, they gave me antibiotics that made my throat swell and I felt like I could not breathe. I ended up going back to the hospital where they had to give me something to counteract the reaction I had received from the antibiotics.

My symptoms showed I was getting worse

The next symptom I had was that I could not hold any bowl movement. I would think I had to go to the bathroom and would actually going on myself. This was a horrible feeling because I was having these accidents around my husband and we only have been married for about one year. So that year was the test of our relationship. My husband was there to clean me after every accident. Sometimes we would laugh because he would literally be walking behind me with a towel.

Those moments were signs that I was getting worse and the doctors could not understand why. I was also experiencing hot flashes and I would have my sweat imprint everywhere I slept. That was frustrating because I had to change clothes at least three times a day and bathe twice a day just to feel comfortable.

Finally, some answers

Then, I discovered my face was swelling and I could not see and when I would lay down, I could not breathe. Then, I started to not be able to breathe sitting up. On the way to the hospital I was not responding to my husband. When I took that last visit to the ER, it was my 4th time being there in one week. When I checked in, the lady at the desk remembered me and did not even have to ask my name. She went straight to the back and told the doctors I needed to be seen because it was a packed waiting room.

When the doctors came out, someone passed out in front of me which caused me to wait even longer. The ER doctor told me they had to get the attending doctor because they could not figure out what was wrong with me. When the doctor came down, I felt like a science project. He was so interested into how he can fix me.

Being in the hospital for so long and not being able to figure out what was wrong with me was so frustrating. Then a kidney specialist came in a saved my life after a month and a half of no answers. I felt happy but I had to start a strong medication so I could treat my kidneys. I felt better within a month or so.