The Path To A Diagnosis

A constituent of mine found out from her health records showed she had started the beginning stages of chronic kidney disease seven years ago. This was found out by mistake, from seeing her health records. She was never informed of this information.

She just got the news this past year that she had chronic kidney disease and was very unaware of this sickness at all. A few years ago she recalled that someone on her health care had told her she had protein loss and treated her for it. Nothing else ever came up about this.

Finally getting a CKD diagnosis

Over the next few years, she was misdiagnosed with various other illnesses. At one point, her knees and ankles became swollen, severe muscle spasms, and uncontrollable high blood pressure. She was hospitalized for a few days with medical bills increasing. Her health was getting worse, and she just refused to see any more doctors.

She started missing time from work and requested many days off. Her family knew something was not right, and demanded she see a doctor. Well, they were right she was diagnosed with chronic kidney disease. She was so relieved that all this was not in her head, and that she finally had a diagnosis after all this time.

The sad news is that 45% of her kidneys had been destroyed. But she was so relieved that someone was finally listening to her, and she could start the treatment that she needed. In the beginning, she had to stay in the hospital to get high-dose steroid therapy. This was reduced as her situation improved.

They sent her to a facility for 5 weeks while getting therapy and was then discharged. They weren’t able to treat her completely because a good percentage of her kidney was toxic and would have to wait until the entire kidney was destroyed before starting dialysis. She had become depressed at this time and had decided that even when the time came, she would not take dialysis.

Starting dialysis for CKD

After many visits from family and friends, she decided that so many people loved her that she wanted to live. It was close to a year later and her healthcare team decided it was time to start dialysis. She was still leery but knew this was the right thing to do. She has been on dialysis for a few years now.

The search for a donor continues, and she hopes to find a matched one soon.  Of course, she is looking forward to getting a donor and having a successful surgery. She is hoping that this is sometime in the near future. In the meantime, dialysis continues. The process is many hours a day, four days a week. It’s not easy to do, but she knows she has to battle each day until she gets a donor.

She is thankful to God for bringing the appropriate people into her life for this journey and not giving up on her. On top of that, she is also especially grateful for her healthcare team at the hospital where she undergoes treatment.

We are all in this together.