4 replies to this topic

[Krazey]

About 2 weeks ago Tom's kidneys stopped working. Dr's ran tests and did a biopsy but said there is no kidney disease and that maybe all the med's he was on since being hurt caused them to fail. He said they may start to work again or they may not...so it's wait and see right now. Can someone post something...anything...about this topic so I can get a better idea if this is something that usually happens and if anyone has gone through it...how it turned out...before I start freaking out again

[GoldenYears]

Krazy, my C4/C5 Catastrophic Hubby experienced kidney failure while he was in the hospital. They ramped up fluids and everything is fine now but I still have to monitor his output/input on a daily basis.

Does Tom have blood pressure problems? Hubby did and an Internist was brought in to figure out a medication protocol and once that was done, his kidneys were up and running again. It took a while to see what worked, what didn't, what could be mixed with what, and before all was said and done his meds could fill a suitcase -- and still do.

Good wishes to you and Tom, and I hope all goes well.

Golden

[Krazey]

GoldenYears, on 22 December 2010 - 02:02 AM, said:

Krazy, my C4/C5 Catastrophic Hubby experienced kidney failure while he was in the hospital. They ramped up fluids and everything is fine now but I still have to monitor his output/input on a daily basis.

Does Tom have blood pressure problems? Hubby did and an Internist was brought in to figure out a medication protocol and once that was done, his kidneys were up and running again. It took a while to see what worked, what didn't, what could be mixed with what, and before all was said and done his meds could fill a suitcase -- and still do.

Good wishes to you and Tom, and I hope all goes well.

Golden

Thanks for the reply...sorry it took me so long to read it...been so busy with xmas and making the drive to visit the hospital. I don't think he has blood pressure problems...in the very beginning he had low pressure and they had to give him meds to keep it up when they moved him from the bed to the chair but I don't think that's a problem right now. I do appreciate your input

[manda6843]

My husband is a T10-T11 para with ESRD (end stage renal disease). No one really knows what happened to cause his kidneys to stop working. His blood pressure was extremely elevated when the kidney issues were diagnosed so he becomes a chicken vs egg thing, which came first? Plus the kidneys are right around/below injury site so chances are there was damage done there that didn't help matters. He did hemodialysis for about 4 years and we're just now trying to transition to peritoneal dialysis. www.kidney.org is full of info if you dig deep enough. Feel free to message me if you have specific questions about either, I'm no expert but I'm living it. At the very least someone to commiserate with helps.

Dialysis is an inconvenience, you'll find that you can't just pick up and go places and the schedule is pretty set. But at the same time, it works for what it is and you CAN have a normal life around it. Or at least as normal as it is with SCI anyway. Pros and cons all around but I'll take the headache over the alternative. Dialysis keeps my husband with me and (usually) functional. Considering all the things we face each day it's just another small potato in a really REALLY big bag of potatoes

It is possible for kidney function to return, it is equally possible once its gone it's gone. A lot of that seems to depend on if there is residual kidney function when the failure is diagnosed (meaning does he still produce urine on his own? Not that I want to know, just explaining what I meant). I was so wrapped up into he's going to die to oh ok there's treatment to hey look he's doing better during the initial days I'll admit I didn't do anywhere near enough research. Learned the hard way, here's some advice - any dialysis center comes with a social worker, it's their job to help you. Pick their brains, find out ALL your options (not just the ones that particular clinic wants to push, do your own homework. One thing that we found out too late to help - Peritoneal dialysis (PD) is a smoother, slower, closer to normal kidney function than hemo is. IF there is residual function PD will help give a better chance at maintaining what's left if not help with the chances of regaining any function. Unfortunately we were told that WAY too late. I can keep going and bury you in stuff that very likely has nothing to do with your situation and won't help at all. Been there, done that. Still waiting on someone to send me my t-shirt.

oh, and ESRD is a blanket term that gets used when the kidneys don't work and they can't decide what else to call it. Not quite the same as kidney disease.

[Krazey]

manda6843, on 31 December 2010 - 09:59 PM, said:

My husband is a T10-T11 para with ESRD (end stage renal disease). No one really knows what happened to cause his kidneys to stop working. His blood pressure was extremely elevated when the kidney issues were diagnosed so he becomes a chicken vs egg thing, which came first? Plus the kidneys are right around/below injury site so chances are there was damage done there that didn't help matters. He did hemodialysis for about 4 years and we're just now trying to transition to peritoneal dialysis. www.kidney.org is full of info if you dig deep enough. Feel free to message me if you have specific questions about either, I'm no expert but I'm living it. At the very least someone to commiserate with helps.

Dialysis is an inconvenience, you'll find that you can't just pick up and go places and the schedule is pretty set. But at the same time, it works for what it is and you CAN have a normal life around it. Or at least as normal as it is with SCI anyway. Pros and cons all around but I'll take the headache over the alternative. Dialysis keeps my husband with me and (usually) functional. Considering all the things we face each day it's just another small potato in a really REALLY big bag of potatoes

It is possible for kidney function to return, it is equally possible once its gone it's gone. A lot of that seems to depend on if there is residual kidney function when the failure is diagnosed (meaning does he still produce urine on his own? Not that I want to know, just explaining what I meant). I was so wrapped up into he's going to die to oh ok there's treatment to hey look he's doing better during the initial days I'll admit I didn't do anywhere near enough research. Learned the hard way, here's some advice - any dialysis center comes with a social worker, it's their job to help you. Pick their brains, find out ALL your options (not just the ones that particular clinic wants to push, do your own homework. One thing that we found out too late to help - Peritoneal dialysis (PD) is a smoother, slower, closer to normal kidney function than hemo is. IF there is residual function PD will help give a better chance at maintaining what's left if not help with the chances of regaining any function. Unfortunately we were told that WAY too late. I can keep going and bury you in stuff that very likely has nothing to do with your situation and won't help at all. Been there, done that. Still waiting on someone to send me my t-shirt.

oh, and ESRD is a blanket term that gets used when the kidneys don't work and they can't decide what else to call it. Not quite the same as kidney disease.

Wow! That is a lot. Thanks for sharing your situation...every bit helps. We'll take it a day at a time and thanks for the reference to kidney.org...I WILL go there and take a look.