Kidneys

[Cat]

Off handed... How long can a sixty year old live on dialysis?

 

[shane225]

I used to work in the dialysis field. Depending on what other health issues someone has they can live a while. I know that doesnt answer your question really. Is there bad heart issues, uncontrolable high blood pressure, things like that. My Mom was on dialysis when she was 59. She recieved a kidney from her sister and is doing great. I know dialysis is hard on someones body and mental state. Doing what the doctor says and taking care of thier body will help for sure.

 

[Cat]

Everything is good except kidneys. Transplant is probably out of the question. Has diabetes. I'll know more in the morning I guess.

 

[shane225]

I've known people with diabetes that have gotten transplants. If its really not an option and they have to stay on dialysis, find out what they have to do to have dialysis done at home. Home is always better than the clinics. Its a tramatic thing to have to deal with on both of your parts but I promise its not a death sentence. Sixty is still young so if they take care of themselves they will live a long time still.

 

[Cat]

Thanks Shane. Hopefully it's good news tomorrow. I didn't expect to hear this today.

 

[themcfarland]

cat, Nancy my wife is 52 and has 30 percent of her heart functioning and her gfr is 25, meaning that somewhere around 20 they put you on dialysis.. she has two results to send off and a tooth cleaning and she goes before the review board for transplant list..

If there is a chance get with tulane and they will guide you through the process..

Personally nancy is in shitting health.. and she qualifies through all of her problems..

lets do the numbers given to me personally about nancy..

living donor for kidney=15 to 20 yrs with 5 yr wait
cadaver kidney from healthy person =10 years with 5 yr wait
52 year old on dialysis =5 to 7 years with lots of trouble..
type 1 diabetic that is now 52 ( onset in very young years of life) can qualify for kidney AND pancreas.. wait times 2 years..

for the record, there is hope..

 

[shane225]

Tulane is awsome.

 

[Cat]

Well.. He had had colon cancer years ago and adrenal tumor removed. The adrenal removal tanked his kidneys last summer. He functions around 30-40% on a great day. He had a stomach virus this week and a visit to his GP showed his kidney function is way low. Going to his kidney doc tomorrow. Last year we had a hard time pulling his kidneys back up to non-dialysis numbers. They haven't explicitly said dialysis toy knowledge today but it was discussed alot last summer.

He's tired I think. First cancer (twice), then HepC from an 80s blood transfusion (first cancer surgery), then adrenal gland stuff and now fighting back kidney failure. Except they haven't actually got that bad. Just enough he bounces back a little less than he was and a whole lot of stress. He is prone to stomach ailments. Each time he dehydrates, the numbers don't climb back completely.

On top of an alcoholic GF that Does Not!!! handle stress at all so I deal with his illness and his own personal stress over her.

I don't mean to be a drama llama here. I'm stressed now just thinking about how it might go in the next few days.

I think I'm taking a vicoden after today's root canal and crawling in bed.

 

[shane225]

I've seen people go on dialysis due to dehydration before. After a few treatments thier kidneys kick back on and they are off of it. The Renal docs here in Baton Rouge are good and dont BS the patients. Hopefully they are the same there. A living donor from the family takes less than a year to do if someones willing and a match. Theres a lot of testing to go through.

 

[LACamper]

Cat, Dr Raju Thomas at Tulane is a miracle worker. He gave my grandfather 20 years longer than anyone expected him to live. He had multiple cancers and Dr. Thomas pulled off 3 brilliant borderline experimental surgeries.
Fast forward a dozen years. My better half had kidney problems from the time she was little. One kidney was nonfunctional. Having a child finished it off and caused it to leak and cause infections. Every doctor we saw said it had to come out, we just do the magician surgery (cut the girl in half, remove the kidney, sew her back together- 4 months of healing she'd be fine!). Enter Dr. Thomas and the idea of doing the removal laproscopically(spelling? Its a common surgery now, but at the time it was brand new). Two weeks later she's back at work full time and no problems at all for a decade....
If nothing else go get a second opinion from him.

 

[themcfarland]

glad to hear the other positive stories..landry here int btr is very good.. tulane takes higher risk people the success numbers are still high..

 

[leVieux]

The problem with long-term dialysis is that the venous access sites get "used-up" and we run out of them.

The Tulane renal transplant service was one of the first, started by Dr McDonald way back in the 1960's. Tulane doctors are great. Tulane hospital sucks, big-time. I know......

leVieux

 

[Cat]

Looks like Dad might be on the mend for now. He may need to go into the hospital for some fluids and medication adjustment. We've done that before.

Last winter his kidney function was around 50%, today they're hovering in the mid to high twenties. I doubt they'll see 50% again, but each episode like this, they are damaged just a little bit more.

Thank you everybody for the information. I deeply feel we'll have to discuss dialysis or something equally major in the next couple years. But hearing other stories keeps the lid on my panic and paranoia.