20% Kidney function???

[happy appy]

I just got a call from my mother and she told me that her and dad have been at the hospital all day. My father went for routine blood/urine testing today and they wouldn't let him leave. Turns out that they feel he is only running about 20% function on both his kidney's. They are going to a specalist tomorrow morning to have more tests run. I am about 18 hrs drive away and I'm starting to freak out! All I know is that they are getting an US done tomorrow and a cathader put in to drain his system. Does anyone have any experience on this? My father isn't in good health to start, has been having troubles since the summer.

 

[drmatthewtaylor]

Certainly should be concerned, but we can do without one kidney (hence kidney donors) which would be 50% reduction. Then we can lose half of the remaining kidney before we start having problems which would be 25%.

So, 20% isn't good but also not awful. Plus the kidneys are one of the few organs that can regenerate.

Good luck.

Dr. Taylor

 

[Sonya]

I have no experience with it but just wanted to say your Dad is in my prayers...I know how hard it is being far away from your parents...hugs.

 

[Marsha Cassada]

My husband is sort of going through that. It is one of the side effects of his bp medicene. You can't take a medicene to fix one thing and expect it not to affect other things. My husband tries to drink more water to compensate. YOur dad probably isn't drinking enough. Older people have a hard time getting enough fluids. My mom doesn't drink enough, as she doesn't want to get up in the night. She was also hospitalized for a fall, and all the tests were good except she was dehydrated. She is trying to drink more water now.

A knew a man who had a cup of coffee in the morning, a glass of tea for lunch, and a scotch and soda at bedtime--and he wondered why he was dehydrated...

 

[happy appy]

Certainly should be concerned, but we can do without one kidney (hence kidney donors) which would be 50% reduction. Then we can lose half of the remaining kidney before we start having problems which would be 25%.

So, 20% isn't good but also not awful. Plus the kidneys are one of the few organs that can regenerate.

Good luck.

Dr. Taylor

Thanks for the info. Sometimes it's hard pulling stuff out of my parents. They hate going to the Dr's in the first place.

I have no experience with it but just wanted to say your Dad is in my prayers...I know how hard it is being far away from your parents...hugs.

Thank you

My husband is sort of going through that. It is one of the side effects of his bp medicene. You can't take a medicene to fix one thing and expect it not to affect other things. My husband tries to drink more water to compensate. YOur dad probably isn't drinking enough. Older people have a hard time getting enough fluids. My mom doesn't drink enough, as she doesn't want to get up in the night. She was also hospitalized for a fall, and all the tests were good except she was dehydrated. She is trying to drink more water now.

A knew a man who had a cup of coffee in the morning, a glass of tea for lunch, and a scotch and soda at bedtime--and he wondered why he was dehydrated...

Drink water is one thing my parents have always been good at! They have an 8oz glass with each meal. . . . . they have about 5 meals in a day

 

[Carolyn R]

Yes, plenty of experience with my grandmother when we cared for her. Infection, dehydration, medicationcan all play a part in kidney function, as well as many other things I am sure.

Whenever my grandmother would have a ut infection, which was hard to tell because she had a cath, it would significantly effect her kidneys. We were constantly examining the contents of her cath bag while emptying it, making sure to make notes on anything out of the ordinary.. There always seemed to be something that would cause her blood values be off, setting off a chain reaction to her kidneys , or it could have very well been a kidney issue setting off her blood values.

She was in her mid 90's when these issues became more prevelant and lived to the ripe age of 98.5 years old.

Don't panic just yet, the body is an amazing thing. Often times, once the culprit is found and able to be treated, the body begins to recover and heal itself.

 

[Jill]

Keeping you and your dad in my thoughts, and I am so happy to read several posts here that should give you reassurance!

 

[wade3504]

I am not sure what my function was when my kidneys failed but I do believe that it was close to 20%. If they are putting a catheter in then he is not getting rid of urine as he should and once the kidneys fail completely he will really not end up urinating at all. That is partly what dialysis is for-to take off the extra fluid that your body cannot dispose of by itself anymore. He will most likely also go on a special diet which sucks but must be done. I had to go on that special diet plus my diabetic diet so everything basically tasted like cardboard. Do not have him do anything, like drink more fluids, unless he is told to. Drinking more fluids, if his kidneys are functioning that poorly can lead to major problems.

How old is your father and if you don't mind my asking what other health problems does he have? He might quallify for a transplant depending on what his other health issues are. If you have any questions let me know and i will try to help. My kidneys failed 8 years ago and I had a dual transplant of kidney and pancreas 7 years ago.

 

[happy appy]

My father is 82 years old. He has been a smoker all of his life. He has had 3 strokes so far. Other than that , he is healthy as a horse! He was admitted to hospital today for testing and they kept him over night. They are flushing his Kidney's with IV solution. They did it about 5-6 bags and then he started to get a lot of blood, my mom said. They kept at it until the red blood started to turn pink. He still has the cathedar in for the night. The specialist is coming back to see him tomorrow. My mom feels that he will be coming home tomorrow.

 

[wade3504]

I hope everything works out. If he is coming home then his kidneys aren't that far gone yet and maybe what they are doing is helping. Smoking is not something that would stop someone from a transplant but I think that the strokes and his age might. Not that it's the best thing by far but if his kidneys do get worse there is dialysis.

I hope that things improve for him and none of that is needed.

 

[wade3504]

Do you live near them that you can go and hear what the doctor or specialist has to say?

 

[happy appy]

I'm about 18 hours away.

 

[wade3504]

Sorry, I remember reading that now. Maybe you can have the specialist call you if your parents can explain things to you well enough if they are Ok with that as your dad would have to give his permission. Again, I hope everything works out.

 

[happy appy]

My father is a strong native man. I'm very surprised that he even stayed in the hospital over night. That is a first time for him. He even left after his strokes. Hasn't been to a Dr in over 50 years. He wont agree to surgery or anything else I'd say.

 

[happy appy]

Well he went back into the hospital this morning. He had a blood clot in his cathedar. once the Dr cleared it he sent him home but made the comment that his blood pressure was high. Right now my brother from the west coast and i are trying to plan flights to get out there and stay a week each. Hopefully that will get things going for them and we and get some answers.

 

[Carolyn R]

Sending prayers your way, the blood clots in the cath line happen. It is usually shortly after they put it in or if it is toyed with a lot. My grandmother was always disrupting hers, often having it work it's way loose. My mother ( a nurse) with me assisting, often had to put in new cath lines. I was so thankful for the home healthcare nurse and aid that came a couple times a week. It gave me an hour of sanity once in awhile.

 

[wade3504]

Well he went back into the hospital this morning. He had a blood clot in his cathedar. once the Dr cleared it he sent him home but made the comment that his blood pressure was high. Right now my brother from the west coast and i are trying to plan flights to get out there and stay a week each. Hopefully that will get things going for them and we and get some answers.

Have they told you anything that the doctors have said?

 

[happy appy]

So far the only things that I can get for certain is that his kidney's aren't working right, no peeing is happening, catherdar is the only thing that is draining his kidney's. They said he and infection in his bladder and kidney's. His blood pressure is high and it's always been on the low side like me. He is throwing up a lot and has no appetite. He has a constant headache that only gets worse at times but never goes away completely. He is tired and gets the shakes sometimes. while he has the shakes his speech is a little slired. He is going for more blood tests this morning. The dr on the weekend said that he needed surgery to remove all the blood clots in his kidney's.

 

[wade3504]

Blood pressure could be high from water retention/kidneys not working. That happens when the kidneys start to go. I had high blood pressure when my kidney's began to fail all the way through my transplant. Headache can happen too but that could also be from the high blood pressure. Tired is probably kidneys not working right. Shakes and slirred speech along with the throwing up and no appetite I don't know. That never happened with me but I was 30 when mine went. I do know when I was diabetic infections in my body would cause me to throw up. I also never had blood clots in my kidneys.

If he is not urinating on his own and needs a catheter then I am guessing his kidneys are failing and the doctors have probably mentioned dialysis. Would he agree to that?

 

[happy appy]

I can't think that he will agree to dialysis but you never know. I'm still waiting on the results from yesterday blood tests.