« A diary of hospital life following a diagnosis of acute kidney failure »

13th September 2006: Getting worse again!

Grade 3 necrosis

Saw my three doctors todays. Apparently at one point / currently one of my kidneys, the left, was pushing class 3 (of 3) necrosis, which is rather a bad thing.
Kidney failure itself (as opposed to nephrosis, I think) has 5 grades of degeneration.

As an aside, many of the people sharing the wards with we had kidney failure as a result of diabetes, though one had caught a rare disease and another was due to a consultant prescribing the wrong medicine, and the wrong dose at that. And once you get to needing dialysis, forget having a normal life. Fortunately I was caught in time to avoid degenerating that far as to need it, but trust me, if you have or think you have diabetes, do what the doctors say. Repeated surgery to put valves in for the transfusions, that, generally, 3 times a week for the rest of your life. Going on holiday abroad (besides insurance complications) means choosing a place near a hospital and paying a fortune for the treatment. I think one guy was paying $1,000 a time when he went to America - every 3 days.

Currently awaiting urology to authorise my MRI Scan. Amlodipine increased to 10mg to try and lower my blood pressure
[ Still on them even now, months later. ]

Getting fed up with hospital now!

Visitors

Mum paid a surprise visit this afternoon, fetching a basket of fruit. Mmmm, banned substances. OK, allowed one a day. I share mine with my friend in the next bed, Khalid Sala, who's teaching me Arabic to pass the time. Hard language to learn but after a while you do start to pick up the words, even in just a hospital environment.