Now, I have kidney disease.

[bencavill974]

feeling bad hearing your stories.

[tomas1]

I appreciate all the good wishes, and I'm sorry Old Guy is also dealing with issues. A bro-in-law of mine and a s-i-l have had bladder cancer and got it treated successfully.

I actually can't complain since I've always been healthy except for the damned ED and the prostate cancer. That seems to not be growing so one thing at a time.

I'll deal with this, but it's amazing that everything I like to eat, I shouldn't eat.

[Martin6469]

Tomas: I'm also minimizing alcohol, but for a different reason. I find that Kaliber non-alcoholic beer tastes as good as real beer! The label says "less than 0.5% alcohol," so if light beer has 3%, there's a factor of at least six between them: six Kalibers equal one light beer.

My wife is supposed to avoid alcohol for another reason. She's found quite a few non-alcoholic wines that we like at a large wine store.

Some years ago I was told to eliminate salt (problem since resolved) and I found a dried herb blend in the grocery store to use as a substitute. It was not a good substitute, but was better than nothing. I believe kidney patients should NOT use the potassium chloride salt substitute.

(Your military career was a lot more interesting than mine - atom bomb tests and seeing Ike!)

[tomas1]

martin, right now I'm drinking some red wine each day. I fill a glass with ice cubes then add the wine. I'd guess it doesn't amount to much. No salt substitute seems to taste good to me. I just downloaded and printed a cook book called "Kidney Cooking". We'll try some of its recipes and I hope something tastes good. I just looked at a bunch of my blood results and my sodium and potassium have always been safely in the good range.

I'll someday actually get answers to some of this, but right now, nothing makes sense.
Maybe the ultra-sound will show something?

I had a weird military career (3 years).
When I first enlisted right out of HS, they gave me a test and I must have aced it.
They called me aside and asked if I would want to go to Germany immediately with a cavalry unit.
I asked what about basic training and they said I could get that in Germany.

I asked if a buddy who joined with me could also go, and they said it was just for me.
I turned it down and have always wondered what if.

After 16 weeks of infantry training, I got orders for Korea and my friend got Germany. He actually rubbed it in. He was still 17 and I had turned 18 so I wonder if that entered into it.

On to Seattle, then 18 days on a little troop ship and on to Korea.
The war was over, but I looked at the mountains and said what have I done.

We all got on a very old train and headed inland. Everyone on the train was assigned to the 24th div and went to the DMZ. Another guy and I got the 7th div. The other guy got the 17th regiment and also went to the DMZ. I got the 31st regiment and when I got off the train, the first sergeant even carried my duffle bag for me. I got a job in the regimental post office.

When I came back, I was assigned to the HQ, Military District of Washington, and it was a pretty sweet assignment. Guys asked me about my background and must have assumed that I had some kind of family influence to get assigned there. I guess my grades preceded me?

When I was to get out they gave me a promotion to E-5 and offered me a job as a courier if I stayed in. I asked if it was like a diplomatic courier who carried a briefcase internationally. They said no, it's just around DC to the pentagon, Whie House etc, and I'd get a car to use. I've come to regret not re-upping, but who knows where that would all have ended.

I doubt that I would have ended up in Nam carrying a rifle though.

Sorry for the ramble.

[tomas1]

I went to my PCP doc and they had the latest results. The results came out last Thu, but for some damn reason, they didn't put them on line. My GFR improved 2 percent to 27% and naturally my creatinine level also improved. They use the creatinine level and my age to calculate GFR.

Strangely, my sodium and potassium levels are safely in the good range.I guess eventually, I'll get some answers, but until then, I'll keep trying to eat sensibly.

Stage 3 starts at GFR 29. That's my goal right now.

[bldoink]

Any good news is great news!

[tomas1]

I agree, and I hope I can gain a little more and possibly find the cause of the rapid fall in my GFR.

[Lester33]

Tomas,
Don’t know if you remember me we used to PM from time to time. Just wanted to wish you the best and hopefully everything turns out OK. Will keep you in my thoughts and prayers.

Dave

[tomas1]

Of course I remember you Dave.
I finally was able to get my last blood results in my online portal.
I just noticed that the results I thought were the latest were actually from March.

One good thing is the newest results were even better than what I saw.

I'm still in stage 4, but creeping up on stage 3.
My GFR is now 28, and creatinine is is 2.26.

[tomas1]

The kidney facility did ultrasounds of my kidneys and bladder. They immediately made me go to my urologist.

We went to the urologist today and he said the ultrasound showed my bladder isn't emptying and urine is backing up into my kidneys. It also showed the kidneys are swollen.

If unchecked, I guess it's curtains for the kidneys.

We're going to have TURP surgery to roto root the urethra and hopefully make the bladder easier to empty.
I'll need a general anesthetic (I hope I wake up), and spend a night in Chandler Hospital, then have a catheter in me for a week.

I don't look forward to that, but it's better than the alternative.
I really hope this isn't all for practice.