TW member mikesdoublecab's medical treatment

thank you!!! yah definitely not giving up... =)

 

I went through very similar circumstances. Spent years in stage 4 kidney failure. Most days I would drive to work and have to stop to vomit along the way as the toxins in my body were just going through the roof. Walking from area to area I would constantly be sick but never gave up the fight as I had a 3 old boy at the time and I simply wasnt going to go down easy. One day I was heading into work and was just too sick to get out of my truck. Went to the ER and had a catheter put into my chest. I went home that night went two tubes sticking out of my chest and I knew it was on. I was in North Carolina at the time and spent the next year doing dialysis through the catheter in my chest. Every week they told me it was supposed to be temporary but I was thinking. F a bunch of needles in my arm. I held out as long as I could before I ended up with a fistula in my left arm. I remember the first time when they put the needles in my arm thinking.. whiskey tango foxtrot. What have I gotten myself into now. The guy in the chair to my right was high as hell all the time. The person to my left had two different transplants and would just forget to take his meds and had lost both kidneys. Sorta wanted to push him down a flight of steps everyday but I was just getting into this life and had no idea what it entailed. After two weeks of 3 days/4 hours each session they decided it was time for the chest catheter to come out. I had a guy 250+ pounds kneeing on my chest pulling these things as hard as he could and they just werent budging. Apparently when they are in for a long time, they sorta grow roots and decide they dont want to leave. 50 some odd minutes later the guy really pulls hard and they come snapping out with a horrific noise and the nurse sweating bullets. There I was. Knee deep in/out of depression on the inside but keeping a solid outlook on outside as I had a young boy to see to adulthood. Dialysis was interesting. The majority of the people were bused in each session and just seemed like hollow shells of people and then the day happened that I learned why. When they take too much water from your system during dialysis... well, I am not sure how to accurately quantify this. I have had kidney stones, double compound break on my left wrist and many other broken bones and a few puncture wounds over my life and nothing even came close to how painful this was. You would be laying there and it would hit. It would be hard to even make a noise, your body would seize up and they would come over and put the footrest down and your legs would be straight out, rigid, and there they would start putting fluid back into your system. I was young enough and alert enough to recognize this and fight through this but I have seen cases where I was watching someone and they werent simply not moving and I just saw a tear come roll down their cheek. They were frozen and in so much pain they couldnt do anything and couldnt even alert anyone. It was at this moment that I knew something had to change. I had moved out to Greensboro to open a new data center and work on the migrations and it was time to move back to Phoenix. The dialysis clinic was much more professional and the staff and I quickly became friends. There were still some issues where I had too much fluid pulled out and it would be completely miserable but I started to put it all together. It may seem all doomy and gloomy but let me tell you. There is light at the end of the tunnel. I stayed healthy, I maintained everything perfectly, while continuing to work 60-70 hour weeks. I watched all food and water intake, took everything at the right time. Never cheated, never missed a dialysis appointment, never gave any excuse and after many years. I was at a work function. I was knee deep in a game of tug of war against another tech tower and I got the call. I needed to come down and test to see if I was a perfect match. The first time I was called to check for a match, I went down. There was another guy in the lobby who just wasnt well at all. He looked rough and I gave my blood sample but simple wished the guy the best and hoped he got the organ. He did. It was a huge rush to think that I could have been chosen and then a huge disappointment to know that I was not. Kidney failure is a constant string of successes and failures in all aspects. Weeks later I was working and got the call again. To check for a match. It was known as a high risk match. The person had died in prison and had no matches for any diseases that could harm me but still considered high risk. Im not one to look away from an opportunity and I jumped at it. I remember it was a Friday night when I showed up the hospital. I said goodbye to my boy and wrote out everything that needed to happen in case I passed. That Saturday morning, they took me in. I remember coming to in what I assume was a recovery room. I was intubated and they said I needed to lift my head up. The anesthesia was just overpowering my body still and I could just barely lift anything. They put the tube back down my throat and this is where I was trapped in hell for awhile. It took me time to organize my thoughts and assess where I was. They had a blood measure sensor on my left pinky and for whatever reasons. It was what was hurting. This nurse kept looking at me and I was trying to express the problems I was having. When they put the tube back down my throat it felt like it was stabbing my esophagus but damn if it wasnt my pinky finger that held my attention. I was mimicing the actions of writing on some paper so they would bring me a pen. I tried my best to draw a hand with the pinky with stars all over it but I kept going in and out of it as the latent effects of the anesthesia were still messing me up. The nurse was just looking at me and I am making noises and trying to point at the picture of the hand. She is telling me she doesnt understand what I am saying. A woman way across the way comes over and says, I think he is pointing at his finger. They unwrap the heart monitor and I can finally rest easy again. Its odd. I had just had a double transplant and what is bothering me the most was my pinky. I fall back asleep and wake up in another room. The next 5 days were stressing. I had to get up multiple times a day to walk around which was fairly brutal but I also got to see my boy and that put the wind back in my sails. 6 days later I was home. The first two weeks I had one reoccurring thought. Why the F did I do this? I could have survived on dialysis. I had a plan, I was sticking to it, things werent great, but they werent horrible. I was now miserable. It took me 4 days before I had to go back into the hospital. I couldnt eat, was hard to keep fluids in. They stabilized me and then 3 days later. Back out again. Since that time, I have been hospitalized 1 time for a little over a week due to something that I got from the new organs called BK viremia. This is just an added complication but with diet and some effort I have kept the numbers under control. Where I am now? I have these organs and a new lease on life. I spent the majority of my life as a type 1 diabetic. Never really ever ate candy, sugary items, etc. When I got back to work, a coworker gave me a candy bar to try. I had never had one like that so ate a bar of it. The sugar rush was something I had never experienced before. It nearly made me throw up. I learned that I still dont like sugary items. For the most part I went Vegan. If I go out and I order something and someone forgets the take the cheese off or this and that. I dont care, I will still eat it but I have found that I have a completely healthier system without consuming meat or dairy. Now, dont get me wrong. I will still go out once a month and get a NY strip and if I go hunting, I eat the meat that I bring home but overall. Its no longer a thing for me. I have always been fairly athletic but I have taken up running/jogging and its no longer about speed but its about distance. You can find me either late at night or early in the morning doing anywhere from 3-26 miles in a session. I am setting myself up for my first 50 mile ultra and I think I will be successful. Moral of the story.. I am not sure there is one. There are good things and bad things along the way. I just like to give hope to those that have shared in the things that I have been through. There is a light at the end of tunnel. Things will get better. Stay focused, hold the line, and never give up. I am glad that you are also reaping the benefits of our current medical technology and are thriving. Kudos man.

TL/DR The medical world of today is amazing

 

Rock on fellow kidney warrior!

 

Hi Mike I’m new to TW and was just looking around and found your post . how are you doing now days ?

 

hi Glenn. welcome to the madness of TW. I am doing relatively OK. The kidney stuck and is stable. Just have other chronic illness that popped up while on dialysis. Are you or a loved one in a similar situation?

 

no just stopped read the post. I’m not sure why I did ~something made me stop.
nice to meet you Mike have good one .

 

Thanks! You as well.