Married to the Empire

Tuesday, July 24, 2007

Ruf's kidneys

Ruf had his annual appointment with his nephrologist today. I was shocked to learn that he's down to 46% kidney function. I haven't accompanied Ruf to his appointment in about 3 years, but since one car was in the shop today, and I needed the other one for errands, I had to take Ruf to work and pick him up for his appointment. In the past when Ruf would return home from the nephrologist's, I'd ask him what the doctor said. His answer was always, "I'm fine." He never could seem to recall any details for me. You know, details such as what percentage of kidney function he has remaining. Details that might actually be important!

I was alarmed because the last I'd heard, he had about 60% kidney function. He's only had this diagnosis for 7 years, so that seems like a dramatic decrease in a short amount of time. His doctor assured me that he's fine, and he's seen patients with this disease hold steady with that amount of kidney function for years. I asked if I need to adjust his diet, and he said no. However, he did give Ruf some prescription fish oil pills to try. (Prescription because that means the amount is actually controlled by the FDA and therefore consistent, unlike OTC "natural" remedies you can buy in health stores.)

I'm worried, but trying not to be. Once he's down to 20%, he'll have his name added to the transplant list. We really want to avoid transplant if at all possible. I guess we'll have to just pray hard about this. Sometimes I wonder what God's will could possibly be for his having IgA Nephropathy.

1 comment:

Catherine at Frugal Homemaker Plus said...

Sorry to hear about his troubles! That's no fun, but at least the doctor is not freaking out yet or anything. You can cross the "kidney transplant" bridge when you get to it. God bless!