written on June 19, 2014
The importance of our kidneys cannot be understated. It’s weird – they’re like these two organs that we never give much thought to. Now that mine are failing, I can say that most of us take them for granted when they’re working fine. I never gave much thought to my kidneys before I was diagnosed with my chronic kidney disease in 2005, and even then I tried to not think about them for a few years, hoping they would just miraculously heal on their own or something. No such luck.
In talking to people about my kidneys, it’s surprising to me how little everyone actually knows about kidneys. Several people have asked me if science can artificially grow kidneys yet, because there are stories every now and then about growing bladders, or hearts, or lungs. Turns out they are trying to grow kidneys, but kidneys are a complicated organ. They do quite a few things, some of which you might not even be aware of:
Kidneys regulate blood pressure
Kidneys produce and regulate red blood cells
Kidneys process vitamin D
Kidneys maintain the pH-level of your blood (blood is slightly alkaline)
Kidneys remove waste products from the blood (as urine)
Kidneys regulate the levels of minerals in your blood (such as potassium, sodium and phosphorus)
I’m sure they do more than that, but that’s a pretty good start to the list. So when your kidney function drops too low, these various functions stop working in your body.
For me, my kidneys stopped processing vitamin D about six months ago. They stopped the red blood cell production over a year ago. They started having problems regulating blood pressure about 4 months ago. They stopped removing waste products on May 18 - that was the day I went to the ER with renal failure – the acid level of my blood and the amount of toxins in my blood stream were surprisingly high. So high that several doctors and nurses came over to see me when they heard how high they were, because they couldn’t believe someone who was so toxic could be walking and talking. Turns out your body gradually adjusts to failing kidneys, so I had probably been highly toxic for months and just didn’t know it.
My biggest fear was waking up one day and being in renal failure. I had been hoping that I could make it to a kidney transplant, skip the whole dialysis thing and just get a new kidney to keep me going for a few more years. But that’s not how it happened.
I ended up getting very sick before I walked into the ER. It feels like you have a really bad case of the flu, and in my case I was getting constant migraine headaches, I was barely sleeping and my blood pressure was going through the roof (190/110 when I checked into the ER).
Now I feel normal again (aside from having a catheter sticking out of my chest that prevents me from being able to take a shower or go swimming). I still don’t have a lot of red blood cells, so my ability to do any kind of workout is almost nill (red blood cells regulate the amount of oxygen in your bloodstream - the fewer red blood cells you have, the less oxygen your body is carrying, which means a lot less time in aerobic exercise. I hit anaerobic very fast and start making lactic acid before I know it). I can still walk though, and walk far. I can’t eat or drink everything I want to, but that will change once I either switch to peritoneal dialysis (with the abdominal catheter), or I get a kidney transplant.
And speaking of transplants, I am on the deceased donor list. But my blood type is B-positive, and the organ donor list for the nation estimates that’s about an 8-year wait for me to get a cadaver kidney. So I’m hoping my wife can be a living donor. She’s gone through all the testing (which takes about three months) and we’re waiting to see if she’s approved. It’s a long, arduous process to get tested, but she’s stuck through it, both of us hoping she can give me the biggest gift I can think of - life.
We’re all born with two kidneys, and it turns out we can live on one. With the help of the dialysis machine, you can live on none, although it’s not a life I would recommend for anyone.
If my wife doesn’t work out, I don’t know what I’ll do. I wouldn’t know who to ask – most of my immediate family members are ineligible due to other health reasons. I don’t want to borrow trouble though - I’ll just cross that bridge when I get there.