One kidney left and diagnosed with chronic kidney disease

MikeK703

ams123 said:

Thank you Mike
I can't say I had this healthy lifestyle my whole life unfortunately. I grew up eating junk, smoking, etc. So who knows. We can't blame ourselves, we can only move forward from where we are. It is never too late to change, three years ago I started a healthy diet and took up running. I'm not fast, but I love races. My longest one was a half marathon.

You are not an old fart, and a kidney would not be wasted on you. You sound like a very caring, empathetic, loving middle aged man (ok, maybe the end of the middle age stage).

It's funny, I would a prefer a transplant over dialysis, the opposite of you. But I am hoping I never have to make that decision, and if I do it won't be for a long time. I am waiting for the results of my creatinine test - ugh, I hate waiting!

Linda

Chronic Kidney Disease and the Solitary Kidney (continued)
I have just returned from my second follow-up visit with my urologist/surgeon. Had a chest x-ray and will have the results probably sometime this week. My blood tests show that my creatinine/GFR readings have stabilized at 1.3/56. I asked him the all-important question -- is this normal for somebody who has had a kidney removed or do I have, as my nephrologist has diagnosed, chronic kidney disease (CKD). He is absolutely adamant in his earlier statement to me that this level of creatine (and higher) is normal after a kidney has been removed.

The urologist said that if the levels get worse then I could have CKD but they seem to have leveled off after peaking, the usual process for a healthy remaining kidney after a radical nephrectomy. I must continue to watch my blood pressure and make sure I don't develop diabetes because down the road they could cause kidney disease. He argued that if people who donated a kidney were told that they had CKD because their creatinine went up after surgery, nobody would donate a kidney. I asked if anybody with a good creatinine level stayed at their good level after surgery, he replied that some do, but they are usually very young people. He cited an 18-year-old as an example.

After 6 months of anxiety over this (certainly not conducive to full recovery), I am relieved. But it's not over yet. The urologist will email his opinion about this to my nephrologist, whom I have an appointment with later this month. Should be interesting.

ams123

MikeK703 said:

Chronic Kidney Disease and the Solitary Kidney (continued)
I have just returned from my second follow-up visit with my urologist/surgeon. Had a chest x-ray and will have the results probably sometime this week. My blood tests show that my creatinine/GFR readings have stabilized at 1.3/56. I asked him the all-important question -- is this normal for somebody who has had a kidney removed or do I have, as my nephrologist has diagnosed, chronic kidney disease (CKD). He is absolutely adamant in his earlier statement to me that this level of creatine (and higher) is normal after a kidney has been removed.

The urologist said that if the levels get worse then I could have CKD but they seem to have leveled off after peaking, the usual process for a healthy remaining kidney after a radical nephrectomy. I must continue to watch my blood pressure and make sure I don't develop diabetes because down the road they could cause kidney disease. He argued that if people who donated a kidney were told that they had CKD because their creatinine went up after surgery, nobody would donate a kidney. I asked if anybody with a good creatinine level stayed at their good level after surgery, he replied that some do, but they are usually very young people. He cited an 18-year-old as an example.

After 6 months of anxiety over this (certainly not conducive to full recovery), I am relieved. But it's not over yet. The urologist will email his opinion about this to my nephrologist, whom I have an appointment with later this month. Should be interesting.

Thanks for the update
From everything I have read it is normal for creatinine to be slightly elevated in someone who has one kidney, and it also goes up as we get older even if we have both kidneys. I was having a lot of anxiety because I had elevated creatinine levels (1.2 and I still have both kidneys), but then I had a creatinine clearance test and that came out normal, so both my nephrologist and my urology surgeon think I do not have kidney disease. Did you have a creatinine clearance test - it is a more reliable test than just the blood test. You should definitely watch your blood pressure and sugar intake to avoid hypertension and diabetes. My father had kidney failure from years and years of uncontrolled hypertension. Kidney cancer is enough, we don't need kidney disease as well!

Linda

ams123

MikeK703 said:

Chronic Kidney Disease and the Solitary Kidney (continued)
I have just returned from my second follow-up visit with my urologist/surgeon. Had a chest x-ray and will have the results probably sometime this week. My blood tests show that my creatinine/GFR readings have stabilized at 1.3/56. I asked him the all-important question -- is this normal for somebody who has had a kidney removed or do I have, as my nephrologist has diagnosed, chronic kidney disease (CKD). He is absolutely adamant in his earlier statement to me that this level of creatine (and higher) is normal after a kidney has been removed.

The urologist said that if the levels get worse then I could have CKD but they seem to have leveled off after peaking, the usual process for a healthy remaining kidney after a radical nephrectomy. I must continue to watch my blood pressure and make sure I don't develop diabetes because down the road they could cause kidney disease. He argued that if people who donated a kidney were told that they had CKD because their creatinine went up after surgery, nobody would donate a kidney. I asked if anybody with a good creatinine level stayed at their good level after surgery, he replied that some do, but they are usually very young people. He cited an 18-year-old as an example.

After 6 months of anxiety over this (certainly not conducive to full recovery), I am relieved. But it's not over yet. The urologist will email his opinion about this to my nephrologist, whom I have an appointment with later this month. Should be interesting.

Thanks for the update
From everything I have read it is normal for creatinine to be slightly elevated in someone who has one kidney, and it also goes up as we get older even if we have both kidneys. I was having a lot of anxiety because I had elevated creatinine levels (1.2 and I still have both kidneys), but then I had a creatinine clearance test and that came out normal, so both my nephrologist and my urology surgeon think I do not have kidney disease. Did you have a creatinine clearance test - it is a more reliable test than just the blood test. You should definitely watch your blood pressure and sugar intake to avoid hypertension and diabetes. My father had kidney failure from years and years of uncontrolled hypertension. Kidney cancer is enough, we don't need kidney disease as well!

Linda

MikeK703

ams123 said:

Thanks for the update
From everything I have read it is normal for creatinine to be slightly elevated in someone who has one kidney, and it also goes up as we get older even if we have both kidneys. I was having a lot of anxiety because I had elevated creatinine levels (1.2 and I still have both kidneys), but then I had a creatinine clearance test and that came out normal, so both my nephrologist and my urology surgeon think I do not have kidney disease. Did you have a creatinine clearance test - it is a more reliable test than just the blood test. You should definitely watch your blood pressure and sugar intake to avoid hypertension and diabetes. My father had kidney failure from years and years of uncontrolled hypertension. Kidney cancer is enough, we don't need kidney disease as well!

Linda

Clearance test
Thanks, Linda. If the nephrologist insists on his diagnosis despite the urologist's opinion, I will ask about that test. I had never heard of it.
Mike

DarrylPe

MikeK703 said:

Clearance test
Thanks, Linda. If the nephrologist insists on his diagnosis despite the urologist's opinion, I will ask about that test. I had never heard of it.
Mike

Good for you
Hi all. Great to hear your good news Mike . As for me I went to the renal dietitian about two weeks ago and she told me that she has seen patient's creatine level go up after surgery many times ,and she's confident that with a good diet I could possibly stablize my GFR. She placed me on a low protein diet of about 50-60 grams a day. I been spending alot of time on the Davita.com web site. They have great kidney friendly recipes and a good discussion room so I'm feeling alot better both physically and emotionally .
Good luck Linda.

God bless
Darryl

MikeK703

DarrylPe said:

Good for you
Hi all. Great to hear your good news Mike . As for me I went to the renal dietitian about two weeks ago and she told me that she has seen patient's creatine level go up after surgery many times ,and she's confident that with a good diet I could possibly stablize my GFR. She placed me on a low protein diet of about 50-60 grams a day. I been spending alot of time on the Davita.com web site. They have great kidney friendly recipes and a good discussion room so I'm feeling alot better both physically and emotionally .
Good luck Linda.

God bless
Darryl

Creatinine level
Hi Darryl,
According to what my urologist told me, the creatinine level could even double after a radical nephrectomy. It goes to its peak level, then drops back down somewhat to eventually level off, which is what yours did according to your earlier posting. Evidently, this rise in creatinine is something that happens more often than not after kidney removal, depending on age, so there's no reason to think that it's automatically going to get worse as long as we take care of ourselves. I'd bet that the worst is over for both of us.
God bless you too,
Mike

rachelkleypassparrow

Cerebral Palsy,CKD3, FATTY LIVER + CHRONIC PANCREATITIS

Hello, 

My name is Rachel. My health is complex and complicated. I have to fill you in with my history, and how I have had it given to me. I am in the UK. My doctors failed to tell me about the C.P., but gave other names for it. Now within three  months this is what I have been told:

This past year, I have been told I am facing Renal Failure through two bouts of Sepsis and one bout of Septiceamia. I have problems with Liver and Pancreas from a ruptured gallbladder in 1989. I have Scoliosis with oblique Pelvis with Osteoarthritis. I don't worry about my health to that degree, as I can't keep up with it. I do not get how the CKD3 is connected to cancer...I have not been told that my deformed shrivelled kidney is cancerous, but I do know something is wrong with the surviving kidney. 

No kidding, I have been told that I am facing renal failure, but not told fully why that is likely to happen, or if the kidney show signs of cancer?  My doctor told me that it is irreversible, but is not my fault. I have not quite understood why I will skip 4 and go straight to 5.

I have had kidney problems from my childhood. I have had health problems all my life. I am 52, and am just puzzled about the Cancer from CKD3. Can it metastases anywhere else in the body? I can't find enough information on it that clearly helps me understand it. I would appreciate any input, as my GP does not give me numbers relating to my kidney. I wondered if anybody could help me understand is having CKD3 or above is cancer? I have survived the above with my kidney, so I guess that makes me a survivor. 

Thank You

 

 

todd121

rachelkleypassparrow said:

Cerebral Palsy,CKD3, FATTY LIVER + CHRONIC PANCREATITIS

Hello, 

My name is Rachel. My health is complex and complicated. I have to fill you in with my history, and how I have had it given to me. I am in the UK. My doctors failed to tell me about the C.P., but gave other names for it. Now within three  months this is what I have been told:

This past year, I have been told I am facing Renal Failure through two bouts of Sepsis and one bout of Septiceamia. I have problems with Liver and Pancreas from a ruptured gallbladder in 1989. I have Scoliosis with oblique Pelvis with Osteoarthritis. I don't worry about my health to that degree, as I can't keep up with it. I do not get how the CKD3 is connected to cancer...I have not been told that my deformed shrivelled kidney is cancerous, but I do know something is wrong with the surviving kidney. 

No kidding, I have been told that I am facing renal failure, but not told fully why that is likely to happen, or if the kidney show signs of cancer?  My doctor told me that it is irreversible, but is not my fault. I have not quite understood why I will skip 4 and go straight to 5.

I have had kidney problems from my childhood. I have had health problems all my life. I am 52, and am just puzzled about the Cancer from CKD3. Can it metastases anywhere else in the body? I can't find enough information on it that clearly helps me understand it. I would appreciate any input, as my GP does not give me numbers relating to my kidney. I wondered if anybody could help me understand is having CKD3 or above is cancer? I have survived the above with my kidney, so I guess that makes me a survivor. 

Thank You

 

 

Your kidney is basically a really smart filter. It removes the bad stuff from your blood, but it also has very important roles in the regulation of blood pressure, Vitamin D production, and regulates the creation of new red blood cells (related to filtering out the dead ones), among other functions like keeping various eloctrolyte levels correct in your blood stream. It's a very important organ.

CKD and renal cancer are related this way: They find a tumor in one of your kidneys, so they remove one of your kidneys (or part of one of your kidneys). Now instead of 2 kidneys processing your blood, there's only 1. The way they measure kidney function is usually creatinine level (a simple blood test, this is really just an estimate of your kidney function) a better measure is GFR, but it's a complicated test. They usually do a test called an eGFR (estimated). Kidney function measurement is a complicated function of your gender, race, weight, and how much muscle you have in your body as a ratio of your overall rate (it's mainly this last part, that makes the race/gender the issue).

Normal kidney function is defined by a creatinine blood level roughly of 0.6 to 1.2, above 1.2 indicates your kidney(s) isn't(arent) keeping up. Larger numbers are bad.

Before I had cancer my creatinine was 1.1. After I had my right kidney removed, it's been in the 1.6-1.8 range. They define that has CKD Stage 3.

Masses in your kidney like can decrease your kidney function as can damage to the filtration due to high blood pressure. There's a feedback also, that as your kidneys get damaged, it tends to increase your blood pressure.

Hope that explains it to some level. I may have made mistakes somewhere in here. I'm not a doctor. This is just stuff I've picked up since getting kidney cancer.

Todd

 

todd121

Nephrectomy and CKD

It's very common to be diagnosed with Stage 3 CKD after a total nephrectomy.

Personally, I see a nephrologist regularly. I've found they understand this better than any of my other doctors and I trust my nephrologist to help me manage this. My GP gave me BP meds, but the types he gave me caused me to have odd symptoms and didn't seem to work very well. My nephrologist advised me that in my case she suggested lisinopril that it can actually help protect kidney function in the long term. This medication helped me a lot. It kept my BP lower without weird side effects. She did advise to measure my creatinine before starting and after starting the medication. She said that lisinopril can cause short term increases in creatinine, but that it's expected to be a good tradeoff for long term kidney function.

After I had my adrenal gland removed, I ended up not needing BP medication any longer. (I had a met to my adrenal gland which was left when my kidney was removed. So now I have 1 kidney and 1 adrenal gland). My bp normalized after losing one of my adrenals. Nobody knows why, but I'm glad for it.

Todd

davann

creatinine level

Dear DarrylPe

My dad has the same problems as yours. After one kidney removal , his creatinine level keeps rising up dramatically from 1.9-3.5 within 3 months. and his EGFr is 26 now. we are seeing our nephrologist in the next 3 months. can you update me how is your condition now?

 

Davann