how would you know?

Texas_wedge said:

Kidney function

Yes, of course!!!!!  What on earth do you think the follow-up blood tests are for?  Eims, I think you've got a bit too hooked up on tattoos and forgotten what this forum is all about.  

Elms,   While the blood test can diagnos a reduction in Kidney function I would also include new or unusual pains in the midsection as well as high blood pressure which might lead the doctor to give an additional blood test.

Icemantoo.

Eims,

     I am now on a first name basis with my primary physician!  When I call they get me in as soon as possible and we will discuss what I am feeling and decide whether or not to run some tests.  If you  feel something amiss with your only good kidney, get to the doctors ASAP.  I have learned one thing from this sight, and that is, no is going to take care of you but you! A Doctor can't fix what you do not tell him about. CALL YOUR DOCTOR!

     Hope everything is ok, please let us know.

                                                     Love, prayers, and good health sent to you!

                                                      Brenda

Eims said:

thanks brenda...made an

thanks brenda...made an appointment today 

Hey Eims, 

I am so glad to hear you are going to the doctors. When did you last have a blood and urine check up?

Djinnie x

Djinnie said:

Concerned!

Hey Eims, 

I am so glad to hear you are going to the doctors. When did you last have a blood and urine check up?

 

Djinnie x

Eims, you could always take the ferry over here....  ya wanna be my umbrella girl..??     OK, so get the blood tests so you can rest more easily.

Ron

GSRon said:

Eims, you could always take

Eims, you could always take the ferry over here....  ya wanna be my umbrella girl..??     OK, so get the blood tests so you can rest more easily.

Ron

double post demon bit me.  Sorry lol

Eims, it was only after reading the replies you've received, ending with CC's in which he referred to GFR, but didn't elaborate, that a fact that should have been obvious suddenly dawned on me!  Members here are fairly much a cross-section of the general public, with all the variety that entails.  We come from all sorts of backgrounds, interests, occupations and levels of academic achievement.  Some of us have more time available, more experience in researching subjects and greater facility in using the wonders of modern technology.  But, beyond that, is a factor I hadn't attached enough weight to - motivation. 

For someone like yourself, with very little that you should be worried about, there isn't the same imperative to research and learn that there is for those of us who are close to death (which is a pretty strong motive for wanting to know the score, if your quality of life is good enough that you'd like to hang on to it for as long as possible!). 

It's all too easy for us in that category to forget that many here, and in particular most newcomers, have no reason to have learnt much of what we now take for granted.   Accordingly, a fuller answer to your question may be helpful for you and for a number of others lucky enough to be at the good end of the prognostic spectrum.

For all of us, both before and after nephrectomy and subsequent treatment, it's important to monitor the health and function of certain organs, the most important of which are our kidney and our liver and there are well-established and universally used tests for this purpose. We also need to know our heart is OK and we are monitored for blood pressure and heart rate as a matter of course, along with other indicators like the oxygen saturation of our blood.

The standard panel of blood tests includes key measures of liver health and function, such as levels of bilirubins and ALT, and measures that tell us about our kidney function - in particular our urea level and creatinine (not 'creatine' which is a favourite food supplement among bodybuilders, of which creatinine is a metabolite - a waste product from creatine, the rate of elimination of which gives an indication of the efficiency with which our kidney is working.

CC mentioned GFR which stands for glomerular filtration rate which is the kidney function measure derived, by a formula, from the levels of urea and creatinine showing up in our blood tests.  (The glomerulus is a ball of capillaries in the kidney that filters the blood and there are around a million glomeruli in each kidney). 

It's only an approximation, but a very useful one, which is calculated from our urea and creatinine levels, so it's termed the estimated glomerular filtration rate or eGFR. 

If you keep an eye open, you'll see many folks here referring to their latest eGFR and so what they're talking about is the efficiency of their remaining kidney(s).   As we get older most functions (as you'll discover in another forty or fifty years time) tend to fall off and GFR is one.  There are loads of youTube videos on GF but most of them are pretty boring.  A website that's not too bad is

http://www.renal.org/whatwedo/InformationResources/CKDeGUIDE/AbouteGFR.aspx

which will tell you quite a bit about kidney function and health.  An eGFR of less than 15 means you're a candidate for dialysis, 15 - 30 is not too good and you'll need to be carefully watched (it's classified as stages 4 & 5 of CKD (chronic kidney disease) while 30-59 is stage 3 and over 60 is stages 1 and 2).  [CKD is a silly misnomer because it doesn't actually refer to disease but to efficiency of function.]

I  hope the above info is of some help or interest to you or maybe to someone else here.

It's been suggested, Eims, that you consult your doc about how you're feeling and that may be a good idea if it persists but it probably has no connection at all with your kidney.