GFR Question for you guys

GSRon said:

Hi Don..!

I will gladly chime in here.. Yes you have reduced Kidney function.. as expected..   55 is not bad, not bad at all.. same with the 1.38 Creatnine number.  No not perfect, but you are no longer "whole"..  My GFR has been between 41 and 48 for the last almost two years.  Two weeks ago I tanked to 36.. booo...   My Creatnine varies from 1.6 to 1.9 post surgery. I am not allowed any Contrast with my scans with such low numbers..   But this is OK.. I think too many worry  about the lack of contrast..  Since I always get scanned at the same place, they KNOW what to look for..  and trust me they found the little buggers before they were 100% sure they were Mets.

OK so you want to know the rest of the GFR stuff...  basically watch it... if it drops a little bit still no worry.. sound the alarm if it gets in to the 30's. Should it get to the low 20's then worry..!  Around / below 20 and most likely you get to find out what Dialysis is all about.  That said, I doubt you will have any issues.  I happen to have two cysts in my remaining Kidney and I suspect one or both may be growing.. either that or..??

Now, I am sure you know that WATER is your best pal...  SALT and SUGAR are the enemy...  Foods that make your Kidney work hard need to be monitored / reduced.  I had a great session with a Dietician... she basically told me..  more Water, watch the red meat.   

Also, look at your entire blood test results... look for any high or low numbers...  You may need to limit one type of food and increase another...  I suggest you trend your blood tests from as far back as you can.  This will help with you watching things in case something changes.  Do NOT just rely on your Doctor doing it for you...  Mine missed the 10 point drop in GFR... booo...  Glad I found it..!

Hang in there..!

Ron

Actually, GSRON eased some of my fears.  I am unable to have contrast...my GFR is usually 36-40 range.  I have worried that any mets would not be picked up without the use of contrast.  Especially any bone mets, as I have back pain that is not helped by muscle relaxers.  But I just had a CT 3 months ago and it was clear.  After reading your post, I feel better that it would likely be seen.

CR

NanoSecond said:

Bone Mets

Hi CR.

Have you undergone a full-body nuclear bone scan?  This is not the same as a CT or MRI. It is the best way to make sure that you do not have any bone mets anywhere in your body.

No, I haven't with the kidney cancer.  I did with the breast cancer, but that was over 5 years ago, and a PET scan 4 years ago.  I see my doctor on Monday, after my chest x-ray, and I plan on bringing it up to him.  I was just trying to ease my mind until then.  Do they still use the contrast with the bone scan, regardless of numbers?  I'm guessing yes?

Thanks!

CR

Don:

it has been 18 months since your surgery and clean scans; have you had any medication or other treatment?

My husband's creatinine was 1.3 last week but I don't know what the GFR is. 

Since he had 2 mets when dx, he is stage 4; his oncologist is hopeful after 2 clean scans but cautious as well.

Sarah

adman said:

follow up thought.....

 

To be clear, [ I think ] 'My Onc' was saying that she was concerned that my eGFR/ Creatinine had dropped like it has in such a short period of time. Not that the 'new' number isn't ok [ as long ] as it doesn't continue to drop.

She did say that [she] would not give me contrast at my current level - Creatinine 1.25, which did surprise me a little since I do read many posts on this board and it appears that several people have said they 'do take' contrast & their #'s appear to even be lower than mine. 

Thoughts?

 

adman,

I just went through a year of having my blood work done every 6 weeks (said months in earlier post, meant weeks!), and my creatinine varied from 1.56 to 1.83 up and down each time. It was lower the more water I drank before the test. I think a variation of 0.12 from time-to-time is nothing.

On my blood work, anything under 1.3 was considered normal for persons with 2 kidneys. Before I had my kidney removed, I was having creatinine readings in the 1.1-1.2 range. It's my understanding 1.0 is "perfect" function with 2 kidneys.

My oncologist uses 1.5 as the cutoff. He said I have to have creatinine below 1.5 to get contrast. I suppose it's good to be safe, but if below 1.3 is normal function for someone with 2 kidneys, I don't understand why you couldn't have the contrast with 1.2.

On the other hand, where did I go to medical school?

Todd

Creatinine was 1.15 from this weeks blood test.

Scans are tomorrow. Still only 1/2 contrast.