One kidney doing what it is supposed to do

icemantoo
icemantoo Member Posts: 3,361 Member
edited December 2015 in Kidney Cancer #1

I have been here in Florida 3 months so far. Now being followed by a  new Nephrologist who I just saw for a follow up visit.. My GFR is up a couple of points (good) to 49 and my Creatine down to 1.5 (also good).. Not too bad for a 72 year young guy with only 1 kidney left. Following  the Neph's advice on blood pressure, diet, weight and trying to keep my remaining Kidney heathy. Like all of the rest of us out there with 1 kidney, while our Kidney function may be lower than our 2 kidney brothers and sisters, we are here for the long run.

As is the case with most of us with 1 kidney and over 70 years young, our bloodwork says that we have Stage III CKD (Chronic Kidney Disease). So what, it is better than the alternative.

 

Even after we put Kidney Cancer in our rear view mirrors we must still take care of our remaining kidney or parts thereof. Right now I am 13 and 1/2 lucky years beyond my Neph. with no fear of the new challanges which lie ahead.

 

 

Icemantoo

Comments

  • Allochka
    Allochka Member Posts: 1,072 Member
    #2
    Iceman, your posts are always

    Iceman, your posts are always so inspiring and positive! Great t know your kidney is doing its duty :-)

    Do you miss any snow in Florida, especially at Christmas time?

  • Jan4you
    Jan4you Member Posts: 1,330 Member
    #3
    Allochka said:

    Iceman, your posts are always

    Iceman, your posts are always so inspiring and positive! Great t know your kidney is doing its duty :-)

    Do you miss any snow in Florida, especially at Christmas time?

    Iceman, you had me at

    Iceman, you had me at "florida" for last 3 months...

    Thanks for the update and good for you!

    Happy Hugs, Jan

  • mrou50
    mrou50 Member Posts: 389 Member
    #4
    Good News

    Ice it sounds like good news, you are right about babysitting our one good kidney I try to make sure I take good care of it.  I would feel stupid if since I have stage IV cancer that I neglected my remaining kidney and died from that.  

     

    On a side not when they took my left kidney I asked the surgeon to save it for me.  My surgeon asked me why I said, well I was thinking about putting it on craigslist for sale, you know slightly used kidney a bit of a fixer uppper.

  • foroughsh
    foroughsh Member Posts: 779 Member
    #5
    I'm happy that your remained

    I'm happy that your remained kidney works well. It's always good to read your positive posts.

    Forough

  • Stevewmass
    Stevewmass Member Posts: 37
    #6
    Great News. I’m, looking for tips
     I am looking for advice on living with less then one Kidney

    I lost about a quarter of the right Kidney to RCC clear cell in 2012, and now on Jan 20th
    I will be losing the entire left one to transitional cell carcinoma.

    I know that I need to lose weight, and keep my blood pressure under control.

    but after that I am clueless. 
  • Jojo61
    Jojo61 Member Posts: 1,309 Member
    #7
    Very inspirational, Iceman!

    Very inspirational, Iceman! And now, perhaps put a chunk of that ice in a margarita to celebrate - quite fitting in Florida, I think!

    And not to worry - we didn't have any snow at all up here this Christmas - I think it was the mildest weather ever on Christmas. One person actually said that he should re-open his pool! But we have some snow, now....very little of it. I would have rather been in Florida!

    And good for you Mark, with your good humor, as usual. You probably would have gotten a taker on that fixer-upper kidney!

    And Foxy, only the kidney of a 30 year old? I think also the mind and attitude of a 30 year old. Always young at heart and kicking a$$!

    Happy New/NED year all my dear friends! Wishing you all a new year filled with much good health, love and peace.

    Big hugs

    Jojo

    CHEERS!!

     

     

     

  • cakelady
    cakelady Member Posts: 63
    #8
    Stevewmass said:

    Great News. I’m, looking for tips

     I am looking for advice on living with less then one Kidney

    I lost about a quarter of the right Kidney to RCC clear cell in 2012, and now on Jan 20th
    I will be losing the entire left one to transitional cell carcinoma.

    I know that I need to lose weight, and keep my blood pressure under control.

    but after that I am clueless. 
    Diet...

    I've become a huge proponent of the Keto way of eating, which I originally started looking at when my son's friend lost 50 lbs in seven months doing nothing but eating keto.  After the RCC diagnosis for John, I got the .pdf of Neil's work and he advocated it for RCC.  After much more research, it sounded almost too good to be true, but you know we take what we can get for this, so I got both of us on it..

    John's diabetic.  Not out of control, but he was on low daily doses of glipizide and metformin.  He's off of both of those for weeks now and after two days in the hospital for his RN monday (he's resting, doing well), all his numbers and labs came back great. He's lost a good bit of weight, and while I realize some of it is cancer-related, I have too, and that's nothing but the keto.  I'm about to ditch a beloved pair of jeans because they're starting to fall off of me, literally.

    His remaining kiddle is functioning like a champ; just looking at his numbers, his doc said she'd think he still has two of 'em. He feels great all the time (hasn't started meds yet), and before the RN, he'd quit complaining about all his little random aches.  That's partially from losing weight, partially from losing the inflammatories in his food, I believe. I've found a bit of correlation information about the keto helping with side effects of cancer meds, too, so we're gonna find out!

    The thing with keto is that it makes you throw most of what you've ever heard about eating out the window, but with alllllllll the science to back it up.  It doesn't make you lose weight faster, but it's unbelievably easy to stick with because it keeps you full and satisfied.  I have him on a stricter version by way of no additives, preservatives, or fake stuff for as much as we can avoid.  Like bacon.  I eat regular bacon, but I buy him uncured because of the nitrites/nitrates in regular bacon- they're not good because they can be an inflammatory for a compromised immune system.  Same thing with Carageenan, which is HORRIBLE for your immune system, even though it's 'all natural'.  

     

    So that's my two cents... I hope you find something that works for you, whether keto or not.  Good luck in 2016!

  • Stevewmass
    Stevewmass Member Posts: 37
    #9
    cakelady said:

    Diet...

    I've become a huge proponent of the Keto way of eating, which I originally started looking at when my son's friend lost 50 lbs in seven months doing nothing but eating keto.  After the RCC diagnosis for John, I got the .pdf of Neil's work and he advocated it for RCC.  After much more research, it sounded almost too good to be true, but you know we take what we can get for this, so I got both of us on it..

    John's diabetic.  Not out of control, but he was on low daily doses of glipizide and metformin.  He's off of both of those for weeks now and after two days in the hospital for his RN monday (he's resting, doing well), all his numbers and labs came back great. He's lost a good bit of weight, and while I realize some of it is cancer-related, I have too, and that's nothing but the keto.  I'm about to ditch a beloved pair of jeans because they're starting to fall off of me, literally.

    His remaining kiddle is functioning like a champ; just looking at his numbers, his doc said she'd think he still has two of 'em. He feels great all the time (hasn't started meds yet), and before the RN, he'd quit complaining about all his little random aches.  That's partially from losing weight, partially from losing the inflammatories in his food, I believe. I've found a bit of correlation information about the keto helping with side effects of cancer meds, too, so we're gonna find out!

    The thing with keto is that it makes you throw most of what you've ever heard about eating out the window, but with alllllllll the science to back it up.  It doesn't make you lose weight faster, but it's unbelievably easy to stick with because it keeps you full and satisfied.  I have him on a stricter version by way of no additives, preservatives, or fake stuff for as much as we can avoid.  Like bacon.  I eat regular bacon, but I buy him uncured because of the nitrites/nitrates in regular bacon- they're not good because they can be an inflammatory for a compromised immune system.  Same thing with Carageenan, which is HORRIBLE for your immune system, even though it's 'all natural'.  

     

    So that's my two cents... I hope you find something that works for you, whether keto or not.  Good luck in 2016!

    Thanks

    I will check into it 

  • foxhd
    foxhd Member Posts: 3,181 Member
    #10
    foroughsh said:

    I'm happy that your remained

    I'm happy that your remained kidney works well. It's always good to read your positive posts.

    Forough

    Iceman??

    ..maybe that was while in Michagan. At best maybe a cooldude or sizzling senior. Happy New Year my friend!

    fortunately my GFR remains over 60 and creatinine is at .7  Just like a 20 yo with 2 good kidneys. I used to work with a nurse who got good ideas and pointed to her head and would say, "I used my kidney."

  • Pandabear1011
    Pandabear1011 Member Posts: 123 Member
    #11
    Happy New Year Iceman!

    Wish I was walking along the beach in Florida right now. It is cold today along the Gulf Coast of Texas. But, just wait a couple of days and we will be wearing shorts and flip flops again...:)...Congrats on the excellent creatinine at 1.5. Mine usually hangs out at 1.1 - 1.3. And, I am only 50. You're doing a great job of taking care of your kidney.

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