pieces of me...: chronic kidney disease

defined as a progressive loss of the renal function. The symptoms of worsening kidney function are unspecific, and might include feeling generally unwell and experiencing a reduced appetite.
my dad's condition was asymptomatic, which basically means that he was experiencing no symptoms at all. it started when he had a routine check up for his asthma at ust. the pulmonologist (Dr. Patrick Moral) checked his blood pressure and noted that it was a bit too high. fearing he may have high blood, the doctor ordered a blood test done. that was april last year. so, we had it done and when he saw the results, he referred us to an internist (a nephrologist) to have it checked. he said my dad's creatinine was way above the normal levels. so, we went to Dra. Elizabeth Roasa and when she saw the results, she ordered another cbc tests, and some other test. when she saw the new results, she asked whether my dad has diabetes, or if he has high blood. i didn't think he has hiogh blood since we always monitor his bp at home. for diabetes, he didn't have it because we also had his glucose checked. so, she told me that my dad has Stage 5 Chronic Kidney Disease. she said that if we didn't have him dialysed, the condition will become worse. since my mom isn't here, i cannot make any decisions in her behalf. so, we called her and we told her about the diagnosis. she refused to have him dialysed because a fistula had to be inserted in his veins. she thought that it may hurt him and she also said that once a dialysis was started, it is a continuous process and the only way to stop it is to undergo a kidney transplant. so, we told dra. roasa my mom's decision, and she referred us to another nephrologist at st. luke's. we went there and we met Dra. Alicia Baldonado. she reviewed more tests and she also recommended a dialysis because of dad's creatinine levels. we asked if there are other alternatives to delay the dialysis. she said we can try medication first. so, every month, we go to dra. baldonado's clinic so we could monitor his creatinine levels.
my dad went through a lot of tests, renal panel, ulrtrasound, a lot of blood tests, glucose tests, and urinalysis. he was given a special diet. for some reason, his creatinine levels weren't going down.
so he went on medication for almost a year. then just this month, he was given medication that was supposed to boost his hemoglobin levels. it was injectible, and we were told the first shot was supposed to be given by his doctor. so, my sister was supposed to go with him to dra. baldonado's clinic, but then my brother told me that dad vomited while he was preparing to go to the hospital. we rushed him to the emergency room in ust hospital last tuesday afternoon and his doctor in st. luke's told us to immediately confine him. we were told we shouldn't delay the dialysis any more. we had to make the decision within 24 hours. we had to call mom right after she woke up. we were told that if we did not give any consent for the dialysis, they couldn't do anything about dad's condition.

so we decided that almost a year of medication is enough since it wasn't improving his condition.

he was confined on march 10, my brother's birthday. he had to celebrate his birthday on my dad's hospital bed. he ordered yellow cab new york's finest.

ny finest (with extra cheese) for us..

chicken nuggets for dad

since my dad couldn't eat pizza, my brother ordered mcdonald's chicken nuggets for him.

he was confined on march 10 and since his hemoglobin level was too low, he went through a blood transfusion. just a bag of blood was used.

the following day (march 11) a procedure was done on the operating room. a catheter was inserted into his mjor vein in his neck. it is supposed to make the dialysis easier. they called it hemodialysis.

then in the afternoon, his first dialysis session was started. we went to the ust dialysis center to have it done.

this was my dad during his first dialysis session. the tube close to the monitor is the filter which is used to filter the blood coming out of his body.