How We Almost Lost Her

It was about five years ago when my mom was diagnosed of having a chronic kidney disease (CKD).

How it was first discovered:
Due to severe stomach pain, she was brought to the Villasis Polymedic Hospital and Trauma Center for medical attention. Upon checking her vital signs, her blood pressure and blood sugar were both very high. She was then admitted to the hospital for further laboratory tests. Then came the blood test results: creatinine level and blood urea nitrogen (bun) were both beyond the normal values. This signals that her kidneys are not functioning well. We decided to transfer her to Makati Medical Center. There were two considerations: a) one of the best hospitals and b) very close to where I live during that time.

What were the findings?
It took about two days to complete the series of laboratory tests, kidney ultrasound and 24 hour urine collection. The next morning, Dr. Tambunting, her nephrologist, has visited us in our room.
These were her words (as far as I can recall) spoken in a very soft tone, "How are you? Your kidneys are are only functioning less than 20%, you are now at stage 4 CKD, and will be requiring soon a hemodialysis. I want you to talk with your family about this. We were all very shocked, it was a jaw dropping incident. The room was then flooded with tears. We were advised to go home for a while and get back to the hospital for a medical procedure in preparation for her dialysis. At home, it wasn't easy. We were all in stage of denial. Not so long, she become weaker. She cannot manage to stand on her own. We decided to bring her back to the hospital.

The procedure:  
Dialysis needs to be performed immediately, Dr. Tambunting said. In order this to happen, there should be an access for a large volume of blood. In my Mom's case a plastic catheter was inserted through her femoral vein. The procedure was painless. She had her first hemodialysis. This catheter can be used for a short period of time. An access that can be used for years has to be created. AV fistula is not feasible for my mom so we opted for an AV graft. Dr. Gisbert did the procedure very well. It was used after three days.

Mom and my sister Olga in one of her dialysis session.

 How we almost lost her:
It took as awhile to encourage her to undergo the procedure. Initially, she has chosen to die.
But God has a purpose in putting these things to happen. To this date, she is now enjoying life with her grandchildren. Thanks to God and to the advancement of medical science. We survived, emotionally and financially.  

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