My Kidney disease- some final thoughts pre-op

Earlier this week I had an interesting email conversation with Dr. Rodby (RR), my earlier nephrologist, before Dr. Dodhia.  I was telling him how I had successfully avoided dialysis and went straight to a transplant.  Mind you, this was Dr. RR's goal for me 3+ years ago when he asked me to get on RUSH's transplant List.   He had also told me that CKD always worsens with time, even when my creatinine was around 3. So here's what Dr. RR had to say to me:


"wow, you (we) did bypass the need for dialysis.

your experience is unique and you must appreciate that this was a function of your diligence, my open-mindedness, incredible communication, and a bit of luck.

While you can promote these factors (who wouldn’t, it is like promoting world peace) in the end it wouldn't work for most folks and encouraging avoiding dialysis may not be in many’s best interest if any one of these factors is not 100% as it was in our case. "

I realized the truth in his statement.  Most folks with CKD are not so fortunate.  I could not have reached this stage without the support at home from my wife, Sridevi, without her customized meal preparation catering to the 'renal' diet; making sure I take my meds on time, and the soothing effect she had on me to stay focused on what I needed to do that day.  When Dr. RR talks about 'diligence' it's not me alone-it is Sridevi and my close and concerned friends circle (a.k.a the chaddi group) who always looked out after my diet limits at gatherings- a collective diligence that helped. 

I wish to thank Dr. RR for his open-mindedness and trusting me and treating me based on the data points observed at the 10s of blood draws.  He would educate me on the purpose of each new medicine that would get added.  We have exchanged over 200 emails, 10s of text messages and even had phone consults to avoid the long drive into Chicago's downtown traffic.  Often his responses would be very cryptic but then it was a matter of tuning.

My parents from India were always encouraging me to stay positive and never bugged me too much.  Their support from afar was equally necessary.

Finally, and most importantly, my brother -Rajesh, without whose relentless and timely follow-up with his investigations made everything fall in place conveniently.  No material value can be placed on his generosity of donating a kidney.  I am also thankful to my sister-in-law, Ishita, and niece, Saniya, for all the support they gave Rajesh during this process.  All this might be the 'bit of luck' that Dr. RR alludes to.


In short, I feel avoiding dialysis has not been simple.  It was a collaborative effort.  However, this is not impossible.  In a few days after my surgery I will post a 'top ten' list of what would be important to make this possible.

For now I move on to UW for my pre-op appointments on Dec 9th and the transplant surgery on Dec 10th.