I Explore My Journey With You!- Writing Challenge - Day #2
Hello Friends
Skip below if you have read Day #1.
I have been slacking on my posting lately. More so I’ve been focusing on commenting and resteeming great content. So, with that I have decided to challenge myself! I am going to attempt to write a short series of posts, hopefully one a day, if not oh well! Not much of challenge for you regulars, but for me a challenge non the less. Not sure how many posts this will be, but for the next week I am going to tell you my story of how my wife and I ended up in the lifestyle we have been currently living for the past 4 years. And what continues to lead us through this lifestyle. Looking back this was an epic journey to where we are today. The purpose of this is for you to find inspiration that making changes in your life can have a huge impact of where you are today. I hope you find this useful and insightful. Thank you for stopping by and as always Enjoy and Explore!
This is a continuation of how I evolved to the lifestyle I live today. Please read Day #1 Post first!
The Story Continues – Day #2
As the Doctor came into the room, Amber and I impatiently waited the previous 4 hours for the Doctor’s news, which was not what we were expecting.
Your cat scan came up negative, but we have concerns in your blood results.
Amber’s Creatinine level was 2.0. Normal range would be 0.6 to 1.1 for females. Creatinine is a chemical that is found in your blood when it cannot be released through the function of the kidneys. With Amber’s Creatinine level at 2.0 and at her age (at the time 25) her kidney glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) was at 32. Normal range is 90 and above. With her eGFR level at 32, this puts her in Stage 3B Chronic Kidney Disease which a moderate to severe decrease in kidney function. Two stages from failure.
Here’s a short video explanation:
After being released from the ER, we didn’t say too much to each and continued the rest of our day and headed to the hardware store as planned. Shopping around the store, having not the slightest idea why we were there, Amber talked on the phone with her sister. I remind you her sister has multiple issues including stage 4 chronic kidney disease. She also acts like a know it all doctor sometimes. Who am I kidding, all the time! We still love her though!
Walking around aimlessly for an hour or so, Amber finally catches up with me in one of the aisles. I can tell she is physically and mental exhausted and upset. Before she even gets a word out, she losing all emotional control. I can’t imagine what words her sister said, but I embraced the love of my life and reminded her, her sister is not a Doctor and we are going to get to the bottom of this and figure it out. Knowing Amber, the scary thoughts of the unknown spiral through her head. Talk about feeling helpless…
The next month Amber went for an ultrasound to see if any structural problems were the cause. You can see from the results below, there were no signs of concern other than small cysts and irregular shaped right kidney.
So, we sit here not having a definitive answer to why Amber's Kidney function is so low and not getting any better. Through the next 9 months, Amber had a blood panel down 8 times. Each test coming back with slightly elevated creatinine level and a low eGFR. Seeing her doctors on a consistent basis, we still didn't have any answers and now it has become a monitoring game....
To Be Continue...
Stay tuned for the next post on the continuation of how my wife and I got to the lifestyle we live now. If you like to support my efforts here for this week much love to you!! Whatever these posts earn, we will be donating the USD equivalent to our favorite Farm Sanctuary. Tamerlaine Farm Animal Sanctuary.
I do like these small video clips you keep posting @iexplore! I tend to not read into stuff I'm not totally interested in or have knowledge about but with it being short and simple I actually find it interesting and gain some knowledge on a topic I otherwise would have never looked into/thought about!
I am glad you can find knowledge from this. My intention was to keep these short little stories for the reader to follow along. It makes it worth it knowing a reader has benefited from it. Thanks!
Damn these onions! I should not cut them while reading your posts.
I hear and read about these lab values all the time but never really put much thought into it. Now I realize how important they are.
They definitely are important...The frustrating part is having no answers from the professionals of what the underlying cause maybe...Stay tuned...
It's hard to figure out easily I guess because of the similarity of symptoms of diseases. I can understand your frustration because I have had experiences with friends and family members who were hospitalized because of illnesses that is difficult to figure out the cause of.
It was extremely frustrating. And with kidney issues and autoimmune diseases running in the family, the doctors just dismissed it to that as a root cause. But not once any suggestions on moving forward with stopping the disease.
How scary. All this going on a not knowing whats going on. Heading on over to read part 3!
Thanks @newbieresteemday!!! Yes, we were really lost for that year. Just not knowing....But we had hope that at least it wasn't getting worse!