The Kidney Swells

So, I was in the hospital receiving IV fluids to help hydrate me. I had also been passing blood from my kidneys for the last week and was therefore quite anemic. So, during my first three days in the hospital, I received four units of blood. (On an interesting note, I found out that I have the A Positive blood type). Unfortunately for me, my infected cystic kidney was not doing well at all.

My creatinine level had dropped from 9.4 when I was admitted in the hospital to about 8.0. This is not a good level for creatinine (since 1.0 is normal). My kidneys were not faring well at all, sadly.

It seems that some of the infected cysts, instead of just being in pain, were actually be a problem. Your kidney is supposed to filter out excess fluid and waste from your blood stream. My cysts were bleeding into each other, causing the kidney to swell up. And, as the IV fluids and blood was being put into me, it helped my kidney swell very quickly. By Wednesday, my abdomen was severely distended, and they stopped the blood and cut the fluid input to barely a maintenance dose (to keep me from being dehydrated).

The nephrologist talked to me Saturday morning (the 4th) and said that he thought that my left kidney would need to be removed. He conferred with a surgeon and they agreed. The only way to help me have any chance of recovering was going to be to remove the entire kidney. This didn't sound like good news, but it was certainly better than the alternative.