Taking a Look at Nephropathy

Do you know someone who is or was gravely affected by a disease? I do. My brother, Billy, was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes (T1D) when I was 10 years old. When we first realized that he was not feeling okay, we were at school when one of my friends’ mom noticed and told my mom. Before this incident, I was irresponsible and did not pay much attention to anyone other than myself.

Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is a worldwide problem that is currently three times higher for African Americans, Hispanics, Pacific Islanders, American Indians and seniors (The National Kidney Foundation, 2013). CKD occurs when the kidneys are damaged by a pathogen or injury and they can no longer adequately maintain proper levels of regulated chemicals in the bloodstream. There are many risk associated with CKD. According to the National Kidney Foundation, two of the major risks are Chronic Renal Failure (CRF) and Cardiovascular Disease. Currently twenty million American adults have CKD and millions of others are at increased risk. Age has no barrier on getting CKD. People with pre-existing health issues, and a part of certain population

I was diagnosed with chronic kidney disease, a diagnosis that I didn’t fully understand at the time. It is a chronic illness that completely changed my life and that transformed my professional

Twelve hospital stays, nine surgeries, and fourteen years later, you would think this patient and his family would have had enough hospital stays for a lifetime. He grew up with type I diabetes, which later put stress on his kidneys causing them to fail. He desperately needed a kidney transplant. The patient is my dad and I was just the little girl in the hospital room watching it all.

blood count indicates anemia due to decreased production of erythropoietin (Castner, 2010). A CT scan or MRI can evaluate the anatomy and function of the kidneys to help determine the cause and stage of the disease. A renal biopsy may also be performed. These diagnostic tests determine the progression of the disease. There are five stages of chronic kidney disease. The treatment plan depends on the stage of the disease. If it is diagnosed in stage one, the patient and physician can work to treat the contributing factors and slow the progression of the disease. By the fifth stage the patient is on dialysis, needs a transplant, or in the most severe cases is in hospice care (Castner, 2010).

Mark is a four year old male who has been diagnosed with chronic renal failure. Mark has two older brothers, John and Max. His mom, Carol, is a teacher at the local elementary school. His dad, Mike, is a community police officer. Mark goes to preschool from 0800-1200 four days a week. They live in a rural community in small four bedroom house with their dog, Bruno. Everyone in the community seems close and supportive. Both Mark’s older brothers caught strep throat at school and then Mark caught it. The strep wasn’t treated for two weeks as his mother thought his symptoms were allergies. Mark was in the clinic with his mom with symptoms of decreased urine output, rusty colored urine, and swelling of the abdomen. The doctor diagnosed him

Austin State University continued their qualitative study we surveyed a total of 7 family members who has a family member on kidney dialysis. The purpose of the family members survey was to target the advantages and disadvantages that kidney dialysis had placed upon their lives and their loved ones. Within this survey there were 2 Caucasian participants, male and female ranging between the ages of 25-40 years old, 4 African American participants 2 females and 2 males ranging between the ages of 25- 40 and 45-60 years old, and 1 Hispanic male ranging between the ages of 45-50. Each participant shared their personal experience with the

Diabetic Nephropathy often begins with hyperglycemia due to an increase of osmotic pressure (William & Hopper, 2011). It then leads to cell expansion and an increase in glomerular filtration rate or (GHR) (William & Hopper, 2011). Thus, kidneys will then receive less blood supply due to atherosclerosis of blood vessels (William & Hopper, 2011). Protein then will leak into the urine due to the capillaries in the glomerular thickining (William & Hopper, 2011). Theses patients most often have problems completely emptying the bladder of urine (William & Hopper, 2011). Most often they will report massive edema and nephrotic syndrome due to the high levels of protein in the urine (William & Hopper, 2011). The patient at this

My first patient was a sweet man that lived in a nursing home. With his wife living 30 minutes away, he got lonely. He loved classic mystery novels, but his eyesight didn’t allow him to read the small print on his own. Most of my visits with him were spent reading those novels to him. He was always appreciative of the time I spent with him, even if he accidentally fell asleep. I had a total of 3 patients with Legacy, but with him I learned the importance of honest communication in the health care system. After some time struggling with his prognosis, he decided to stop dialysis. His wife explained to me that he made the decision on his own. She was angry that they weren’t informed on how horrible a death it would be. The doctor told them that

I actually don't consider old age is as sickness/ disease. It is a natural progression. There are old people who are healthy, and there younger people who are critically sick. Old age is not the case in all aspects of health care prioritization. In Great Britain, however, there is an age limit to get dialysis treatment when it comes to End Stage Renal Disease (ESRD). I think it's all about resource allocations. let us say that you have two ESRD patients who are 20 years old and 90 years old and you want to treat both of them. But, you only have a resource to give dialysis treament for one person, so for whom you use the resource? . I will defenately pay for the 20 years old young man for two reasons 1) The young person has not lived long enough

I distinctly recall the day I found out that my cousin was ill and in need of a kidney transplant. It was November 2, 2014. As I hurried through the grocery store after work to purchase something to cook for dinner that evening, I received a call from my cousin. As I answered the phone, I could hear my cousin sniffling on the other end. I knew immediately something was wrong. I could hear the despair in Tiara’s voice as she began to tell me the world –shattering diagnosis she was given just a few short hours earlier. Tiara had been diagnosed with End-stage kidney failure, also known as ESRD. ESRD occurs when one or both kidneys are no longer able to function at the necessary level for life. I tried to remain calm for her even though my heart was breaking for my younger cousin. This was one of the worse bits of news that I have ever received. I unsuccessfully tried to comfort her with warm words of reassurance. I remember feeling hopeless

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) 2010, 10% of adults in the United States have chronic kidney disease (CKD). That is estimated at about 20 million people. People with CKD may not feel any symptoms in the early stages, so treatment most likely has not been started. When a person often finds out they are in need of treatment, they may already be in kidney failure or end stage renal disease (ESRD). This paper will discuss the reimbursement mechanisms presented in the Sullivan article, the economics of providing ESRD treatment from the organization's point of view, patients options and potential trade-offs related to cost, quality, and access to

Mr. Armstrong has a history of renal insufficiency and uncontrolled hypertension, along with symptoms of fatigue, pedal edema, and occasional shortness of breath. He does not have a history of trauma or obstruction to his kidneys, but his creatinine and BUN levels are currently at 3.5 mg/dl and 40 mg/dl. Normal creatinine concentration values are 0.7 to 1.2 mg/dl and normal BUN values are 10 to 20 mg/dl; this reveals that Mr. Armstrong’s kidneys are not removing wastes properly (McCance, Huether, Brashers, & Rote, 2014).  Mr. Armstrong’s history of renal insufficiency and uncontrolled hypertension is commonly found in patients diagnosed with intrarenal (intrinsic) acute renal failure. Intrarenal acute renal failure can be categorized as

All the forms of diabetes have chronic hyperglycemia as common symptom which leads to the development of many of diabetes-specific disorders. These include microvascular disorders (due to the damage to small blood vessels) affecting vessels of retina, renal glomerulus, peripheral nerve and/or accelerated atherosclerotic macrovascular disorders (due to damage to larger blood vessels) affecting arteries that supply the heart, brain and lower extremities (Fowler, 2011). The microvascular pathologies make diabetes a leading cause of blindness, end-stage renal disease and a variety of unbearable neuropathies (Control et al., 1993; Turner et al., 1998).

Kidney diseases are one of the major concerns in the USA and with this, thousands of Americans currently on the national waiting list for a deceased donor. Patients can wait for years to find a compatible donor, and for the more sensitized patients the waiting is long. For sensitized patient the transplantation is a nightmare, because even if they find a living donor candidate willing to give away a kidney, the recipient may not be able to receive the transplant due to the incompatibility of their donors. The shortage of kidney and many other organs for transplantation is the key factor that prolongs the waiting time, which is up to 5 years, and some patients may never receive the an organ. The shortage of deceased donors increased the demand of live- donors, which can be from a family member if lucky. However, not everybody has that opportunity to get it from a sibling and the demand from non- relative donors have increased even if they are a positive cross match or HLA incompatible (1). In Kidney transplant the best possible donor is one whose HLA is very closely matched to the recipient that would make it more likely for the transplant to work and not being rejected. The closer the family member the better options it would have the recipient to have a more compatibility with the donor and this is because HLA markers are passed on from parents to their kids with a 50% chance to match and 25% chance of matching for brothers and sisters. Reducing the mismatch HLA antigens