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When the diagnosis became clear, it was too late.
The woman recalls that doctors suspected her kidney function at an early age, when she was 17 years old. About 1 g of protein was found in the urine, which should be practically non-existent. The girl was hospitalized, examined, but found nothing – the kidneys were absolutely healthy.
“Maybe he didn’t tell me clearly, or maybe I didn’t understand that this problem should be taken seriously. Since I felt good at the time, I forgot. I lived an active lifestyle, flying a lot to the United States, where I studied cosmetic dentistry. My legs were very swollen after the flight, but I thought it was the fault of the long flight. I had a headache, but I “dismissed” it for overstretching and changing time zones. Finally, I started to feel so bad that I went to the doctor. My high blood pressure was about 200 and I was only between 36 and 37. Until then, it was not even thought that headaches could be caused by high blood pressure.
Studies have shown that such high blood pressure is a consequence of kidney failure. I was diagnosed with an autoimmune disease that reduced kidney function, leading to an increase in blood pressure. However, high blood pressure in turn damages the kidneys and further damages them. Then a closed harmful circle has formed and it is not clear how long I have lived in it ”, said the interlocutor.
Ingrida did not give up: she changed her diet, used various natural methods to cleanse the blood, because the body is contaminated with toxins due to kidney problems, she used many different herbs, she starved for 25 days in three months, but nothing helped. On the contrary, with increased kidney activity, more health ailments appeared: nausea, general weakness, itchy skin.
Personal album photo / Ingrida Ivancė
“They offered me hemodialysis, which requires me to go to a medical center three times a week and spend a few hours there. As long as I could, I avoided it in every way until a doctor offered me peritoneal dialysis, in which a fistula is implanted in the abdomen, through which a special solution is injected, and filtration is done through the peritoneum. That fluid needs to be changed 2-3 times a day, but then you’re not tied to a dialysis center, you can work. I did peritoneal dialysis during the break and it felt great, “the woman recalled.
The second life was given by the mother.
When it turned out that only a transplant could return Ingrid to normal life, her parents decided to donate her kidneys. However, there was a problem: she and the blood groups of both parents were incompatible, and in Lithuania at that time a kidney transplant was not performed in the presence of incompatible blood groups. However, Ingrida was lucky: Lithuanian doctors were already ready for such an operation and offered to become their first patient.
“I am for progress across the board and I am brave enough to agree. I thought, why not me? My parents were determined to donate my kidney to me, and when you get an organ from a close relative, it is a lot. the body is more likely not to reject it, and psychologically, this situation is much more comfortable than waiting for a dead kidney.
An organ can also be expected to work better if it is from a living donor, because then it is transplanted immediately, it does not need to be transported. So while I was on dialysis my parents and I had organ compatibility tests. It turned out that he was better with his mother, he agreed with more than 90% ”, continued the interlocutor.
Asked with what emotions she accepted this gift, Ingrida assured her trusting mother’s intuition. Long before the transplant, the mother woke up once in the middle of the night with the very clear perception that she was the one who should donate the kidney to her daughter, not to anyone else.
“I am very grateful to my mother for her second life, but intuitively I felt that it should have been. Although the surrounding opinions were of all kinds. She was 65 at the time. And when he told his doctors that he was giving me a kidney, the doctor commented: “There will be two disabled of one disabled.” I do not know where that attitude is, instead of supporting another person, helping them, trying to “settle” them, lamented the interlocutor. that she is no less grateful to the doctors who treated and supported her.
Photo from personal album / Ingrida Ivancė with her mother
A miracle happened when he stopped fighting
And how did she herself receive the news that she had lost a kidney, without which she would unfortunately not survive?
“I have been meditating for many years and that saves me. Meditation helps you stay calm in a stressful situation and help you not be afraid. I think that, above all, you should be afraid of the same fear that surrounds you and makes you make irrational decisions. Therefore, I tried not to get caught up in negative emotions and thoughts about what will happen now, but to see the situation more broadly. Although, I admit, it was not easy.
When I first saw the transplanted woman, I saw her as a museum exhibit. I asked her everything and she told me: “You will be disabled for the rest of your life, you will never be able to work again and you will not leave the sick.”
It certainly didn’t inspire, but in the end I realized it was his inner choice: if you want to get sick, you don’t want to work, you want others to support you, you can always cover up the disease. I decided to do my best not to. And I have been able to work absolutely for 10 years, “the woman assured me.
It is true that the postoperative period after transplantation did not seem so hopeful. There was bleeding around the transplanted kidney, so doctors had to perform two more surgeries to remove the clots.
“I thought I would die before the third operation. I was abandoned with all my strength, I no longer had the strength to fight. When they took me to the operating room and placed me on a cold operating table, I still remember how cold it was there. And it seemed to me that they were digging me in the cold ground, that this was really the “last.” So when I opened my eyes after the surgery, my first question was where I was because I really wasn’t sure I was still here. It sounds funny, but it wasn’t then, ”smiled the interlocutor.
According to her, it was when she completely relaxed and dedicated herself to what will happen that a miracle happened: she began to recover. Two months later, Ingrida was already skiing on the mountain. It was scary at first, but it gave her the opportunity not to “fall” into the role of patient and start living a normal life again.
Now the woman describes the entire difficult period as an opportunity for growth; During that time, as she says, she grew very spiritually: “I tried all the time to move forward without fear. I do it now. I was intimidated that I would have a lifelong fear that my body would reject the kidney, so I would have to take medication. But I feel completely healthy. Yes, it is necessary to take the medicine, but it is a little compared to what I received. “
It was when he completely relaxed and devoted himself to what would be that a miracle happened: he began to recover.
What Causes Kidney Failure?
Loreta Vareikienė, a nephrologist at the Santara Clinics, said that the first kidney transplant in Lithuania was performed in 1970, the first transplant from a living donor in 1974, and the first transplant from a living donor with incompatible blood groups in 2010. The clinics of Santara perform an average of 50 kidney transplants per year, of which approximately 6 are from a living donor. Since 2010, 14 kidney transplants have been performed in incompatible blood groups at Santara clinics.
“Previously, such a kidney transplant was not possible. So if a mom or dad had an incompatible blood type, they couldn’t even donate a kidney to their child if they wanted to. Now that that possibility exists, it only takes more time to prepare the patient for transplantation: a drug is instilled that blocks the production of antibodies; then a procedure similar to dialysis is carried out: a person is connected to a device that washes the circulating antibodies in the blood and a kidney is transplanted into such a clean body ”, explained the interlocutor.
The causes of kidney problems can be very varied. The most common are hypertension, diabetes mellitus, recurrent and incurable urinary tract diseases, impaired renal drainage due to nephrolithiasis or prostatic hyperplasia, chronic kidney disease, or systemic immune diseases such as lupus erythematosus. Overuse of pain relievers can also damage the kidneys.
In some diseases, kidney damage develops over decades, in other cases it can develop in an instant. The main symptoms of kidney damage are severe general malaise: weakness, shortness of breath, nausea, recurrent vomiting, headache or dizziness, pain in the legs, swelling of the body, pale gray or yellowish tint of the skin, loss of appetite, complete loss of appetite. , high blood pressure is recorded.
These symptoms indicate that it is already so bad that a person needs to be connected to a dialysis machine almost today or tomorrow. If the disease develops for a long time, the person gradually adapts to the deteriorating condition and the symptoms mentioned above appear milder, more gradually, ”said L. Vareikienė.
Personal album photo album / Loreta Vareikienė
How much is the donor kidney good for?
Unfortunately, kidneys damaged by chronic diseases do not recover, so when dialysis begins, it will need to be done until the end of life or until the commitment of kidney transplantation. Currently, more than a thousand people are dialyzed in Lithuania, 75 people are on the active waiting list for kidney donors. Why so little? According to the doctor, some people are reluctant to undergo a transplant due to their old age, while others do not recommend transplantation due to concomitant acute or chronic illnesses. Currently, about 1.5 thousand people with kidney transplants live in Lithuania.
The survival of the donor organ in the first year after transplantation reaches 85%, after 10 years – 54%.
“Clearly, an organ rejection reaction can occur at any stage. Therefore, it is necessary to take immunosuppressants throughout the life of the graft. Although the average kidney transplant takes 15 years, we have patients who live more than 20 years. The kidney functioned longer in Lithuania for 42 years.
It must be understood, however, that this organ is not eternal. Even with modern immunosuppressive drugs, we cannot completely neutralize organ rejection, resulting in slow deterioration of donor kidney function, and reaching the limit when dialysis or transplantation is required again.
On the other hand, a few decades is a long period of time during which a person is free: detached from the device, he can travel, simply forget to take medication, and I think it is incomparably better than dialysis three times a week for 4 hours.
Of course, you should be careful with various colds, keep in mind that the disease will last longer and possibly be more serious, but it is all offset by a better quality of life. Finally, science advances and we do not know what will happen in 10 years. We may have a kidney culture, after which we won’t even need immunosuppressants after implantation, ”the doctor thought with a smile.
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