National Kidney Month

March is National Kidney Month. Over 260 million people have acute kidney disease. Over 350,000 Americans are on dialysis and the number is growing rapidly. The two major causes of kidney failure are high blood pressure and diabetes. I wonder if exposure to toxic chemicals in the environment and lack of exercise can also be contributing causes.

My husband went into Good Samaritan Hospital in Corvallis on March 2nd with acute kidney failure. His creatinine level was 22.9. The normal level is 0.7 to 1.2. He was in ICU for 5 days and then spent another five days on 2nd South until he was sent home. No one knows what caused his kidneys to fail. No one knows any answers so far. It happened very rapidly. He had talked to his doctor four days before he went into the hospital and no one thought it was urgent or an emergency. A few weeks prior to admission, he took a bunch of blood tests at OHSU and the creatinine level was not elevated. In the weeks prior to admission to the hospital, he had a recurring rash over his body and respiratory symptoms. The rash was gone and his respiratory symptoms had gone away prior to his kidney failure. About two weeks prior to admission to the hospital, Les took Nabumetone for inflammation, which is medication prescribed by a doctor in Corvallis. After he took the medication for a couple of days, he had black urine. Dr. Wahba thinks that this might be the cause of his kidney failure but is not sure.

He's now on dialysis three times a week. He's getting better and his doctor says he may be able to get off dialysis in another week. A kidney biopsy revealed that his kidneys are inflamed but any cause isn't known.

We need answers so this doesn't happen again. Everyone at Good Samaritan were amazing and worked together to help my husband. I'm very grateful.

After this experience, I believe that it is so important to eat healthy, drink water, exercise, and avoid medication unless absolutely necessary. One thing that I have been doing for my husband is to play in the background positive affirmations from a ThinkRightNow CD called "I am healed now." I feel it makes a difference. www.thinkrightnow.com