Went to PCP doc on Wed for some ever increasing back and stomach pain. She ran some blood work at about 7AM. At 10:30AM I get the following call…

“This is ****Medical. Your blood work came back. You are in renal failure. This is an emergency. Get to the emergency room immediately. They are expecting you.”

So I hop in the car and drive to the hospital. After triage and more blood work and CT’s. there are 2 internal med doc’s beside my bed deciding what to do next. One says stick a foley in him and we’ll reevaluate in a couple of hours, the other says send him straight to dialysis. I thought they went into the room next door and flipped a coin, because they came back and said they’ll try the catheter first. (Turns out they consulted with urology attending and he made the call.)

Kidneys started working again after a few days to the point where I could go home (with the forking catheter still in) but they still don’t know what caused it yet. (Bladder spasms with an in-place catheter hurt more than anything I've ever felt in my life.) Follow-ups this week. My brother came and picked up the pup because no way I could care for him. He’ll have a great life there. Miss you buddy.

Getting old sucks. How was your week?

quote:

(Bladder spasms with an in-place catheter hurt more than anything I've ever felt in my life.)

Also the worst pain I ever had as blood fillled up my bladder from a prostate cyst, coagulated and clogged the catheter. This happened several times until surgery the next morning.

Damn. Sorry you're going through that. Glad your Kidneys restarted, though. Hopefully they get back to full function and you can lose that catheter before too long .

Been using catheters for 12 years now and I feel your pain. Hang in there. There are a lot of new treatments now. Things have changed for me and I have to see urology this week. I will keep you in my prayers.

Good grief! No idea how that came about? I’m sure you’re researching possible causes and mentally reviewing your diet, exposure, etc. Very scary. Glad you’re improving!

I’m glad to hear your kidneys started working again. The catheter sounds truly awful.
I hope you’re back to normal activities soon.

Prayer sent Pace. Better days ahead.

You had God's eyes looking down on you that day. Foley- No Fun whatsoever. Remeval is much better than the insertion!

I hope everything works out and will be praying for you.

Hope you get to feeling better.

That does not sound pleasant. Add me to your list of well-wishers.

Cath's are time sensitive.
My urologist had a fit when the hospital didn't take out the cath in a timely manner.

They told me they couldn't remove it W/o his orders, so it's a great thing I called him.

It was out within the half hour.

It's not uncommon at all for health care "professionals"

NOT to communicate, so you gotta take the initiative.

Go get a second opinion.
Research who is rated the very best Urologist that you are willing to travel to see and get in for an appointment ASAP.

All Doctors and hospitals are not the same.
Like everything else there are good and there are bad and there is everything in between when it comes to health care.
No reason you should have to seek advice from anybody but the best.

If you are confined to a hospital bed with the nurse emptying the bag it is not too bad. If you are discharged with a catheter it is worse than you might think.

Renal failure is typically classified into three groups: Pre-renal, renal and post-renal. Each has different causes.

Pre-renal failure: As the name implies, the insult, whatever it is, happened in the body before it reaches the kidneys. Any state that severely decreases vascular perfusion to the kidneys will injure them. Some examples: severe dehydration from fluid loss due to vomiting/diarrhea, severe heart failure resulting in decreased cardiac output, severe liver failure with fluid retention / hepatorenal syndrome.

Renal failure: The insult, whatever it is, hits the kidneys themselves directly, causing failure. Some examples: medications, infections, autoimmune diseases.

Post-renal failure: As the name implies, happens after the kidneys. Meaning, the insult is located somewhere between the kidneys and your penile urethra. Examples: kidney stones, BPH or prostate cancer, bladder outlet constriction. All result in the obstruction of urine outflow. Urine has nowhere to go, so it backs up and damages the ureters and kidneys (condition called hydronephrosis).

The urologist made the absolute right call, something internal med residents are always taught. The first, quickest and easiest maneuver to assess for a post-renal cause of failure is to stick the Foley catheter in. In your case, this simple treatment relieved whatever obstruction you had and eventually normalized your kidney functions, saving you unnecessary dialysis. Now they need to determine the cause of the outflow obstruction and fix that so it won't happen again.

Sorry to hear about your medical emergency. Glad your kidney function has improved.

By chance, do you take Lisinopril with a diuretic (Lisinopril HCTZ) for high BP? I did, and my GFR slowed from 70+ down to 44.

I did my research and reached out to my PCP. After removing me from Lisinopril HCTZ, my kidneys returned to normal GFR within 2 weeks.

Bladder spasms from a catheter are no fun. What is worse is when the doctor tells your wife to remove your post operative catheter and they had put in a catheter that was a little too big. Have you ever wondered how a fish feels when it has swallowed the hook and worm, and you use that red fishhook remover you shove all the way down to its tail to get the hook out? A bad catheter removal is like the fishhook removal and that really hurts!!!

Wishing you a speedy recovery.

Thank you all for your prayers and well wishes. It means a lot to me.

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Originally posted by 12131:
Renal failure is typically classified into three groups: ...

I can't thank you enough, Doc, for taking the time to post this. There is more information is this post than I got from google or a team of hospital MDs. Thanks again, Q.