A few years ago, I had a chance to sit down and chat with one of the older bigwig nephrologists. Not quite old or big enough to have a disease named after him, but close. He had indirectly donated a kidney to his wife.
old habits are hard to break, part 2
Two months after meeting Mother and Daughter, I was again in the clinic when they returned. This time I acted as supervisor to the fellow, the nephrologist in training. Fellow came from the exam room to tell me about how Mother had been doing since being seen by my colleague and a different fellow at her last appointment a month prior.
old habits are hard to break, part 1
Her inhaled surprise and brows knitted in worry as I spoke the words made me regret them immediately. “Your mother has about 4 percent kidney function left.” I prided myself on my habit of explaining disease processes and lab results in that just right Goldilocks place of not too hard and not too dumbed down.
here we go!
Twenty-six million adults in this country have chronic kidney disease and over half a million have end-stage kidney disease, yet most Americans don’t know what dialysis is. And what the hell is a nephrologist? Until I went to medical school, I was no different.