It's all a bit of a weird one really on how I came to discover that my kidney had reached the end stages of renal failure. I would never had guessed and it was only by chance and some kind of blessing in disguise that I found out when I did.
I was teaching in Bangkok, Thailand as an English teacher. I had been there for 2 years. I've always know about my kidney condition and I made sure I went to see a renal consultant in Bangkok to just check my kidney function and all seemed ok. Nothing unusual. I felt fine.
Then my foot started hurting. Straight away I can see you're like "Wait, what?!"- But bear with me. I woke up one morning and my foot was killing me. I hadn't hit it or fallen over so I was a little baffled as to what it could be. I got some antibiotics thinking I'd been bitten by a mosquito or something and it had gotten infected - even though there was nothing visibly showing on my foot. Just this intense throbbing pain! The pain went away after a few days but it kept coming back. Sometimes in the same place, my ankle or round near my big toe! It was driving me crazy! After going to a doctor in Bangkok I was told that I was getting Gout and that I'd have to take some medication for it. Now for those of you who don't know, Gout normally occurs in men, very rarely in women and men who have rich diets and drink a lot of alcohol. I did neither but I started cutting down things in my diet which may bring a gout attack on and I even tried going vegetarian for a little while! So when I was told this I was a little surprised about it... But it's extremely painful and I don't wish that pain on my worse enemy! Seriously, some days I couldn't even have the fan blowing on me as the air hurt it!
Then I noticed I kept getting muscular cramps in my legs, feet, calves, fingers and sometimes my stomach. Now I know everyone gets cramp every now and then but I'm talking nearly every night I would wake up suddenly and be biting my pillow as this intense cramp starts distorting parts of my body. It's not the kind of cramp you can just grit your teeth through - I was crying sometimes and too scared to go back to sleep in case it happened again. I figured - I'm in a hot country, I'm sweating a lot, maybe I'm dehydrated or low in potassium and magnesium or whatever it is! So I drink more water, eat some more bananas and drink tonic water more. I figured I gotta help myself somewhere a long the line...
Whenever I drank alcohol on a night out. Even if it wasn't a lot - I would be face down on a bed throwing up into a bucket at the side of my bed the next day. I'm not just talking any hangover - I'm talking throwing up repeatedly until midnight the next night! My body was literally repelling everything I put into it and retching until I could retch no more. I started to go off the idea of drinking (no shit sherlock!) and I stopped drinking as often as I used to as I just couldn't hack the way I felt the next day.
Tiredness. I started to feel tired all the time. Lethargic and low in energy. Now for those who know me or have been around me in the past. I love partying and I was pretty much a machine. I used to go out most weekends and travel up and down the country for nights out. Nothing was gonna stop me. Hell I had my kidney removed in 2008 and I was back out with friends within 2 weeks. I have always tried to live my life to the fullest and maybe I did overdo it in the past but I regret nothing. But that all changed... I started to feel tired all the time and I felt like I needed a nap half way through the day just to get me through it!
I came home from Thailand to Manchester for Christmas to see my family and friends and during that 2 weeks I spent most of the time in bed, asleep - seriously, no joke! I just had no energy to do anything. I went for a renal check up at the hospital and it was just the usual standard blood test and what not and then I was sent on my way.
Time went by and I kept on getting those symptoms with no idea what was going on. It was frustrating me. Then my boyfriend asked me to come back to the UK with him for 2 weeks as his brother was getting married. I wasn't going to go at first as I was lacking funds to really be spending on flights back and forth from Thailand to the UK. But I ended up going in the end and I went for another renal check up at the hospital.
That's when the bombshell landed.
"You're kidney function in December when you were last here was only 13%... I'm worried about what it will be now as it's five months since then..."
My reply: "Oh." I was pretty much speechless. I've always had kidney problems and my function has declined over the years but I've always overcome any hurdles and infections and defied doctors predictions and whatnot. I thought I was invincible. I am clearly not.
The doctor then said, "If you're kidney function has dropped any lower then you can't go back to Thailand. You need to start dialysis treatment as soon as possible"
And that was that. My blood test results showed my kidney function at about 10% and what was supposed to be a 2 week holiday to the UK ended up with me staying here indefinitely.
The news is hard. No one ever said it's gonna be easy but seriously I think, even though I've always known my kidney would eventually fail - I didn't think it would happen so soon and I had so much going on in Thailand. My apartment, my job, everything over there etc! It was a pretty big shock.
My wonderful and supportive boyfriend had to go back to Thailand and basically sort my life out there. Which involved all my possessions in my apartment and whatnot and bring them all back for me. I am forever grateful for all the hassle I've put him through and his support.
It's all a blessing in disguise really because as soon as I got back from Thailand that's when my health really started to decline. I became poorly and I dread to think what would have happened if I was sick 6,000 miles away from home.
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