Visit to the nephro

So we went to Matt's regular nephrologist this past Thursday. Just his usual checkup, But I really wanted matt to tell him how tired he has been feeling lately. He's been getting a lot of attacks of gout, mostly in his foot, although he has been having pains in his knee also. He is getting gout because his kidneys are not flushing enough uric acid from his body. He is already on two medications for it so there is really nothing else that can be done...it's just part of what is going to happen as things progress. He has also been getting lots of muscle cramps/spasms. Again, his doc said this would just continue to happen. From what I have read, it could be because of his low potassium/sodium, but I'm not really sure of the exact cause.
He asked if we had any specific donors lined up and how that was going. We told him that we really aren't sure because everything is supposed to be confidential, but we know some people would like to get tested. He said that he was going to call MGH and see if he could find out how things were going there as far as donors go, because if they don't have any good compatible donors we need to start thinking about putting a fistula in his arm to prepare for dialysis. A fistula is an enlarged vein (usually in your arm), created by connecting an artery directly to a vein. Connecting the artery to the vein creates much greater blood flow into the vein. As a result, the vein enlarges and strengthens, making inserting of needles for hemodialysis treatments easier.

So again, if you would Ike to find out more about being a possible donor, please call Frank Korn at Mass General, 617-643-6513. And if you already know you're blood type, that helps. Matt is a type O, so as of now, that is the type we are looking for.

Thanks for reading!