the doctor suspects that my daddy may have signs of kidney failure.
nah, i didn’t hear it from the doctor myself. neither did the doctor say this to my daddy. however, my mum died from kidney failure so i know quite a bit about the relevant tests and all.
my daddy has been on medication for hypertension for many years. which is fine to us… i know hypertension can get very dangerous and all, but i also know my daddy takes his medication on time and is otherwise very fit.
and then during a routine urine test, the doctor said that his test didn’t come back very well and had to do a re-test. daddy didn’t ask much and went for the test again today. i read the test slip a few days ago and it didn’t state specifically what the test was for. well, maybe it did, but it wasn’t obvious to a non-doctor like me. and the test results today didn’t come back very well. so the doctor ordered another urine test for daddy. i wasn’t there with daddy and he couldn’t really understand what the doctor was saying so he didn’t know what the test was for.
when daddy show me the test slip this time, it was very clear – to check for creatinine. and this word i know. i know it so well. this is definitely a test of kidney function. and the doctor gave my daddy a new medicine. immediately i googled it – “lisinopril”.
at first i felt a huge sigh of relief because the primary use for this drug is to treat hypertension. so i yelled to my daddy, “dun worry, this is for your high blood!”. only to realize seconds later that it is also prescribed to renal patients.
sigh.
daddy says if he really gets kidney failure, he doesn’t want to go for dialysis. he wants to be like mummy. he said it matter-of-fact-ly. but hell, NO! we didn’t let mummy go for dialysis for several reasons.
1) we could not afford the thousands of dollars every month
2) both NKF & SGH wouldn’t give us financial assistance (citing that mummy is ‘disabled’ and unable to contribute to the society. WTF)
3) mummy was in a mild depression and could not handle the cheaper method of home dialysis
but for daddy it is different
1) i am working now and definitely can afford dialysis
2) as above, i won’t need financial assistance
3) daddy is otherwise healthy and should be able to take the stress of dialysis
but i sure hope it wouldn’t have to reach that stage.
and so, we decided not to wait 8 weeks for the next urine test. next week we are going for a full body checkup at a private clinic.
wish us luck…
[i always thought daddy was strong. and still young. he may look old to others but to me he always look youthful. i guess i have always been in denial. time to admit that time passes by quickly and daddy is indeed growing old...]
hey gal..dun get too upset. maybe the results won’t be so bad. dun scare urself….
hope ur dad will be fine!
Comment by jaslyn — 14 July 2009 @ 8:04 pm
well, lately I’ve been hearing a lot of these evil reports. Just got to noe a fren goin for small op to remove a growth in her womb..and she’s younger than me..
Will keep ur Dad in my prayers.
Comment by jackie — 15 July 2009 @ 1:22 am
thank you, my dear gals…
i forgot to mention that my daddy does seem quite worried although he tries not to show it. this is evident when i suggested to go for private check up and he agreed without the slightest hesitation.
well… i must bear in mind that my daddy, though a prideful man and all, is still very human and is also worried about mortality afterall.
Comment by kerensa — 15 July 2009 @ 9:44 am