CURI Diary……
12th March 2020.
“Real-life incidents are what stories and sometimes families are made up of …”
Chennai Urology and Robotics Institute Hospital is a premier healthcare Institute for the treatment of renal diseases in Chennai. Here we treat patients, but we realize every day that we are not just treating a person but also playing an important role in helping to rebuild, and sometimes change the way the person and the rest of the family lead their lives. CURI Diary is a collection of real-life stories that we are sure are stories in our lives too… Sometimes reading them can awaken us and help change our stories to a happy ending.
Disclaimer : Patient name has been changed. Respecting their privacy.
With hopes, wishes and love,
Team CURI.
A crisp March Monday morning… Corporate office meeting, targets to be chased, year-end financials to be wrapped up, new office premise inaugural, son’s board exams, niece wedding… Mr.Ramachandran’s life couldn’t be more eventful and busy. He was hoping to do all this and more if he could squeeze in the time. But this Monday, something was slowing him down, to him rather an inconvenience. He woke up with difficulty in breathing and swelling all over the body and decreased urine output. He knew something was not ok for the past week as he had these symptoms. He was upset that he had to go to the doctor as well in between all the routine work he had planned, but due to constant nagging by his wife, he decided to meet the nephrologist.
Mr.Ramachandran, aged 45, was diagnosed with diabetes 10 years back. He was just building his career and brushed it aside as a lifestyle disease, that he would take care of eventually. Unhealthy food habits, non-compliance to medications, and busy work schedule played havoc on his health. He had frequent swelling of feet. On consultation with his general physician, he was warned that he was slowly progressing to diabetic nephropathy. He was warned about proteinuria (protein in the urine- this is an early indication of diabetic kidney disease) and was advised about diabetic control and prescribed medicines. Everything was followed for a week and then forgotten and the busy routine took over.
Two years later, this Monday morning, with breathing difficulty and oedema all over the body, he could not continue. The nephrologist evaluated him and diagnosed him with end-stage renal disease, with a loss of almost 85% of kidney function. He will need regular dialysis or renal transplantation. To Mr Ramachandran, this sounded like a life sentence. It meant a lot of changes, not just for him but for his family as well. Work and family commitments, finances, holidays would all have to be reassessed, only because Mr.Ramachandran thought ‘IT” was not important.
At Chennai Urology and Robotics Institute hospital, we come across many such stories and Mr.Ramachandrans. We try to help build their lives back, but the stories and ending could be so very different if that particular individual had paused to listen to his body and take care.
Get yourself screened for diabetes if you are 30 years of age. If you have a family history of Diabetes, please do it as early as when you are 20. Obesity and sedentary lifestyles are risk factors. Ladies with polycystic ovarian disease and gestational diabetic Mellitus should periodically screen themselves.
End-Stage Renal Disease (ESRD) is a medical term used to denote an advanced stage of chronic kidney disease with loss of more than 85% of normal kidney function. Patients who reach this stage need either dialysis or renal transplantation. Dialysis or Transplantation is resource-intensive. Not possible or affordable to all. Prevention is best. Early detection and intervention are better. People diagnosed with diabetes should check their kidney health at least every year (simple blood test for serum creatinine and urine test for albumin).