And now tell me in a bit more detail about how the kidney came into the picture.

Because they give you a general blood test, which picks up all the other functions and that was one they- they decided that the kidney function was getting lower and lower.

And can you tell me, did you have a series of tests when that was discovered or?

No, only just the previous two, were obviously, were lowish and then getting lower. So he sent for me and he gave me another blood test which was still low, which meant, you know, three blood tests on the trot meant that you had chronic kidney disease.

But then they got the blood pressure under control and the kidney function improved.

Well obviously when a doctor says to you that wants you to go and have a kidney scan, you think- think to yourself, ‘Oh blimey what does he know that hes not telling me?’ So I asked him that question and he said, “Don’t be silly,” he said, “it’s nothing but we want to be on the safe side and check you out.” And that’s basically on that basis so when he said that I wasn’t that worried. Well you either trust your GP or you don’t and some people get hysterical about it but , you know, these people are basically there to help you; they’re not there to try and trick you or anything.

Oh it’s very interesting. You go to the hospital, then you go into this room. Theres a lady with a machine. She asks you to expose your stomach I thought she was going to kiss my tummy, but no. And then they put a gel on and it’s I suppose it’s what they do with ladies who are having a baby, they, you know, that scan. And she pushed and prodded and, you know, all the rest of it and twiddled her knobs and dialled her dials and then she the screen that she was looking at was slightly to one side and she was taking photographs at the same time, and what amazed me was the fact that a kidney looks exactly like a kidney dish. I suppose that’s why they call it a kidney dish but, you know, I thought thered be some massive lump of machinery going away and that was very interesting, to me anyway.

Mm so you were able to see the image as you were being scanned?

Yes, well not totally face on but it was she was, you know, slightly to the side of me.

Yeh

And she had one hand here and the screen like that and I could just see what was going in very, very interesting I thought.

Well I thought there was something wrong because she had tried to do it about three times, because I had to drink a lot of water, as you know, beforehand. So about 7 o’clock I drank all they suggested, went to the hospital. They weren’t in much of a hurry, so I was getting a bit cross. But eventually when she started the scan she said, Your bladder hasn’t filled enough. Have you done what we asked you? ‘ She was a bit stern, and I said, Yes I have done what you asked me. And so she told me to wait a bit longer in the waiting room for 20 minutes, drink a bit more, and then when I went back she still couldn’t do it. She said, It hadn’t cleared into my’ whatever it was, for my kidneys, and she was extremely nice then and said, Would you mind very much waiting a little bit longer. This is not working. It’s not satisfactory. Wed like you to wait a little longer, and are you comfortable?’ And she was very solicitous then and very nice. And I said, Does this happen often?’ And she said, Oh sometimes. She said, One lady a few weeks ago we had to wait two hours. So I said, Well isn’t that an indication of something wrong?’ And she said, Not necessarily. So when I asked the doctor, they said, No some people are just like that. But I just wondered.

You thought it was an indication that your kidneys were working slowly or something?

Yes I thought there was an indication but they said it wasn’t relevant at all, when I questioned them. So maybe that’s an area for research.

The other thing that happened recently was I did have an ultrasound scan of my kidneys , and that again was the GP that I’m currently seeing wanted to just get a baseline of where things were at because I hadn’t had any sort of investigations for a long time. Used to be IVPs where they put the dye in and But anyway I just had an ultrasound scan, which was more pleasant than having IVP [laughs].

What’s an IVP?

That’s an intravenous pyleogram, where you have dye put in and they monitor it going through your kidneys.

So you’ve had those before?

[mm]

Have you had them often?

I had, I had several when I was a child, once, then I had, I had them more regularly when I was younger and then I think prior to becoming pregnant the first time, and again that was about getting baseline information to see how my kidneys might function during pregnancy. And I also had a, I don’t know what’s that called, a sort of where they monitor, where your bladder is full and you, you know, it sees how your kidneys function and release the your urine but I can’t remember what that was called. When I had the, but then I think I had, in my adult life, I think I might have had one or two, not very often, no.

So what’s unpleasant about having the IVP?

Oh it’s just that you feel the dye going round your body.

Okay.

You know, it goes, it goes in from your arm and you actually feel it going up right through every everything, and so you get a hot feeling going through your, through your body and they put, I don’t know whether they still do this, but they used to put tennis balls on your stomach and tighten a belt really tight across, and it was something to do with restricting, I don’t know what it was, but it was restricting the dye or keeping the dye in your bladder or I don’t know, I can’t I can’t remember.

And they eventually said, “Right,” – four o’clock “right we can do it.” So I walked down to this room with the doctor and a nurse and I laid face down on a bed, I put a gown on- I had my jeans on but I still had a gown on because obviously they just needed to get to my lower back.

And they have a scanner there so she scanned it’s like an ultrasound scanner and you can see the kidneys on the screen and all the- whatever it is you look at, they look at. And she said I could watch it if I wanted. I said, “No [exhales] you’re alright.” And she explained what she was going to do. And then she gave me the first injection which obviously you felt the needle go in, and then after that I didn’t feel anything at all after that. Then she put about three injections in to numb it up right down through to the kidneys. And then she said, “Oh,” she said, “you’ll hear a clicking sound when I take” and she showed, told me that then showed me the signs showed me the signs? That doesn’t make sense. She clicked the needle or whatever it is to take the biopsy and so I’d hear- know what it sounded like. I said, “OK fine.”

Anyway so she put the needle in and I didn’t feel a thing. She said, “But I when I take go to take it,” she said because where I’m breathing the kidneys are going up and down. And she said, “I want you to hold your breath to hold the kidneys steady,” shell click it, take the biopsy and then I can breathe again [laughs]. I said, “OK fine.” So as I so she said, “Right take a breath,” so I took a breath. And she went like that [makes clicking sound] and I actually felt it? I felt it, does that make sense?

Yeah

Whether it was psychologically felt or felt I don’t know.

You felt like a tugging?

Yeah a little tug. Wasn’t painful, it was just like yeah, like a tug I suppose that’s the right word for it. And she turned round, she said, “Ooh,” she said, “I’ve got a bit of the muscle as well as the kidney,” she said, “I will do it again.” I said, “OK no worries.” So she took it again. So she said, “Oh that’s better,” she said, “I’ll take one more for luck.” [laughs] I went, “OK [laughs] ha ha ha thanks!” So she took another sample, so I ended up with three little samples. I said, “OK fine,” I said, “I’d rather you get it now than having to come back and do it all again.” [laughs] So that’s fine and so she said, “Right,” and then she obviously took the needle out and cleaned up and she put a little just like a little Melolin plaster thing over it. And she said, “Right,” she said, “It’s alright,” she said, “I want you to turn over.” So she said, “But I don’t want you to do anything,” she said, “I will” the nurse and doctor, she said, “I will move you, I don’t want you to move yourself,” and of course I tried to move myself aren’t I? as you do [coughs]. Excuse me. And so they moved turned me on with my back and she said, “Right,” she said, “were going to take you up to the ward.” I said, “OK fine.” So they then took me in the lift up to the wards to the bed and they then had to put me from the trolley onto the bed. and they got one of those boards that pull you across that you have to lie on?

Hm mm

And she said, “Right,” and there was about three or four of the nurses around me at this point. She said, “Right,” she said, “I don’t want you to do anything,” she said, “just let us do all the work, just lie there,” because you’re not allowed to move because it could by moving because where they’ve taken it out, the kidney needs time to repair itself and the clot because otherwise it could bleed.

Mm

And so they literally dragged me across onto the bed and I just had to lie there flat and that was it and she said and I said, “Can I have a drink and that?” So shed get me some water and things. And that was it! I was just literally laid there, I couldn’t I was staring at the ceiling, trying to look around [laughs] and trying to see what else was going on in the ward because I think there was about three or four other people in the ward as well, and then just listening to what was going on around me really [laughs].