My grandmothers (90) creatine levels have been elevated for some time: In March at 1,35 mg/dl and in June at 1,41 mg/dl. The next blood will be drawn in just a little over a week.
My grandmothers GFR (MDRD) is at 44. That would put her at kidney disease stage 3 right?
She suffered two heart attacks one year ago and was diagnosed with heart failure stage 2 (HFpEF). In december last year she suffered from an intestinal obstruction and had to undergo surgery.
Since then she has been sleeping a lot, although it got better over time. She lost a ton of weight shortly before the surgery and after. She gained most of the weight back slowly. Otherwise I would describe her as 'fine', meaning, she isn't in pain or discomfort and she does do things she did before, like reading and watching movies, but not as much as before her surgery. She eats (three times a day and fruit) and drinks (milk, water and juice) normally, rarely complains about being full. She has high blood pressure, but it's being treated and under control.
What we don't understand is, what her elevated creatinine levels mean?
Are they elevated a lot?
What does kidney disease stage 3 mean?
I read, that with age the kidney performance declines, would my grandmother fall under that category?
Will my grandmothers kidney disease lead to kidney failure?
Is dialysis an option for someone my grandmothers age (given she wants it), if yes, when is the right time to start it?
I would really appreciate it if you guys could give me your perspective. Thank you in advance.
Your questions should be answered by the doctor requesting the tests.
Thank you for your answer. I will ask all these questions after the next blood results come in.
Every person is different, I guess I just wanted to hear experiences from others. :)
Is she being followed by a nephrologist? A geriatrics doctor?
Thank you for your reply.
Yes we accompany my grandmother to her doctors appointment. She is seeing a internal specialist. After the last results he said, that he wanted to wait till the next blood results and depending on the outcome, take appropriate action and transfer her to a nephrologist if they get worse.
Regarding the other questions I asked in my post. He didn't say a lot to be honest, because I guess he wanted to wait for the next blood results. He only said that the diuretics my grandmother takes (torasemide) may cause harm to her kidneys, but she needs to take them because otherwise she will suffer from water retention.