stage 4 and stable

[maven123]

I have been stage 4 for at least a year. I do not have high blood pressure or diabetes.

What can I expect?

michael garelick

[Hidden]

Continued success at holding off dialysis.

Stick to your kidney-friendly meal plan, stay hydrated, exercise and continue doing the things you are doing right. Understand that at some point in the future your kidneys may fail and you will need either dialysis or a transplant.

Have you researched your options and made a decision as to what you will want to do then? If not, begin to investigate and make the decision that gives you the best option for your future.

[Jayhawker]

I'd definitely suggest that you begin exploring dialysis treatment options. If you've not already done this, you should ask for renal failure education. Your nephrologist will set this up. My nephrologist's nurse practitioner provided renal failure education for me. In addition to deciding upon dialysis treatment preferences you might also want to explore the option of going through kidney transplant eligibility testing.

Jayhawker

[lowraind]

You could stay at stage 4 for a long time and die of something else. There is also the Palliative Care option.

[orangecity41 NKF Ambassador in reply to lowraind]

I am 78 and diagnosed at stage 3b, 4 years ago. With renal diet and prescribed exercise the progression has slowed down. Due to my age and stage, may never need dialysis.

[lowraind in reply to orangecity41]

I totally agree. I just turned 78 and in the 1 3/4 years since I was diagnosed, I improved my egfr 20 points.

[Dixidude39]

I'm going to be 80 in several months. CKD4 due to R kidney removal in 2016 due to cancer. I'm still in pretty good health. If I were to lose my other kidney, I'd seriously consider palliative care. This option would be harder on my wife than me.

[lowraind in reply to Dixidude39]

I wonder if palliative care would be harder on her than dialysis. I do not either myself nor my husband to go through some of the horror stories I have read about.

[beamteam in reply to Dixidude39]

I'm 78 with stage 3, I too only have one kidney. I'm not sure I'd want to do diaysis as I wont be waiting for a transplant. If you can be kept comfortaable with palliative care I think that's the choice I'll make.