Diary 9: Meeting 3 Kidney Patients at Selayang Hospital

16 January 2009 (Saturday). I went to Selayang Hospital again to see my colleague, R, who is currently suffering from kidney disease. He was transferred from the normal bed dormitory to a four-bed room. Accordingly, one of the kidneys is not functioning well while the other has kidney stones. It is expected that the doctor would operate to remove the kidney stones next week. I cannot say much about this case except that he is suffering now. The doctor asked me to drink water every few minutes. During the one-hour visit, he had to go to the toilet every 5 minutes to release a little urine. Accordingly, he has done this for the last 3 days. He hardly slept for the past 72 hours. I felt sorry for what has happened to him.

I took the opportunity to talk to his two other roommate, while other friends dropped by to see R.

The first is a Malay boy aged 17 years old. He has been warded for 4 months undergoing kidney transplant and currently under observation. He looks good except a little swollen face. He can move around, in and out of the room.

The second is a male Chinese, aged 35, from Jinjang in Kuala Lumpur. He waited for 11 years which he underwent dialysis and managed to undergo kidney transplant at this government specialist hospital. He told me that in Malaysia a kidney patient has to wait for at least 8 years to have a transplant from the government hospital. Currently, he is under observation after successful kidney transplant.

Accordingly to him, kidney transplant is not a simple process. Some time, the transplant may not succeed due to rejection. In his case, 1 week after the transplant, special treatments are applied for 7 times to suppress any possibility of kidney rejection. The current cost is about RM14,500 each treatment at the private hospital.

He has to take at least 12 capsules per day. These capsules are mycophenolate (Myfortic) 360 mg, Valcyte Valganciclovir 450mg, Prograt (Tacrolimus Immunosuppressant) 1mg, prednisolone 5mg and Tolteradine 2mg. These medicines are not cheap if purchased from the pharmacy. To maintain kidney transplant, a patient without government support, has to spend about RM2,500 a month on the medicines alone.

Do not end up having this suffering kidney disease. He said kidney disease is a rich-man disease. Many patients have to sell land, house and car to obtain the money for treatment.

I told R that from today onwards we have to pray hard for him to ensure that the treatment journey is smooth. Let’s hope he does not have to go through the experience of his roommates.

May all kidney patients be free from sufferings!