Hello, my name is Sue Lyon.
I've been a kidney patient for over 40 years
after being diagnosed at Guy's and St Thomas' when I was 25.
- Hi Lorna - Good afternoon Sue
I was treated with home haemodialysis, and then I was fortunate enough
to have a deceased donor kidney transplant 32 years ago,
and I'm pleased to say it's still going well.
The team at Guy's have asked me to introduce this series of four films.
Each film focuses on a particular aspect of the kidney journey, starting with diagnosis.
The films feature clinicians talking about various aspects
of chronic kidney disease, including treatment choices.
The films also feature patient's stories,
and we hope by listening to these stories,
you'll feel empowered to become involved in your care
and work in partnership with your team.
Chronic kidney disease or CKD means your kidneys are not working properly.
Chronic doesn't necessarily mean serious, it means it's been going on for a long time
and will go on for the rest of your life.
However, most people with CKD do not develop kidney failure,
and most people will live the rest of their life
with mild CKD and no symptoms of it.
If you have mild chronic kidney disease, it's important to reduce the chances
of the kidney disease getting worse by adopting a healthy lifestyle,
and this may involve all, or some, of what we call the big six.
This means eating healthily,
taking regular exercise,
and giving up smoking.
You should also reduce your alcohol intake.
It's important to keep your blood pressure down.
Some lifestyle factors can help with this, but most people will need to take tablets.
If you're diabetic, it's important to keep your diabetes under control.
With chronic kidney disease, like any chronic condition,
it's important to work in partnership with your healthcare team.
Therefore, you should attend any appointments
with your kidney clinical with your GP,
and it's essential that you take any medications that are prescribed to you.
So Glenn, we've known each other for some time now - how long is that again?
Glenn: It's just over eight years.
You must have been quite nervous when we first met.
Glenn: Yeah, it was a really scary time. You get this diagnosis,
you don't really know what's going on, and it's scary. It is scary.
With chronic kidney disease,
we think it's very important to establish a kind of partnership
between the healthcare people and the patient,
so that you can feel comfortable to manage your own condition
as well as seek advice.
What sorts of things did you do to try and improve your situation?
Glenn: Stop smoking. I cut down at first, then I stopped;
I watched how much I was drinking, because I do like a drink;
healthy eating and taking exercise -
I started doing boot camps, I'm not sure if you remember,
in St James' Park a couple of times a week;
obviously taking my medication when prescribed,
I don't think I've ever missed a day of my medication
because it's structurally built into my day.
Most people with chronic kidney disease
don't have a progressive form of that condition,
but unfortunately you do and did.
One can make a prediction based on blood tests to see how long your kidneys
are likely to survive without needing dialysis or a transplant,
and when we first met, we predicted that might be about four to five years,
something like that. But I think you've described a lot of changes
that you've made to slow down that process. So how did that go?
Well it worked. I'm here eight years later,
so it's almost double than was initially thought or forecast
and I think the thing is it's down to working with you guys, obviously,
but also the changes I've made myself.
So that really illustrates nicely what we're trying to achieve
in the kidney clinic for people with the progressive form of kidney disease
which is to slow down that process for as long as possible
by working in partnership with with our patients.
With you guys.
Thank you very much.
If your kidney disease does progress
you'll need to think about treatment, either dialysis or transplantation,
and these topics are covered in the next two films.