Adventures in nephrology

Bodies are stupid!

I’m over 50 and they weren’t designed to last this long. They keep trying to break in fun and exciting ways. We just do what we can to keep them patched together for as long as possible.

As of this week, I get to add a nephrologist to my list of doctors. Turns out, my kidneys have decided to function less than optimally by leaking protein (called “protein spillage,” a phrase that makes me want to hurl). I have no symptoms of or risk factors for kidney issues: I am not diabetic, I do not have high blood pressure, and I’ve never had a bad test result until now, so this was a big surprise to me.

The doctor thinks that the damage is mild, and is probably due to years of taking ibuprofen. I guess those warnings on the bottle about kidney damage weren’t lies. She thinks it won’t get any worse, as long as I stop using Advil.

So I get to start a blood pressure medication, which can apparently help kidneys to function better. I hope that it does not make me dizzy (or even more headache-y than I already am), especially considering that my actual blood pressure is on the low side.

To add even more stress to the process of figuring out my kidney issues this week, I learned yesterday that our insurance company, Blue Cross, dropped two of the largest hospital systems and physician networks in Dallas, meaning that we have to A) figure out which doctors and facilities that we typically go to have been dropped from the network, B) somehow pick new doctors and change all our existing appointments, and C) deal with the fact that we no longer have access to our health care teams that have known and treated us for years or decades.

Here’s something fun: I called Blue Cross, as directed in the notification, to find a new ultrasound clinic for my upcoming kidney scans. The Blue Cross representative knew nothing about the change in coverage, and insisted that all my original doctors were still showing as “in network.” I was like… lady, I have an email FROM YOUR COMPANY stating that they are not. Did they not TELL YOU?

The most upsetting part of this whole thing is that Blue Cross stated they dropped these providers “to protect the interests of our members and customers,” which is laughable. They are concerned about their bottom line, not their patients. Gotta keep their execs reeling in those fatter and fatter paychecks, and if the little people have to scramble to find care, well, that’s just the price that everyone must pay.