My friend just died
Posted , 5 users are following.
Hello, I was recently informed that my dear friend of 50 years just passed away suddenly. 38 years years ago he had a kidney transplant and he has been doing very well with his transplant for the 38 years. His one transplanted kidney (from his brother) kept his blood work normal all these years. A few years back his kidney doctor put him on a 3 month routine of having a PINT of blood removed from him every 3 months. I recall on one occasion we were talking on the phone and he had to cut me off because he said I have to hurry on down the the ER at the hospital to get his blood drawn. He told me he had missed his appointment for his blood drawing and his doctor found out and called him on the phone moments before I called him. His doctor give him holy hell for missing his appointment and said she was calling the ER at the hospital "right now" to tell them to be ready for him to show up in 30 minutes to have his blood drawn. So he had to leave and hurry on to the hospital. Later on when I spoke to him again he told me how adamant his doctor was about him keeping on schedule with his blood drawing. Well, about a year and a half ago he moved away about 3 hours from here and had to get a new kidney doctor where he now lived. When I spoke to him up at his new place I asked him about his new doctor and how he like him. He said he was OK but missed his doctor down here. When I asked him what he was doing about his routine blood drawing he said that his new doctor said he did not need to do it. So he had not had his blood drawn for about a year and a half. I was VERY suspicious that his doctor down here was so adamant about him having it done and being so angry when he missed an appointment and now the new doctor says "Nah, you don't have to do that anymore". I questioned him about this and he just said "I do what I am told". Last week he died suddenly at home. He was alone and found dead probably about 12 hours after I has spoken to him on the phone. So he died quickly. The family did not want an autopsy and really do not know the exact cause of death. He did not have any immediate issues that would have been life threatening and his doctors told the family it must have just been something sudden. He was actually in pretty good health, he was 65. My question for the group is this, could something have caused his death that was directly related to the fact that he had discontinued having his blood drawn for over a year? Can something about this disease cause sudden death for some reason? I just want to be able to disregard this as a possible reason. Ayy help would be appreciated.
1 like, 7 replies
ellen12819 lou54617
Posted
Firstly I am so sorry for your loss, friends don't come along every day and they are I find, hard to keep in your life for such a long time. You don't say if his blood was drawn for this condition? Why he needed a transplant? I realise you may not know tje answers and maybe there will be none that ease the gap your friend has left. But maybe nobody can answer this for you regardless, but they definitely won't without all the information. I hope someone can be of help to you.
lou54617 ellen12819
Posted
Thank you, correct, I am assuming his blood was being drawn every 3 months because of "iron overload" but I can't say for sure. I am assuming it was that because I don't know of any other reason why one would have to have this done. Suffice to say however that his doctor down here insisted he have it done and ON TIME! The reason he had a kidney transplant is because he had polycysitc kidneys. So I am toiling with the fact that when he moved upstate and got a new kidney doctor he was told by that doctor he did not have to have his blood drawn out. His other doctor insisted on it and was angry when he once missed an appointment. So I am wondering if not having it done for over a year could have meant something in his death, Maybe not, but if there is a possibility it contributed to it, I would like to know.
sheryl37154 lou54617
Posted
I am sorry for your loss. You don't say that your friend was actually diagnosed with genetic haemochromatosis, or what HFE genes he had. 3 monthly venesections indicate that his iron loading was not severe if he did have haemochromatosis. One health issue that untreated haemochromatosis can cause is cardiac myopathy which can cause sudden death. Anything else to do with haemochromatosis would have presented other health issues indicators.
However, having a kidney transplant and no doubt years of ill health beforehand could have caused problems and even heart issues as well. It is a shame that his family do not want an autopsy, but surely someone who knows what they are doing had to complete 'cause of death' on the death certificate. Unfortunately, as a friend, you may never get to know this unless his family want you to know.
lou54617 sheryl37154
Posted
Thank you, I don't know for sure if that was his diagnosis because when I asked him why he had to have it done (blood drawn) he said because his body was making too much blood. I guess that might by layman's terms. Is there any other disease that is treated by drawing blood out regularly? It was not my understanding that he had any heart issues due to prior health before or after kidney transplant. He never saw a cardiologist or took any meds for heart condition. I would have to say that his heart was OK. He was a smoker and smoked for many years. Usually people that smoke and die as a result most likely suffer COPD or lung cancer which is generally not an instant death. It just might be he had a heart attack due to years of smoking. I am kind of thinking that for only a little over a year not having his blood drawn may not have been long enough to cause death. But you are correct without an autopsy everything is speculation. The ME signed off the cause of death as "natural causes".
sheryl37154 lou54617
Posted
He may have had a high ferritin because of inflammation related to his kidney transplant which had his first dr treating it as if it was haemochromatosis.
Personally, I would think it rather strange that a 65 year old man's death was signed off as "natural causes". There has to be a more specific reason. 65 is not so old anymore. Heart failure can be sudden without any prior recognised symptoms. Then I would expect his death certificate to say heart failure or cardiac arrest, whatever the terminology is. However, as I said before, you are not likely to find out more unless his family tells you.
ACurtis sheryl37154
Posted
Sheryl--
Ah! Yes, you are correct. Maybe high ferritin from high inflammation. That would make me wonder, then, what was wrong/not working correctly with the transplanted kidney (and whatever else would have had issues because of that). I would have dug deeper. Yes, 65 is young these days. And "natural causes" is also strange to me.
It is odd that one doctor wanted to do so much phlebotomy and the other was like, nah. So something doesn't add up there either.
My condolences on the loss of your friend.
ACurtis lou54617
Posted