She got off dialysis. Her doctor thinks others with acute kidney injury can too
Dialysis impacts quality of life and can lead to infection and heart damage. Now, some doctors say it's possible to wean certain patients off dialysis.
SAN FRANCISCO — It was during some of the darkest days of the pandemic — November 2020 — when Melissa Lawson, then 36, was helicoptered from an emergency room in Santa Rosa, Calif., to a hospital here, her blood so thick with white blood cells doctors thought she might not survive the night.
She did, after undergoing a procedure to clear her blood. Diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia, she got chemo, and less than a month later was in remission. But then her kidneys suddenly stopped working — she’s still not sure why — her lungs filled with fluid, and she was rushed to the ICU, where she coded twice. Her parents were called in (despite strict Covid protocols) to say their last goodbyes.
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