Patients Stories

An 84 years old VVIP patient with a background of chronic kidney disease for 14 years, not requiring dialysis. He also had history of a heart attack (myocardial infarction from 18 years) and advanced heart failure with only 20% of his heart function is preserved.

In February 2020, he sustained another heart attack for that he required a coronary angiography. This life saving procedure resulted in more damage to his kidneys which resulting in dialysis dependent acute kidney injury on chronic kidney disease. He fell ill because of all this and developed pneumonia resulting in breathing (respiratory failure) and required intensive care unit admission where he required intubation and ventilation for few weeks. During that admission, unfortunately he developed severe pressure sores into his sacral area (lower back) which was severe enough to reach the bones and caused bone infection (osteomyelitis). He was flown out urgently to Germany in May 2020, where he had multiple procedure for his pressure sore. He continued throughout to require dialysis via a permanent dialysis neck line (Internal jugular permcath). Unfortunately he continued while in Europe to suffer from ongoing severe infection (Sepsis) of unknown origin and he was severely under-dialysed with low blood pressure and constantly high potassium levels that was life threatening. They removed his gall bladder there thinking it was the source of sepsis, but that did not cure his infection. The team in Belgium eventually gave the family a prognosis of 2 weeks at its maximum estimation to live.  The family managed to fly him back to Saudi Arabia in October 2020. Our care started then in his home in the kingdom. We have set an excellent dialysis service tailored to his clinical condition using Fresenius haemodiafiltration, with a consultant attending his dialysis sessions and tailoring it to his multiple chronic clinical condition. Within few weeks his clinical condition improved, We have also managed his nutritional status, by giving him intravenous nutrition on hemodialysis and optimizing his dialysis more to allow him the freedom to eat the food he loved. Within few weeks, he was able to walk and abandoned the use of his wheelchair. He is now going for trips to various places within the kingdom and thinking of going abroad in the summer if COVID-19 pandemic settles down.