Social - July 2002

Couple’s ‘clinic’ keeps hope alive

Waiting for their turn

By ANDIE LEATHERMAN, LTN Staff Writer

July 12, 2002 - Pat and Kevin Hull jokingly refer to their spare bedroom as “the clinic,” though the medical equipment in the room is used for a serious purpose — kidney dialysis.

When Kevin’s kidney disease worsened earlier this year, he opted for dialysis. Because Kevin needed, and wanted, to continue working, visiting a clinic three times a week for the procedure was not an option. Instead, he and Pat trained for six weeks at Metrolina Kidney Center in Gastonia.

The couple worked with nurses, learning how to operate the Fresenius hemodialysis system they would soon use in their Buffalo Shoals home. The  dialysis machine filters toxins from Kevin’s blood, a job his kidneys no longer perform.

Neither Pat nor Kevin had any healthcare training. Today, they laugh as they describe the night Pat was learning to pull the needle from Kevin’s vein. She failed to apply pressure fast enough. Blood spurted over the five-foot woman’s head.

“You’ve got to laugh about it or you would cry,” Pat said.

Her skills quickly improved and by June, nurses told the Hulls they were ready to dialyze at home. The procedure takes four hours plus an hour to set up and another hour to clean up.

The couple perform the procedure three times weekly. Pat sets up the machine while Kevin weighs himself and readies supplies.

Born with a disease which kept his kidneys from growing, doctors predicted Kevin would require dialysis when he reached puberty. Instead, he put off the procedure 44 years. By age 40, his visits to a kidney specialist had gradually gone from annually to monthly. The symptoms of kidney failure — depression, twitching and loss of sensation in the extremities and excessive tiredness — worsened.

In March 2001, Kevin visited Duke University’s medical center for tests which would allow him to be placed on a transplant waiting list.

“That’s when it hits you square in the face,” Kevin said.

The average wait for a cadaver kidney donation is five years.

Doctors gave him another option — a living donor. Kevin says he could never ask someone to give an organ.

“I couldn’t dream of asking anyone to do this,” he said.

However, both Kevin and Pat’s families and Pat all volunteered for testing. Pat’s aunt Myra O’Connor was a possible match. She was willing to donate.

“They’re not in-laws. They’re family. It’s gut wrenching. You just can’t say thank you,” Kevin said.

Surgery was scheduled for Oct. 31, 2001. The entire family was elated. Three weeks prior to the transplant surgery, Kevin received a shattering e-mail from doctors at Duke. There was a 65 percent chance he would reject the kidney.

“That was a gut wrencher. We had a pity party that night. We cried,” Kevin said.

After avoiding dialysis for decades, Kevin accepted it was time for the time consuming procedure. The couple would have to give up the spur of the moment overnight trips that were a mainstay of their 22-year marriage. Despite the loss of spontaneity, Kevin said it was the right decision

“I got tired of feeling bad, tired,” Kevin said.

He was sleeping most of the weekends anyway, staying awake only four to six hours on Saturdays and Sundays. According to Pat, Kevin developed a gray pallor. A veteran of Lincoln Theatre Guild productions, Kevin could no longer put in the long hours required to act on stage. Co-workers at U.S. Airways line maintenance department frequently had to help him co mplete his work.

“That’s hard for a guy to accept,” Kevin said.

Surgeons prepared a special vein in his arm for dialysis. In March, after the vein healed, he and Pat began training for home dialysis.

Today, they are adjusting to a different lifestyle, one largely dominated by dialysis.

The couple have quickly learned that dialysis patients are a close-knit group. Kevin recalls a phone call to another man on dialysis. The Hickory man was about to leave on a family vacation but took an hour to talk with Kevin. In turn, he wants to give the same support to new patients.

Despite the procedure’s impact on their lives, the Hulls are able to marvel at the technology in their home and stay hopeful.

“It still amazes me that a little machine like this can help keep me alive,” Kevin said. “Our turn is coming. We’ve just got to put in our time.”

© 2001 Lincoln Times-News  

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