“Porn” is a plump, dark-skinned 25-year-old woman, a former department store employee, with a 9-year-old son who is in elementary school. Porn never knew she had chronic kidney disease because she had no symptoms until 3 years ago when she underwent an annual employee health check-up. The blood test results revealed that she had stage 4 chronic kidney disease, which is almost the final stage. Porn has no relatives with this disease, but she has always eaten spicy food since childhood and regularly consumed snacks. She received treatment to slow down kidney deterioration but found no improvement. The doctor diagnosed her with end-stage chronic kidney disease. By February 2017, she had to undergo dialysis with a hemodialysis machine 3 times a week, every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, for 4 hours each day. Fortunately, Porn could use social security benefits for treatment, but she had to quit her job for the treatment.
Porn then took on the role of taking care of the house and picking up and dropping off her child from school every day. Her husband works as a freelance roofer. Their economic situation is not very good because her husband is the sole breadwinner, and his income is inconsistent. Therefore, the couple does not want to have more children. Previously, Porn used birth control pills for 5 years but stopped about a year ago. The kidney doctor advised against using hormonal medication, so she told her husband to use condoms, but he dislikes them and often does not use them. She thought that since she had kidney disease and her body was not strong, she would not get pregnant, so she neglected birth control.
After missing her period for 2 months, Porn took a pregnancy test and found two lines. She consulted her kidney doctor, who tested her urine again with the same result. The doctor said she could continue the pregnancy but would need dialysis 5 times a week and pay for the 2 additional sessions herself as they exceeded the social security limit. The cost of 2,000 baht per session was too much for her to bear. The kidney doctor referred her to the obstetrics and gynecology clinic for consultation. Porn was very worried. An ultrasound revealed a 7-week pregnancy. She received counseling and terminated the pregnancy with the help of an obstetrician and a professional nurse from the RSA volunteer network using a vacuum aspiration method. The procedure was successful with no complications.
Porn returned for a follow-up the following week with a bright and cheerful demeanor, unlike her first consultation. She thanked the RSA volunteer team and was very grateful for their help. Regarding birth control, she and her husband agreed to use condoms every time, and when ready, she would undergo sterilization because she did not want to face the same problem again.
With love and care,
Uncle Doctor Ruangkit Sirikanchanakul
Source: www.lovecarestation.com