PATIENT:
I went for a physical and they found out that I had diabetes.

I was having a lot of problems and my kidneys' filters had 
already started to deteriorate.

I had no idea that the kidneys were so important!

There wasn't much they could do to repair it.

I called my son, explained to him that eventually I was going 
to have to do dialysis.

NURSE:
Hi Shirlene, how are you today?

PATIENT:
Fine, how are you doing?

NURSE:
Good.  Come on in.

PATIENT:
They started me on dialysis last May.

PATIENT'S DAUGHTER-IN-LAW:
I actually didn't know if it was something that just happens 
in one night, or over a certain period of time.  I just didn't 
know what causes it

NURSE:
Let's see how your pressure is...

DOCTOR:
Kidney disease is a silent disease. Especially kidney disease 
in the early stages, people feel fine.  Actually, they have no 
symptoms whatsoever.ple feel fine.  Actually, they have no 
symptoms whatsoever.

SOCIAL WORKER:
When a person has high blood pressure or diabetes or kidney 
disease their family members are at risk.  It is necessary that 
they be tested as well so that they can be treated as early as 
possible if they do have that.l so that they can be treated as 
early as possible if they do have that.

Patients who have family members with diabetes or family  with 
high blood pressure, especially in African Americans, we know 
that these diseases put them at higher risk for developing 
kidney disease.

PATIENT:
And high blood pressure does run in our family, I knew  that.

I didn't know at the time that high blood pressure was 
affiliated with kidney disease.

PATIENT'S SON:
I never thought about getting tested for it, until my mom found 
out that she had kidney disease.  And then my mom said "You 
gotta get tested, you gotta get tested."

SOCIAL WORKER:
She had hypertension, but obviously, with kidney disease, if it 
runs in your family, you need to definitely get yourself checked 
out.

DOCTOR:
The only way to tell if you have kidney disease is to be tested 
for kidney disease.

The test for kidney disease is very simple -- either a blood 
test or a urine test.  We usually send it out.  The test results 
come back within a day or two.  We'll call you when we get the 
results and you can come in and we'll talk about it.

Deon, would you come back please?

PATIENT'S DAUGHTER-IN-LAW
For Deon's sake and my sake, I encouraged Deon to go get tested 
for kidney disease so that if he is diagnosed with it, he can 
catch it or he can get some help so that he can know what's going 
on.couraged Deon to go get tested for kidney disease so that if he 
is diagnosed with it, he can catch it or he can get some help so 
that he can know what's going on.

SOCIAL WORKER
It was important for Deon to get tested, because his mom does 
have kidney disease and diabetes and hypertension.  So he is at 
risk for developing these things, so it is important for him to 
get tested on a regular basis.

DOCTOR:
Once you get the diagnosis of kidney disease, it's not something 
that patients should look on gloomily, there's therapy, there's 
treatment available.  But you have to come in and you have to be 
tested and treatment has to be started.

What we do is we try to figure out what's caused the kidney 
disease, whether it's related to diabetes.  Maybe he's not aware 
that he has diabetes or he's not aware that he has high blood 
pressure, because, like kidney disease, high blood pressure is 
asymptomatic, meaning  you don't really have symptoms.

And diabetes, in the early stages, you don't really have symptoms 
either.

If we catch the disease early it is very treatable.

We have better medications nowadays to treat kidney disease.  We 
can actually halt the progression of kidney disease.

We must make a diagnosis early in order to kind of slow things 
down.

PATIENT:
OK everybody, time to eat, dinner's ready.

I'm trying to express the importance of being healthy to my son 
and my grandchildren.

PATIENT'S SON:
I want to be around to see the kids grow older, so I stress that 
to myself, to have myself checked out.