87 year old dad diagnosed with over 90% kidney failure. He cannot walk due to spinal issues and asked if the dialysis would enable him to possibly get on his feet with walker again. When told no by drs, he chose not to do dialysis; he has hospice now but I am begging him to take the liquid morphine and he refuses it fearing he will become immune to it; how long can this go on? The catheter and bag have blood; he is shaking and weak but still cognizant. I wish to know how long does he have to live as I do not want him to suffer
Hi, Thanks for writing in. I understand your concern towards your father who is having end stage renal disease. He seems to be having a strong will power and can endure the pain and suffering for few months more. As he is not getting dialysis, there is a chance that his creatinine levels might rise to dangerous levels though his doctors might still give him a choice to accept dialysis. It is important to know his creatinine levels right now. A lot depends on the amount of creatinine in his blood. Since creatinine is a toxic product, a level above 5 does not carry good prognosis in the long term, might be just over about 6 months.