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Message: [QUOTE="nephron, post: 259774, member: 23759"] After training in Kali, 2 years ago I moved home to SWK to take care of my people & the area I grew up loving. About 8 months ago, I started a pheresis program specifically for one 38 year old male with homozygous Type II Dyslipidemia (cholesterol about 1200, LDL about 650)--this procedure involves using a continuous centrifugal plasma/blood separator, removes his cholesterol, returns his blood cells & "fresh" 5% albumin. He had had a 4 vessel coronary bipass procedure at 32 years of age, but we had his LDL down to 120-150 & things were looking up. Since I was apheresing him once/week, I got to know him well, including all of his personal/family problems. Well, for some reason, he skipped his treatments over the last month, started smoking, & died a couple days ago, suddenly. Most likely cardiac arrest. :ugg: 38 years old. I'm having a real hard time with this one. Sure, I take care of a lot of youngsters on dialysis, & see them frequently as well, but this one really bothered me. I'm not sure why I'm saying anything here, but just wanted some here to know what I go through. It's not easy. And despite what many think of docs, we do care. For me, when someone like this dies, it's almost like losing a family member. Certainly, like losing a friend. I'm going to his funeral today.:( [/QUOTE]