ANSWER: kidney failure

Your first question about kidney failure is beyond a librarian's expertise to answer or to provide advice about medical treatment.

If you want to do some research in your own the most comprehensive and reliable source on kidney disease for patients in the US is the National Kidney and Urologic Diseases Clearinghouse (NKUDIC), http://kidney.niddk.nih.gov/index.htm. It contains information about kidney disease, failure, treatment options, as well as linking other associations concerned with kidney disease. The site is written by medical experts and is intended to help patients.

You may also wish to consult this site for patients diagnoses with kidney failure on Medline (published by the National Library of Medicine), http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/kidneyfailure.html. On the right side of the page you will notice a box labeled "Go Local" which you can use to find local resources that can help you with understanding kidney failure and choosing treatments.

As for your second question, according to the medical dictionary available at Medline, "radical" is defined as "involving complete removal of an organ." "Palliate" is defined as "ease without curing."

You may wish to refer the website of the American Association of Kidney Patients, http://www.aakp.org/. They can provide with you further information and referrals to local services.