And, The Adventure Begins: Were home from my screening with the U.W. Kidney Transplant Team. It was a long day (about 6 hours), but everything went well. We met, individually, with a nurse; a nephrologist fellow; a dietician; a transplant surgeon; and a transplant coordinator; then a lab work-up. The team meets as a committee every Monday to determine whether a patient will be accepted as a transplant recipient. Todays lab work has to be reviewed, and I need a stress test, before theyll make a decision on me. But, everything theyve said so far made it sound fairly favorable. Upon acceptance to the transplant program, theyd next be evaluating prospective live donors. They start out with the top two prospects (in my case, an older brother, and a younger sister). If neither is a good match, they move down my list to the next two people, and evaluate them. Its good to have this first step behind us. Talking face-to-face with so many of the people who will be involved has lessened the anxiety quite a bit for both of us. We now know a lot more about what to expect; and a lot of the good, the bad, and the ugly that have been in our imaginations has been clarified. Maybe tonight well both get a little more sleep. If we end up proceeding with the transplant, itll be termed a pre-emptive transplant, with the intention of getting it done with before it would become an emergency situation. The key is that, other than my kidney function being very low, causing me to tire easily and get very winded, Im still fine. The objective is to KEEP me fine, to be a crotchety grumpy old man. (Oh... wait... I already am).
Posted on: Thu, 20 Nov 2014 00:28:14 +0000
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