Yesterday afternoon was my Pre-Transplant Orientation meeting. I traveled down to south-east Dallas to the Dallas Nephrology / Dallas Transplant offices. There, I sat for about an hour watching a Power Point presentation that could have easily been printed out and given to me to read on my own time. The presenter told us that not all kidneys that get transplanted work for all patients. She also said to take your medications, go to your dialysis, and keep up with your pre-transplant appointments. These things will go a long way to helping you secure a spot on the UNOS list.
She also gave some times. It seems that people with type A blood have an average of greater than 1000 days of waiting time before receiving a transplant. So, unless on of my living donors is a match, I can probably look forward to about three years of waiting. And, speaking of living donors, they will be able to be tested once all of my testing is complete. My transplant coordinator said that they will schedule my blood, antigen, and tissue samples in early January, hopefully all on the same day so I only have to miss one day of work. Once all of that is complete, then I can get my potential living donors to get blood work done so that the transplant office can evaluate who will have the best chance at being a match. They will only test one person at a time, which makes sense since it costs approximately $11,000 per person to get tested. I am guessing that the insurance company and Medicare will help with these costs, but I won’t really know until I get into that phase of the process.
So, the time I have been waiting for since this summer is rapidly approaching. They will start the testing in January, and I was told that it can take up to six months to get all of the necessary things tested and approved. So, if you get a call in July from me asking you to get your blood drawn, well, don’t worry. I just want one of your kidneys.
Thanks for coming by to read today. I realize that my posts have been short, but I haven’t had too much to say. I have dialysis tonight, and I will find out if I can get the stitches out of my arm from when they did the fistula revision surgery. I hope they are ready to come out, because they are loose and are starting to itch.
473) PKD Day, September 4, 2022
1 year ago
1 comment:
Glad to see you're keeping your head up Nathan.
I'm sorry you've had to have an "extra" surgery to get your fistula working properly, but am very happy that you're keeping a smile on your face, and that you're looking forward to using that fistula again.
I offer encouragement as someone who has experienced both the transplant process, and dialysis.
I wanted to encourage you to "hang in there." I know it can be hard when you're waiting for a transplant. I want to warn you though, to keep a realistic view of the transplant process. It will be trading one set of problems and compromises for another, and while it will totally change your life for the better, it is not a cure or even a treatment, but is yet another way to prolong life for the ESRD patient.
Your transplant will be wonderful, as will your life afterward, but know that similar to now on dialysis, life will not be perfect - even after the transplant.
That said I wanted to also offer you some encouragement with your fistula. I pray that you will get "good sticks", and that your fistula will continue to work hard, and last a good long time (should you ever need it again in the future).
Along the lines of "good sticks" ... I just recently started self-cannulation, and have to say that my arm is already much much happier. Treatment is running much smoother, and I am suffering a lot less discomfort due to "bad" sticks.
I wish you well, and wish you a very Merry Christmas!
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