My kidney transplant evaluation is done - 17 appointments in 4 days plus a tour of the Gift of Life Transplant House. It started with blood work. They drew 20 vials of blood. They test to see what diseases you've had (or didn't have - they don't want you getting sick when you are on anti-rejection drugs after the transplant.) I had to have a chest X-ray, an EKG, an ultrasound (to see where the transplanted kidney can be placed). and a stress echocardiogram. I met with financial services, a social worker, a pharmacist, the transplant coordinator, dietician, nephrologist, physical therapist, surgeon and in my case, oncologist. Monday was the busiest day - 10 1/2 hours of appointments. I was afraid that I was going to be overwhelmed by all the information I was going to receive, but before I went, I read Mayo's kidney transplant website and the websites of a couple of other hospitals.

All the information from my evaluation will be presented to the transplant committee in the next week or so and they will make a determination whether or not to put my name on the transplant list. If they do put my name on the list, I will be classified as inactive until I have been cancer free for 5 years. From talking to the nephrologist, it sounds like they have not had many requests for a kidney transplant from a pancreatic cancer survivor.