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What's a reasonable distance for traveling for a kidney transplant?
Transplants | Last Active: Sep 23, 2018 | Replies (33)Comment receiving replies
@mlmcg I had surgery in Rochester in January, boy was I wishing for an Arizona spot! The people in Rochester were great but I would have loved at least 1 day above freezing even with the tunnels and walkways.
I don't know if you meant it how I read your post but it sounded like you were blaming the patient for needing another kidney after 16 years. Some people make choices that can affect their health either positively or negatively, some can get away with doing anything (or nothing) and be fine, and some people don't have many choices or options. It sounds like you're shaming someone for having a health problem.
This is a sore subject for me so I may be seeing it differently. When my Mom was being wheeled into surgery to have a tumor removed, the nurse said to her that she must have smoked or eaten a lot of red meat. She didn't smoke and we didn't eat much meat but it sticks with me after 25 years what an awful thing that was to say to someone diagnosed with cancer, on her way into surgery.
Replies to "@mlmcg I had surgery in Rochester in January, boy was I wishing for an Arizona spot!..."
@mauraacro I believe there are several ways to read @mlmcg's post. I know patients who failed to honor their transplant, via food decisions, or lifestyle choices. I know pre-transplant patients who also consciously made poor decisions that affected their medical health and transplant chances, then proceeded to complain about the system, not taking any personal responsibility. I also know many people who got where they are through no choice of their own. Sometimes the truth is unpleasant, much like that nurse's comment was.
JMHO, Ginger
I am sorry that what I wrote was misunderstood. Transplanted kidneys do have a "shelf life". No one knows how the kidney was cared for before it was transplanted, which may have played a part in its life after the transplant. I have had limited experience knowing others who have had transplants. The meds that we take can reduce the life of the transplanted organs, not just kidneys. I know that if you have good reports for the first 10 years you are doing a good job. Anything after 10 years is remarkable. The greater the tissue match the less drugs are needed, the less stress on the kidney and body. Even though the doctors believe the kidney and body are a good match sometimes they are not.
I had my annual checkup yesterday and my meds were changed again. That could be good, or it could not be good. My body could be trying to get rid of that "thing" or they are becoming forever friends. Having a transplant is an experience the longer we can keep our transplant the more information doctors have learned about transplants, drugs needed and a million other things. Well, maybe not a million, but they know a lot more than they did.
Unfortunately your mother had a nurse she should never have had. You just overheard a conversation you should not have heard, and it sounds as if you have not been able let go of that conversation. You forgot to say if your mother made it through her surgery and how she is doing today.
mlmcg
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Wow! Nurse ratchet? What a nasty person that nurse must be!! Too bad you didn’t think to say “no, she spent too much time around people like you!!” But that would have been mean.