Connect
← Return to What's a reasonable distance for traveling for a kidney transplant?
Discussion
What's a reasonable distance for traveling for a kidney transplant?
Transplants | Last Active: Sep 23, 2018 | Replies (33)Comment receiving replies
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
Replies to "I am sorry that what I wrote was misunderstood. Transplanted kidneys do have a "shelf life"...."
@mlmcg Recently I met a kidney recipient, who has had his new kidney over 40 years! It just recently started to fail, which we felt was right, as the gifted kidney is 99 yrs old!! So, he is going to go back on dialysis soon, and try for another kidney. We know my husband's donor was a male in mid-30s, so about 25 yrs younger than him. We don't know the circumstances, but we are honoring the life of the donor everyday.
Ginger
Connect
@mlmcg thanks for that! I had a feeling it was the way I was reading it, not the way you meant it. I'm working on asking for clarification instead of letting things upset me. I have learned so much and I appreciate your response.
Transplants are amazing to me and I am in awe of the knowledge and skill that allow them to happen. I'm also impressed by the amount of information that the tranplantee and caregiver need to know and implement daily. Its hard work.
The surgery was not successful & she died about 8 months later. She had juvenile diabetes, then glaucoma in her 40's. A side effect of some of the meds was colon cancer but she told me that it gave her a few more years and she may have made the same decision even knowing the outcome.