PKD kidneys removed at time of transplant

PKD (Polycystic Kidney Disease) caused my kidneys to grow to be huge! Not only was I in stage 5 of kidney failure when I arrived at Mayo Clinic, which is bad enough but I also was miserable because my native kidneys grew so large I had trouble eating, sleeping, moving and breathing. My scans showed them pushing up in my lungs and pushing down into my hip bones. NOT FUN!!! I was very blessed to have a healthy living donor but I was worried that even after a new kidney I'd still have a poor quality of life because my giant old, non-functioning kidneys would still be there causing so many problems. I was doubly blessed to meet Mikel Prieto when I was at Mayo clinic in Rochester, MN who is a brilliant surgeon and was already researching the possibility of doing both surgeries at once (1.bad giant kidneys out AND 2.new healthy kidney transplanted). I am so proud to say I was the first patient who received a laparoscopic (tiny, tiny incisions) bilateral native nephrectomy (both bad PKD kidneys removed) with a simultaneous living donor transplant (awesome new kidney transplant from my healthy friend Dawn) all at one time. After surgery I was 22lbs lighter!!! Can you imagine, that's like 10lb twins... YUCK!!! This is a complex surgery and it is not right for everyone but it improved my quality of life beyond measure. I wanted to share my story so others are aware that this type of hope exists but also I want to find out if anyone else has a similar story.