Quality of Life after Kidney Transplant.

Hi @kandyh 😊
It's a pleasure to meet you! Do you have other health concerns? What caused your kidney failure?
I am a 3 year post kidney transplant patient. I received my kidney transplant surgery during covid in 2020.

The thing to understand is that dialysis and feeling good on dialysis is not a forever game. The effects of dialysis will wear on you and complications get worse. The main things we are seeing from a change of life perspective post transplant:

Medications for antirejection - which, my husband was on a lot of medications before for blood pressure and such so it really is not more medications just different medications
Concerns regarding being immunocompromised - which will lesson over time, but 3 months post transplant, we are still very much in quarantine phase
Again, back to medications and side affects - worrying about things like sun exposure, and watching blood sugars (things we should really all be doing anyway 😉 )
No dialysis 3 days a week is amazing, the health items such as meds and diet are working themselves out over the past 3 months.
I cannot encourage you to look into transplant enough, the life changes are much less drastic than dialysis and dialysis complications seem to get worse over time in our experience. Do what you are doing, talk to a lot of people, talk to several transplant centers and come to your own conclusions you are comfortable with.

My sister is on dialysis at 71. The transplant center at Yale told her she is not a candidate. I don't understand why not and am very concerned for her. Are there any ways that she can get opinions on this within her insurance plan? Any help or words would be appreciated.

Welcome, @helpkathy. I encourage you to join the discussion here where you'll meet others on dialysis and some who, for various reasons, are not able to get a kidney transplant:
- Dialysis - Stories and Questions https://connect.mayoclinic.org/discussion/dialysis-stories-and-questions/

If your sister would like to get a second opinion at Mayo Clinic, she can request an appointment here: http://mayocl.in/1mtmR63

Go to another clinic. You can register as many clinics as you feel comfortable doing so . You just have to be willing to travel to whatever place you choose every week after the transplant. You can register in as many places, in as many states as you are ready and able after transplant to attend weekly and monthly doctors and lab appointments. You could probably do your lab appointments remotely.

It’s a trade off as far as quality of life after transplant. I feel better now and have more energy. My appetite has come back., but I have to be very careful about what I eat. I am able to take some trips, and enjoy my family. I had to give up swimming in lakes and creeks, which I loved to do. I can still garden, ride my bike, and go fishing. My hair has fallen out a lot, and looks bad. I can’t do much about that. I have gained weight from the prednisone; and I have to take pills with me everywhere . The surgery was traumatic and painful, but all thing considered; it was worth it. You have to decide what your priorities are.

@kandyh My husband is a kidney recipient, October 2016. He will tell you his life is better, he is more free to move about the world, doing his thing. Now he is retired, he can do his activities without worrying. He still has quarterly appointments with his nephrologist, and an annual evaluation from his transplant team. He takes a regimen of meds twice a day.

I am a "dialysis for life" patient. I cannot be transplanted due to being an active blood cancer patient. Dialysis puts a real crimp on my lifestyle as it was before, something that I harbor resentment or grief towards from time to time. I am on daily peritoneal dialysis,
Ginger

@kandyh, I am a liver and a kidney transplant recipient. I am responding in response to your question: "Do most kidney transplant recipients live a normal life once they recover from the surgery." I don't know statistics for 'most' kidney transplant recipients, however I can assure you that this (me)recipient is living a normal healthy life. My kidney failure came on suddenly while I was waiting for my liver transplant. I needed emergency dialysis followed by outpatient dialysis until I received my transplant in 2009 at Mayo Rochester. Both of my organs began to function immediately, and I did not require anymore dialysis. My recovery was textbook perfect. I remember the being able to enjoy favorite foods again without the rigid restrictions. And the freedom from 3 lost days each week with morning dialysis and afternoon naps, was a blessing beyond description. I am aware that each patient has a different experience, and this is mine. I hope it gives you a hint of what is possible.

Kandyh, Have you been advised that a transplant could be in your future? Have you consulted with a kidney transplant nephrologist yet?

Thank you. Your reply is encouraging. The general consensus is that even with health concerns to manage the transplant is worth it.
Working with a few transplant center to get qualified. Open foot wounds are delaying things. We had a donor at one center but they delisted because of the foot wound so we lost that donor since they can not give us info on the donor.

How long have you been doing dialysis? Are you doing in clinic or at home dialysis? My fiance has been on n off back on now almost 8-10 years. Was going to do home dialysis but it didn't work out as being the right time to do it so he's back in center but he is very high on the transplant list he just has to get some paperwork turned in to do evaluation process and he also needs to quit smoking which has been very challenging for him since he doesn't have anything for his anxiety right now so not sure when it will come about but I'm hoping he will quit in time and gets this kidney transplant before Christmas. Battling stage 5 kidney disease so it's crucial he stops smoking asap to be rid of his system when they do the nicotine blood test on him.