Called in for a transplant for the fifth time
The good news is: I was called in Monday to UPMC Montefiore for the kidney-pancreas transplants I’ve been awaiting for almost 14 months. The bad news is, I didn’t receive the transplants.
The pancreas from the 29-year-old trauma victim was rejected. It was not a quality organ. In fact, Dr. Henkie Tan, who heads the program, said it was the worst he’d seen. It was fatty. Had nodules.
The 29 year old apparently had been a heavy drinker with a preference for beer. It rendered his pancreas useless as a transplant organ.
It represents the fifth time I’ve been called in for the transplant and fifth time I’ve had to return home without the transplants taking place. I’m not complaining. This time I was told at 11 a.m. to be at the hospital by noon. Blood work, an EKG, another chest x-ray, an IV all preceded the 6 p.m. notice that the organ was not transplantable.
Argh.
Dr. Tan told me that one person was called in 27 times before receiving a kidney-pancreas transplant. That sounds almost brutal but finding quality organs is more miss than hit. Also, it’s a tribute to the UPMC program at the Thomas E. Starzl Transplantation Institute that they’re so picky about what organs they accept. Better organs mean better results, as their success rates prove.
I’m all for waiting for good organs, even if I must go on dialysis in the meantime.
Dr. Tan added to my comfort level by noting his success rate last year approached 100 percent.
So it’s an exciting waiting game. You have to be ready to react when the call does come through.
Patience, I am learning, is a must.
The pancreas from the 29-year-old trauma victim was rejected. It was not a quality organ. In fact, Dr. Henkie Tan, who heads the program, said it was the worst he’d seen. It was fatty. Had nodules.
The 29 year old apparently had been a heavy drinker with a preference for beer. It rendered his pancreas useless as a transplant organ.
It represents the fifth time I’ve been called in for the transplant and fifth time I’ve had to return home without the transplants taking place. I’m not complaining. This time I was told at 11 a.m. to be at the hospital by noon. Blood work, an EKG, another chest x-ray, an IV all preceded the 6 p.m. notice that the organ was not transplantable.
Argh.
Dr. Tan told me that one person was called in 27 times before receiving a kidney-pancreas transplant. That sounds almost brutal but finding quality organs is more miss than hit. Also, it’s a tribute to the UPMC program at the Thomas E. Starzl Transplantation Institute that they’re so picky about what organs they accept. Better organs mean better results, as their success rates prove.
I’m all for waiting for good organs, even if I must go on dialysis in the meantime.
Dr. Tan added to my comfort level by noting his success rate last year approached 100 percent.
So it’s an exciting waiting game. You have to be ready to react when the call does come through.
Patience, I am learning, is a must.