When my dad got his kidney transplant about 25 years ago, he had to wait for a cadaver kidney. They didn't talk about living donors back then...at least not in the mid-west hospital that was caring for my dad. I am so lucky to have found someone willing to donate. My cousin is literally saving my life and I think about that all the time. It's an amazing thing and as I tell my friends and family, I feel like I need to come up with a new type of thank you that means more. A simple "thank you" seems like the best thing to say, but I say thank you when a waitress brings me a glass of water...or when a co-worker finishes a project for our team. It makes my "Thank you for donating your kidney to me" seem so inadequate.
I spoke with my transplant coordinator earlier this week about how many HLA antigens my cousin and I match or mismatch on. She explained that they look at 6 and a 0 mismatch is ideal. Our results were a 4 mismatch which means we matched on 2 antigens, but my doctor assured me not to worry. The anti-rejection medicines are so successful, the number of mismatches doesn't concern her at all (if it did, they wouldn't do the transplant.) Thank goodness for medical advances!
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2 comments:
Thank you for sharing your experiences. My boyfriend has PKD and it is something that I continually try and learn more about. Your stories have really helped me to understand the disease and how you have been able to lead a normal life.
Thank you
I'm glad you found something useful in this blog. I live quite a normal life with this disease. It's funny to see people's reactions when they hear I will get a transplant w/in months. They can't get over the fact that I look and seem perfectly healthy. My hope is that this will remain so after my transplant. Did you know George Lopez had a kidney transplant? What a wonderful, positive role model he provides for us to follow.
I'll send you and your boyfriend my positive thoughts!
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