I went to the Kidney Disease Support Group at Saddleback Church today after dialysis. Since I didn’t switch shifts, I left the dialysis clinic at 1:10 pm and made it to the group at ~1:35 pm. The meeting started at 1:00 pm but I emailed the organizer so they know I will be late.
It was a full house again, with probably 35 people in attendance. I missed most of the introductions but there seemed to be several newbies who have no idea about ESRD, dialysis, and transplant. The organizer asked how I was doing so I gave a quick update about the PD catheter removal and fistula surgery to the group. Interestingly, in the group there was a donor who came with her recipient, and someone considering to donate a kidney to his mother. There was also another person who is on her fourth transplanted kidney in ~20 years. How is that possible when my wait time is 6-10 years?
Another gentleman also had fistula surgery last week but he had a new type of graft put in. He said his veins weren’t suitable for a regular fistula so they had to insert a graft. However, he was able to use the graft right away. I guess they can stick the dialysis needles directly into the graft, without waiting for the surrounding blood vessels to heal.
It was also interesting to see the large number of local patients that were listed for transplant at the Mayo Clinic in Phoenix, AZ. They even know which temporary housing to stay at while testing or recovering from transplant. I’ve considered this option but maybe I’ll give it more thought if both my living donors get rejected again.
Life with chronic diseases 