I just received a call from UCLA Transplant Center. They want to set up a video call between myself, my sister, and the transplant medical director. The donor coordinator already called my sister with the news and this is what I got.
The committee met again today and still couldn’t decide. It appears that the risk of biopsy and an additional scan is greater than the risk of the cyst/object being a cancerous tumor. I didn’t know radiology scans were that risky. However, the risk of cancer is not zero so the medical director wanted to discuss everything with us, and get my consent on accepting the “additional” risks of using my sister’s kidney. I think this would be of greater concern to the patient if it was a purely elective surgery but compared to spending another 5 years on dialysis waiting for a deceased donor? Sign me up.
We were thinking that the risks to my sister were the same. If the cyst was not cancerous, then we want the kidney donated to me for transplant. If it was cancerous, then it probably needs to be taken out sooner than later. Two years ago they said if the cyst was benign, they can remove it from the donated kidney before inserting it in me. I guess the “additional” risk is a higher chance of cancer? How does that compare to the mortality rate of more dialysis?
The call is scheduled for next Friday. I’ll try to talk to one of out nephrologists about this before then to see what they think.
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Just got another call. The time we just scheduled for the call is no good. It seems there is something on the medical director’s calendar. Don’t they have a shared online calendar like in Microsoft Outlook or something? At work, we try to keep our calendars updated so anyone can see your availability to set up meetings. Surely they have something like that at UCLA Medical Center?
Life with chronic diseases 