It’s time to bring you up to date with the kidney search. Okay, now you’re up to date.

Seriously, not much has happened since my last update other than the donor pool continues to march (swim?) (you know – pool, swim. okay, I’ll stop) toward completing all the required tests.

Actually, that is reportable. Three candidates are all moving along but are at different stages. One has completed all of the required steps and is waiting for the transplant group to review everything. One is awaiting a test date for the final step. One has one last test to complete before moving on to the final step.

So, everybody is through, near, or approaching the “final step.” What is it? It’s a CT Scan of the pelvic area including the kidneys and surrounding structure. If a candidate gets that far and nothing has derailed the process, the transplant surgeons will use the results of that scan to determine if the potential donated kidney exhibits any obvious defects that will disqualify the donor, which kidney would be harvested, and if the surgeon would need to consider any special procedures for retrieving the kidney.

So it’s been a while since they started the process and all are getting close to completing it without being disqualified. Yay! But it has been a long time, over five months, since that first phone interview. It’s not like in the movie where somebody holds up a sign at a hockey game that says “Need a kidney, Call me!” and the following scene they are being wheeled into the operating room.

What have I been doing while all this is going on? Other than my regular dialysis sessions, as I reported in my last Transplant Journey post I had a new fistula fashioned. Unfortunately, the central venous catheter that was placed so I could have dialysis until the fistula is healed, hopefully sometime next month, failed and I had to have a new one inserted the day after Christmas. I also hope to be able to report sometime next month that at least one potential donor has been cleared and we are awaiting a transplant date.

Until then we keep going on with our lives like nothing remarkable is going on. When you stop to think about it, other than I actually got basil to live indoors so far this winter, nothing remarkable has is going on. Yet.

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Transplant Journey Posts

First Steps (Feb. 15, 2018)
The Next Step (March 15, 2018)
The Journey Continues (April 16, 2018)
More Steps (May 31, 2018)
Step 4: The List (July 12, 2018)
Step 1 Again…The Donor Perspective (Sept 6, 2018)
And The Wait Goes On (Oct. 18, 2018)
Caution: Rough Road Ahead (Nov. 19, 2018

Other Related Posts

Walk This Way…or That (March 9, 2017)
Looking Good (May 18, 2017)
Technical Resistance (May 25, 2017)
Those Who Should Know Better (July 24, 2017)
Cramming for Finals (May 3, 2018)