I Hate Dialysis Message Board
Dialysis Discussion => Dialysis: News Articles => Topic started by: okarol on December 27, 2008, 07:18:32 PM
-
Wash. kidney transplant overcame snowfall
Saturday, December 27 | 1:45 p.m.
Kidney patient Dorothy Beaver and kidney transplant surgeon Ramasamy Bakthavatsalam were both snowed in when the telephone call came.
They were told they had to get to the University of Washington Medical Center in time for the operation. The time frame was only a couple of hours.
After four years of dialysis, the 49-year-old Beaver was more than ready to go no matter how icy and slippery it was outside. That's four years of dialysis at four hours a day, three times a week.
"I was so excited, I was running around my apartment," she told the Seattle Post-Intelligencer.
But it wasn't going to be easy to get transported from her snow-bound apartment in SeaTac.
Her foster sister and caregiver was snowed in across town near Northgate in Seattle. And HopeLink, which normally transported her to dialysis, was handling only emergencies.
Meanwhile, Dr. Bakthavatsalam was also snowed in Kirkland.
The hospital turned out to be the real hero, dispatching staff to go get the patient and the doctor.
"I was delighted to do it," said Walter Thurnhofer, the medical center's senior director of support services. "She said she was so tired of dialysis, that this was the best Christmas present."
Meanwhile, interim medical director Dr. Tom Staiger went to Kirkland to pick up the surgeon.
Both the patient and the physician made it to the hospital on time.
Beaver got her new kidney Monday morning.
"I just want to thank the family that donated the kidney," she said. "This is going to let me be more active with my (six) grandchildren. "I already feel better."
Beaver wasn't the exception. Her kidney transplant was one of dozens of medical operations that continued despite Seattle's traffic-snarling snowfall.
Hospital administrators say Harborview Medical Center and UWMC remained nearly fully staffed, largely because of the efforts employees made to get to work.
Almaz Bekele, a hospital assistant at the UW, left her house in Madrona at dawn for her shift, which started 11 a.m. Monday. When no buses showed up, she walked the four miles and made it to work on time.
"She told me that she couldn't call in sick because she wasn't," said Eileen Suver, assistant nurse manager on Bekele's floor.
---
Information from: Seattle Post-Intelligencer, http://www.seattle-pi.com/
http://columbian.com/article/20081227/NEWS06/312279993/-1/NEWS
-
I'm sure the donor's family had a shitty Christmas. I hope down the road they find joy in giving, because that is all they will get.
-
Put cork in it, ReRun. They made a good choice, and this lady got a kidney. You don't have to be happy, but don't piss on good news.
-
I'm sure the donor's family had a shitty Christmas. I hope down the road they find joy in giving, because that is all they will get.
Even if they had decided not to donate their loved one's kidney (and other organs?), the donor family would have had a difficult Christmas anyway because of the loss they suffered. Fortunately for the recipient, the donor family made something good come out of something terrible. They didn't lose their loved one because of the donation -- they donated in spite of the fact that they lost their loved one. NOT donating would not have saved -- or brought back -- their loved one.
Even if "joy in giving" is "all they will get," for some, that's a mighty big thing. Despite the loss of their loved one's life, they made someone else's life better, longer, easier. That, to me, would be enough.
-
Kapley Inc. Called it Snowmageddon http://haloscan.com/tb/tlkaply/7097478400363270817
And As the pump turns posted this video of Seattle in snow. http://asthepumpturns.com/?p=386
I stand by my comment that left coasters do not know how to handle snow!!!
-
I stand by my comment that left coasters do not know how to handle snow!!!
No kidding! We can't even handle rain in California. "OMG, my windshield is wet!" **Immediately turns into abutment**
-
I stand by my comment that left coasters do not know how to handle snow!!!
No kidding! We can't even handle rain in California. "OMG, my windshield is wet!" **Immediately turns into abutment**
Aussies have no idea either!!! ;D
Watching that video made my head spin. I don't know how you cope with all that snow! :stressed;
-
On Dec 19 we received 10 inches of snow, which closed Detroit Metro Airport. On Sunday, Dec 21 a man at my church shared that a friend of his that is diabetic and on dialysis received "the call" that a kidney was available on the day of the snowfall. Unfortunately the kidney could not get to him in time because of the weather. I don't know any more details, but I felt so bad for the family of the deceased donor as well as the recpient. :(