first interview jitters

[Psim]

I just heard from my transplant centre that they want me to come in for 3 hours of interviews with The Team – neph, surgeon and social worker. Can anyone tell me what happens at this kind of interview. I’m in relatively good health and think I’m probably a good candidate for a transplant, but it’s a bit nerve wracking – 3 hours!

Also, I was depressed off and on for a few years – probably due in part to undiagnosed primary hyper-parathyroid – and even took Prozac for awhile. I haven’t been depressed since I moved out of the city seven years ago (yay island life!), but I’m a little worried that they will see that history as a problem. I tell myself that lots of people deal with depression, and it’s all in my past, but I do wonder...

[okarol]

Have you seen these other links? http://ihatedialysis.com/forum/index.php?topic=2607.0 and http://ihatedialysis.com/forum/index.php?topic=703.0.
Jenna had a full day of appointments, but much of the time was waiting between the meetings. Having depression and getting treatment is not an obstacle to a transplant, especially when patients are dealing with chronic illness.

[boxman55]

I wouldn't stress over the upcoming meeting. They said mine would be lengthy also and it was all about watching a few videos a short meeting with various people and then you where done. No worries...Boxman

[stauffenberg]

You have to be cautious at these interviews, since the increasing number of patients needing a transplant, in contrast to the stagnant number of organs available for transplant, is causing transplant teams to hunt for any conceivable excuse to exclude people from eligibility, just to keep the waiting times low enough to provide some faint hope for those who make it to the list.

There are also neurotics on some of these committees who enjoy playing God with other people's lives, and they can only fully feel and enjoy their own power if they exercise it arbitrarily.  Thus one 18-year-old girl was denied listing for a transplant because in the transplant coordinator's opinion 'she was insufficiently mature,' but how mature do you have to be to be able to handle being healthy again a taking pills twice a day?  Anyone seven years old and up should be able to manage it.

In the same way, someone might try to say that because of prior depression you may not be sufficiently psychologically stable to be trusted to follow your medication and post-transplant treatment regimen, which we both know is nonsense, since you would have to be a psychopath not to be able to comply with something so simple.  But this game is not fair so you have to play by their rules, so try to look as happy and insipid as Doris Day during the interview, which is just the type these conformist medical policemen like to see.

[jbeany]

Relax, it's not 3 straight hours of grilling.  Actually, you might want to bring a book - you're going to be sitting in tiny rooms with no windows waiting for the next person who wants to talk to you.  The neph and the surgeon will want to know your medical history.  The social worker will ask a lot of bs questions about your support system, insurance coverage, and your mental state.    Don't lie about the depression - if you were prescribed prozac, they will know about from your records.  Just answer the questions honestly and simply.  You do not have to volunteer any info they don't directly ask for.  I don't know about "insipid', but a positive, hopeful attitude will help, I'm sure.

[boxman55]

Christ Stauffenberg, when was the last time you had an interview. Like I said mine started with a room full of people watching videos then short meetings with various medical and social workers. yea it lasted a couple hours but it wasn't water boarding...Boxman

[George Jung]

Christ Stauffenberg, when was the last time you had an interview. Like I said mine started with a room full of people watching videos then short meetings with various medical and social workers. yea it lasted a couple hours but it wasn't water boarding...Boxman

? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? 

[angela515]

You have to be cautious at these interviews, since the increasing number of patients needing a transplant, in contrast to the stagnant number of organs available for transplant, is causing transplant teams to hunt for any conceivable excuse to exclude people from eligibility, just to keep the waiting times low enough to provide some faint hope for those who make it to the list.

There are also neurotics on some of these committees who enjoy playing God with other people's lives, and they can only fully feel and enjoy their own power if they exercise it arbitrarily.  Thus one 18-year-old girl was denied listing for a transplant because in the transplant coordinator's opinion 'she was insufficiently mature,' but how mature do you have to be to be able to handle being healthy again a taking pills twice a day?  Anyone seven years old and up should be able to manage it.

In the same way, someone might try to say that because of prior depression you may not be sufficiently psychologically stable to be trusted to follow your medication and post-transplant treatment regimen, which we both know is nonsense, since you would have to be a psychopath not to be able to comply with something so simple.  But this game is not fair so you have to play by their rules, so try to look as happy and insipid as Doris Day during the interview, which is just the type these conformist medical policemen like to see.

Never had that problem at either hospital I had my transplants at. My team's were great, loving, caring, and excellent people. Eager to put people on the list if healthy enough for it, they didn't look to play "god" or whatever... sorry if you have dealt with people like that.

[BigSky]

Christ Stauffenberg, when was the last time you had an interview. Like I said mine started with a room full of people watching videos then short meetings with various medical and social workers. yea it lasted a couple hours but it wasn't water boarding...Boxman

Stauffenberg does have  a good point.

It varies greatly from center to center.  Some centers are plain outright a-holes about who gets on a list or not.

[oswald]

whats water boarding?

[RichardMEL]

I never had any interviews... I was just told I was on the list..... (and yes, I saw the printout from the database)

weird.. Guess we do it differently here??? or maybe they all love me... but if they REALLY loved me they'd fix it for me right? :p

[charee]

 Hey Richard Don't you have an annual review? Where you meet the tranplant team ? Here in NSW we have to have a yearly review to stay active on the list

Cheers  Charee

[lola]

Its not that bad It's pretty boring and long, they just want to make sure YOU want a transplant and understand how to take care after. We did have one A-hole Dr who called my husband noncompliant WTF he had his transplant for 14 years and went into rejection because of the flu shot(long story) he got Otto mixed up with someone else but I put him in his place but really it's nothing to get yourself stressed over just bring a book. Good Luck

[boxman55]

whats water boarding?

It's a form of torture used in interrogating prisoners of war

[RichardMEL]

No Charee... I've never had any kind of review or meeting anyone... they take the "transplant bloods" every 2 months(I think) for the red cross to do the tissue typing etc etc... and that's all I hear about it.

Maybe I should ask the transplant co-ordinator?

[Psim]

Thanks so much. I feel less jittery after reading all your experiences (including Stauffenberg's -- yes, some petty individuals do abuse their power, and it's good to be ready to cope if you have the misfortune to run into one). I dunno, it just helps to hear that others have been through it. And to be prepared to face tortuous boredom -- bring a book, yup, will do.

[charee]

No Charee... I've never had any kind of review or meeting anyone... they take the "transplant bloods" every 2 months(I think) for the red cross to do the tissue typing etc etc... and that's all I hear about it.

Maybe I should ask the transplant co-ordinator?

yeah i would ask maybe cause your younger than me they do it differently who  knows ?? when i finally get on the list i will do blood work monthly.

[Psim]

I just got home from a week in Vancouver doing my transplant interview and some tests. The social worker interview was kind of grueling actually. I saw the neph and the surgeon for about 30 minutes each and they mostly just told me what a great transplant candidate I was. But the social worker grilled me for an hour and a half about my psych history -- which has really been relatively tame as such things go, and not an issue for years now. But it was kind of rough dragging it all up and going through it all again. I guess if I was a smoker, or had a high blood pressure, someone would have grilled me about that -- ya win a few, ya lose a few, right? I'm glad it's over and I'm *really* glad to be home.

The one fun part was the heart test (yes, anyone who would consider that fun has got to be crazy). First the nurse told me my heart rate was nice and low "Your medication is working really well!" and I had to tell her no, it's not medication, it's my clean living and righteous thinking  . Then I got to feel like a star on the tread mill as the techs kept saying "Are you tired yet? Do you want to stop? Are you sure you don't want to stop?" Had to laugh at myself -- it's easy to feel like an athlete when most people who go through there have serious heart issues to deal with.

So yeah, I'm a bit nuts but my heart's in the right place.

[lola]

Glad everything went so well . Otto was having so much fun doing the stress test they finally got boared watching him and told him he was done.

[KT0930]

Glad to hear it went well, Psim. Sorry, I missed the thread before, but it sounds like it was pretty painless as these things go. 

[Romona]