Donating kidney a good thing - and new study agrees

[okarol]

Donating kidney a good thing - and new study agrees
The Bakersfield Californian | Friday, Jun 18 2010 07:53 PM

Last Updated Friday, Jun 18 2010 07:53 PM

KIDNEY CHRONICLES

"Kidney donors live longer, study reveals." This intriguing headline led me to read on.

Research suggests kidney donors live at least as long as those in the general population and possibly longer, probably because they pay close attention to their health.

These results made me happy. People need to know that after donating a kidney they will live a full and healthy life, because even though many patients with kidney failure live on dialysis, that treatment can never completely replicate having a functioning kidney.

It has been more than a year since I donated a kidney to my husband, John. I feel great and have more energy than ever.

Donating a kidney was an amazing experience for me. That I could give this gift of life to someone meant more than I can ever put in words. John felt better immediately after the transplant, the new kidney chugging away for him.

Most kidney transplant recipients have very positive results. Unfortunately, John was a rare exception. His new kidney was destroyed shortly after his transplant due to the toxic drugs given him to fight valley fever and the removal of anti-rejection meds for the same reason.

A doctor on the UCLA transplant team recently wrote us that because of John's result, anti-fungal drugs will be given before and after transplant surgery to patients from high-risk valley fever areas. That will assure that other kidney transplant patients will not suffer the loss of their new transplant or their life. So John has paved the way for others.

Our kidney transplant experience had another positive result. I received a note from a young man who said he was inspired by our story to go ahead with transplant surgery. He wrote that he and his father, who was his donor, were feeling great and thanked us for sharing our story.

Since the transplanted kidney was destroyed, John is now doing home-hemodialysis. I am his dialysis care partner while he is hooked up, his blood cleaned and fluid removed on the machine we named Seabiscuit.

Home hemodialysis, including set up and tear down, takes four hours each day. Supplies fill three closets in our home. But it is the best dialysis for John's health, so we are committed. Training for both the patient and the care partner takes five days a week for four to six weeks.

We work as a team. John sticks his arm with the needles to preserve the longevity of his access. But it is difficult with his one free hand to remove the needles and at the same time stop the spurting blood. That's the care partner's responsibility.

The care partner also draws blood for monthly labs, treats the patient's low blood pressure or cramping while on dialysis, checks machine pressures every half hour, making adjustments when needed, and maintains a sanitary environment. We have had blood and fluid accidents to keep us on our toes!

While the care partner is required to do home hemodialysis in the U.S., this person is not covered by insurance. Someone with a flexible schedule and good time management skills is a plus. I am lucky because my daughter volunteered to be trained, too, and helps us out when she can.

The highlight of the treatment is John's sweet smile and his appreciative thank you after each treatment. And it's over for another day!

More than 400,000 people in the United States are on dialysis at a cost of $30 billion a year, a number that grows by 8 percent annually. The procedure was invented in the 1940s by a man who used sausage skins, orange juice cans and washing machines to clear toxins from the blood of those whose kidneys had failed.

Dialysis machines still seem a bit archaic. In the same 60-plus years since the invention of dialysis, computers have shrunk from room-sized mainframes to tiny devices. My smart phone does more than those giant behemoths. Why hasn't dialysis kept pace?

But there is hope. Once the FDA approves nocturnal home hemodialysis, we look forward to doing dialysis at night while John sleeps. And the recently invented wearable artificial kidney shows promise. The device, worn like a tool belt, works 24 hours a day and closely simulates the person's own kidneys. We are watching its progress. Maybe there could even be a pocket in it for John's cell phone!

http://www.bakersfield.com/news/local/x637735695/GINGER-MOORHOUSE-Donating-kidney-a-good-thing-and-new-study-agrees