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Author Topic: Kidney Transplants and BMI  (Read 5225 times)
cariad
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What's past is prologue

« on: March 25, 2012, 01:27:07 PM »

The discussion about weight gain after transplant got me to start browsing a few of the size rights blogs that I used to frequent, just to see if anything has changed.

The very first one I went to posted a link to great blog about how fat people are discriminated against in health care. This blog had not been active for so long that I had stopped even checking on it. Well, today I did, and bizarrely, the top post was this one about a letter they received from a Chicago transplant surgeon:
http://fathealth.wordpress.com/2012/03/09/kidney-transplantation-in-obese-patients/

He states that he wants to get the word out, and I know of no better venue than here to do just that. I am going to see if I can contact him by email when I get the opportunity and figure out what I want to say. I think my two primary questions would be 1. Does that mean that, all other medical results being equal, there is no upper BMI limit for transplant candidates at UIC, and 2. If so, would the same apply to donors.

Wasn't there an IHD member who was denied listing by UIC because of weight?
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SugarBear
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« Reply #1 on: March 25, 2012, 01:47:05 PM »

What is UIC?
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CKD due to FSGS 1999
Drop from Stage 4 to Stage 2 ESRD 2000
ESRD 2005
Started Dialysis September 13, 2006
Short Daily Home Hemo March 2009
Back to In-Center Hemo August 2009 (Too Many Hours)
Nocturnal Home Hemo with Remote Viewers  May 2010
Received Transplant March 1, 2012
Transplant Failed in October 2017
Nocturnal Home Hemo with Remote Viewers December 2017
cariad
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What's past is prologue

« Reply #2 on: March 25, 2012, 01:53:07 PM »

University of Illinois at Chicago
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Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a great battle. - Philo of Alexandria

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adairpete
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Me and Karl

« Reply #3 on: March 27, 2012, 03:07:18 PM »

I know my transplant center warned me about my BMI (it was 34 then, it's now 28-yeah for PD!) when I did my initial screening.  They wanted me to lose weight so the surgery would be less risky, but they did not say they would deny me because of weight.  However, when I asked what if a living donor was overweight, they said it depended on how overweight.  If the donor's BMI was over 35 that would disqualify them as being a donor is an elective surgery that would put too great a risk on the donor if their BMI was over 35.  Made sense-the donor isn't going to physically benefit from the surgery, why risk actually causing them harm? 
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cookie2008
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« Reply #4 on: March 27, 2012, 03:24:23 PM »

there is a surgeon in Chicago that performs high risk transplants on us overweight patients, please post what info you do receive.
 
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SugarBear
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« Reply #5 on: March 27, 2012, 04:00:01 PM »

I see, it's a transplant clinic.  The clinic I went to also object to my BMI but they did put me on the UNOS list so I could accrue time on the list while being inactive.  This gave me the time to lose the weight while I would have to wait anyway, as the wait time for B+ is 5 to 7 years.
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Xbox GT: ShonumShogun

CKD due to FSGS 1999
Drop from Stage 4 to Stage 2 ESRD 2000
ESRD 2005
Started Dialysis September 13, 2006
Short Daily Home Hemo March 2009
Back to In-Center Hemo August 2009 (Too Many Hours)
Nocturnal Home Hemo with Remote Viewers  May 2010
Received Transplant March 1, 2012
Transplant Failed in October 2017
Nocturnal Home Hemo with Remote Viewers December 2017
cariad
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What's past is prologue

« Reply #6 on: March 27, 2012, 08:53:11 PM »

I wrote Dr. Oberholzer on Sunday afternoon and he sent me the nicest reply within hours.

He said that UIC has no official BMI cutoff, and that patients are evaluated on a case by case basis like any other patient. I don't think this surgery is considered high-risk, and it is not experimental, he said it is standard of care for that center.

For donors, he said they will accept obese living donors but that is a bit trickier because they need to be especially sure that donors not be put at extra risk.

To me, this is pretty tremendous news. Most hospitals (at least the five that I have visited within the last decade) have rigid BMI requirements and people are turned away for no better reason than being above an arbitrary weight/height ratio. The BMI has so many problems as a proxy for health that I do not know why it is even used.

Oh, I also told him about IHD and he visited the site and was extremely complimentary about what it had to offer. I told him I would pass his comments along and I did make sure to tell him that he would be more than welcome to post here himself. (I do understand why doctors would be reluctant to get involved in this site on an regular basis, though.)

This doctor struck me as so compassionate and eager to help more kidney patients receive transplants. He wants to know how to get the message that this technique is available to more people who could use it, so I wanted to share it here and hopefully if this situation comes up for a member in the chicago area, they can use this information to get a transplant.
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Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a great battle. - Philo of Alexandria

People have hope in me. - John Bul Dau, Sudanese Lost Boy
gothiclovemonkey
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« Reply #7 on: March 27, 2012, 09:13:16 PM »

wooohoooo! im calling them! Peoria Illinois also doesnt seem to mind the weight, they mentioned they would like me to lose, but i am still listed even though ive gained some lately.
Id heard U of Wisconsin was also like that but when i called them that fflat out told me i need to lose the wieght before they will even make an appointment with me...
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cariad
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What's past is prologue

« Reply #8 on: March 29, 2012, 11:43:59 AM »

I hope you do contact them, GLM! I seem to remember that some of your doctors are sort of jerks (forgive me if I'm remembering that wrong) and I think everyone deserves a doctor with compassion and respect for patients. This Dr. Oberholzer seems to fit that description. My surgeon most certainly fits that description, and I actually look forward to appointments with him. I honestly never in my life thought I would be able to say that I look forward to speaking with a transplant doctor.

If you do decide to call them, let me know what they say (if you don't mind). If they give you the runaround, I would contact him directly via the email or phone number provided on the site that I linked. Sometimes the administration staff say things that are just false and speaking directly to a doctor stops that nonsense very quickly.

Good luck!
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Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a great battle. - Philo of Alexandria

People have hope in me. - John Bul Dau, Sudanese Lost Boy
SugarBear
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« Reply #9 on: March 29, 2012, 02:57:46 PM »

But are you guys on the transplant wait list?   ???
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CKD due to FSGS 1999
Drop from Stage 4 to Stage 2 ESRD 2000
ESRD 2005
Started Dialysis September 13, 2006
Short Daily Home Hemo March 2009
Back to In-Center Hemo August 2009 (Too Many Hours)
Nocturnal Home Hemo with Remote Viewers  May 2010
Received Transplant March 1, 2012
Transplant Failed in October 2017
Nocturnal Home Hemo with Remote Viewers December 2017
gothiclovemonkey
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« Reply #10 on: March 29, 2012, 04:29:52 PM »

i am on the wait list in Peoria, but my dialysis clinic informed me today that they WILL eventaully kick me off due to my current weight gain.... i apparently gained about 40 lbs this winter, even though im pretty sure MOST of that is fluid, but i cant convince my dr that is truth...
Yes Cariad, my doctors are jerks... but thats a tame word for what they are!
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"Imagine how important death must be to have a prerequisite such as life" Unknown
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SugarBear
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« Reply #11 on: March 29, 2012, 07:41:07 PM »

You should check that out with UNOS, I was never told that and was inactive on the list for almost five years.
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Xbox GT: ShonumShogun

CKD due to FSGS 1999
Drop from Stage 4 to Stage 2 ESRD 2000
ESRD 2005
Started Dialysis September 13, 2006
Short Daily Home Hemo March 2009
Back to In-Center Hemo August 2009 (Too Many Hours)
Nocturnal Home Hemo with Remote Viewers  May 2010
Received Transplant March 1, 2012
Transplant Failed in October 2017
Nocturnal Home Hemo with Remote Viewers December 2017
paris
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« Reply #12 on: April 16, 2012, 06:38:10 PM »

I had a potential donor be rejected for his BMI (slightly over their limit).    But it seems like every center has  their own rules.  It would help all of us if they all had the same criteria.   
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It's not what you gather, but what you scatter that tells what kind of life you have lived.
Ang
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« Reply #13 on: April 29, 2012, 03:04:27 AM »

this is is handled differently by each individual hospital i think.

back in june 2010 i saw a neph that had just moved from new zealand to australia.
lie on the  ?????? , have a feel of the abdo,how much do you weigh,how tall.
you won't be getting a transplant anytime soon as your bmi is beyond the limits

3 weeks later the phone rings " i'm doctor ??? we have a kidney for you"
GO FIGURE
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