6 month biopsy today

[keith]

does anyone else get nervous on da day dat ur getting ur biopsy  i need to leave my house @ 5:30 and b n in Philly by 8:00 it's now 12:30 and i can't sleep  just needed to 

[okarol]

I hope all goes well - be sure you get local anesthesia. Take it easy afterwards - please let us know how you're doing. Go to bed! 

[stauffenberg]

Is there any particular reason why they are doing a biopsy?  Most centers don't perform biopsies as a routine matter, given the injury they can cause to the kidney.

[angela515]

I never get nervous before a biopsy, but then again I don't allow them to a transplanted working kidney. Good luck.

[MIbarra]

They have never asked me to do a kidney biopsy and it's been a bit over a year since the transplant.

[MIbarra]

I hope everything goes well, Keith. Keep us informed!

[kimcanada]

I get nervous Keith, but I get nervous about everything :S

[keith]

Thanks everyone!!!! no everything is fine i guess dat Hahnemann does a biopsy on all transplant patients @ ur first 3months then@6months and @ur one yrs anniversary and every yr afterwards  but none da less I'm good  and again 

[okarol]

Jenna had a biopsy at 1 month, and 6 months and a year. They said they can spot early rejection much earlier, before serious damage has taken place. Makes treatment more effective. We opted out of a second needle biopsy each time for a research study, one seemed more than enough.

Happy to hear yours went ok keith!

[Sluff]

Glad things went well. Good news is always great to hear. 

[rose1999]

Hey Keith glad it all went well 

[kidney4traci]

Glad all is well Keith!  I didn't realize they did a biopsy on transplanted kidneys - thought they would be more protective. 

[stauffenberg]

One of the stupidest habits of modern medicine is its willingness to take huge risks with the patient's health by performing highly invasive and destructive medical testing just to achieve a tiny gain in diagnostic accuracy.  I swear the average doctor would saw the patient's head off if he felt it would improve his diagnosis of the state of jugular veins by 1%!  Just look at all the people who wind up on dialysis because some medical idiot injected a nephrotoxic contrast dye into them just to improve the accuracy of the diagnosis.

[monrein]

I had two biopsies of my transplanted kidney in 23 years and never did I feel that they were totally unnecessary.  Both times it was because my creatinine was rising inexplicably and my neph wanted the biopsy to determine whether it was a case of rejection which would require one course of treatment or cyclosporine toxicity which would require another.  Both times, my neph asked me how I felt about having the biopsy and my question both times was "How will what we learn from it change what we're doing now?"  Both times I was told that if it were acute rejection or a lingering rejection we'd treat it aggressively with anti-rejection drugs but if it were toxicity we'd switch the immunosuppressive regimen.  That made sense to me.  The first biopsy resulted in a switch from cyclosporine to cellcept and the second showed that the kidney was no longer functionning very well and we started making plans for vascular access surgery and a return to dialysis.

Of course there are bad doctors out there who just want to be right, perhaps at a patient's expense but that has not been my personal experience at all.  We also owe a duty of care to ourselves to take the information provided by our doctors and research the benefits and the downsides just as we would in any consumer situation.  Only more so.   My first question is always "I need to know exactly why this is a good idea, what are the risks compared to the benefits and how many times have you personally had experience with this situation?"  When I fail to do this it is ME that I get most mad at.

[pelagia]

This is a very helpful discussion that I will try to remember.  My husband pretty much hates to ask questions and I pretty much have to know details.  Sometimes he thinks I come over as too pushy (who me ).  I like the way monrein simply stated the important questions.

"I need to know exactly why this is a good idea, what are the risks compared to the benefits and how many times have you personally had experience with this situation?" 

[twirl]

keith          miss you when you do not post much               - you , always dancin'and happy

[MyRenalRomance]

Glad I noticed this thread.  Stanford just called me, today, and informed me that yesterday's labwork showed that my creatinine was 1.2 for a second week in a row.  (7 weeks ago I was discharged from the hospital w/ .7. One week later it was .86.   My creatinine has been slowly rising ever since my transplant).

Doctor increased my Prograf, today.  I go back to the hospital on Tuesday to repeat labs.  If creatinine has improved, I'll get to go home.  If creatinine has not improved by then, a kidney biopsy will be performed.  I was in a bit of a shock when the nurse informed me that the test was to determine if I was suffering from possible rejection.  I think I will call back on Monday morning and ask a lot of questions!

I'm not nervous, but I do think I need to be better informed about this procedure.

[Chris]

Glad I noticed this thread.  Stanford just called me, today, and informed me that yesterday's labwork showed that my creatinine was 1.2 for a second week in a row.  (7 weeks ago I was discharged from the hospital w/ .7. One week later it was .86.   My creatinine has been slowly rising ever since my transplant).

Doctor increased my Prograf, today.  I go back to the hospital on Tuesday to repeat labs.  If creatinine has improved, I'll get to go home.  If creatinine has not improved by then, a kidney biopsy will be performed.  I was in a bit of a shock when the nurse informed me that the test was to determine if I was suffering from possible rejection.  I think I will call back on Monday morning and ask a lot of questions!

I'm not nervous, but I do think I need to be better informed about this procedure.

Ask to be out, not awake. Best that you do not know what is going on around you if you do not like loud noises, pressure where kidney is, and the device they use. A scene from The Matrix Comes to mind when it comes to biopsies.

[okarol]

Jenna was awake, they did a little lidocaine injection before the biopsy. It was painless. The difficulty is laying flat for the 2 hours afterwards.

[KT0930]

Glad it went well for you Keith!

I've never been knocked out for biopsies, always just local lidocaine or something similar. It feels later like a painful bruise, but not unbearable. The worst was when they got too close to the edge of the kidney and didn't get a useful sample, so they had to re-do it the next day. Like the others, it was being used each time to determine exactly why my creatnine was rising. I have not had one done to the transplant I got in January, and I have not heard the possibility mentioned yet, but my creatnine has remained between .7 and .9 since about a week post-transplant.

[monrein]

Biopsies to my transplanted kidney have never been painful.  I just had a little local anesthetic, and felt a slight pushing on the kidney.  Not a big deal at all.  Now, I don't know what it would be like with native kidneys since I never had one done.

[Chris]

Glad it went well for you Keith!

I've never been knocked out for biopsies, always just local lidocaine or something similar. It feels later like a painful bruise, but not unbearable. The worst was when they got too close to the edge of the kidney and didn't get a useful sample, so they had to re-do it the next day. Like the others, it was being used each time to determine exactly why my creatnine was rising. I have not had one done to the transplant I got in January, and I have not heard the possibility mentioned yet, but my creatnine has remained between .7 and .9 since about a week post-transplant.

My transplant center is the same. They will only do it if utterly necessary. My first one was on my liver when I had CMV. I was in pain already and they had to poke me 4 times to get a good sample. All the previous tries did not get enough tissue. No one explained the procedure which may or may not have helped. I wish I was out tough for that one. The one they did for my kidney, I was out though since I was already in the hospital. I am also sensitive in the abdomen. I do not like being touched or pressed in that area. My local doctors know that by heart and will only do it if necessary thank god.

[MyRenalRomance]

I've been told that they will use a local anesthetic (lidocaine?) and that I won't feel anything.  Afterwards, they'll keep me in the hospital to lie flat for 4-6 hours, but as long as I can bring my ipods, I won't have a problem!    

Local anesthetic injections work well for me.  When I had my stent removed, I didn't feel a thing!  Like KT0930 said, it just felt like a bruise or something afterwards - no biggie!

Chris:  Is the device they use loud?

[Chris]

Trying to think of an ofice product to compare it to.

[monrein]

How about a hole punch??