Good news?

[romanyscarlett]

After many, many months of testing my mother has been given the all clear to give me a kidney.

The plan is to have my remaining native kidney removed on 30th March and then wait 8 weeks for my body to heal before going ahead with the transplant.

I posted a few months ago explaining my fears and worries on taking a kidney from my mother and asking for advice. Back then I wasn't too keen on the idea and wanted to wait for a cadaver donation to come up. However due to recent events, I have had a complete change of heart.

I've been away from the site for a while because my health and mental well being has deteriorated rapidly. I have always been a relatively positive person much to the chagrin of one of my friends who finds my ability to put a positive spin on anything both enviable and irritating. A few months ago there seemed to be a sudden influx of engagements, promotions, pregnancies, births, weddings and house purchases amongst my friends and I think for a couple of weeks I was more sick from jealousy than I was from the kidney failure.

My fistula was not behaving at all and I was lucky to get a single needle of the smallest gauge to work. I had numerous meetings with the vascular surgeon who was fantastic but nothing he did seemed to work. I was only getting an average of 25 litres of blood filtered over 4 hours. Thankfully due to sheer perseverance my fistula will now take 2 medium sized needles and I'm getting good dialysis but it's taken a long time to get to this point.

I had a run of bad luck with my health. I was feeling rotten because of the lack of good dialysis and just as things started to get better on that front, my hemoglobin started mysteriously disappearing in January. It went down to 7.1 and there was talk of a blood transfusion but we decided to hold off because of the planned transplant. Two days later my HB was down to 4.9 and I was rushed to hospital for 3 units of blood. Two days after that I collapsed at home from agonising stomach cramps and was rushed back to hospital. They discovered that I had a hole in my stomach which was bleeding internally and also explained the loss of HB.

I ended up in hospital again a week later with a kidney infection and my HB dropped to 7.7 while I was there. I clotted during dialysis and lost the circuit of blood. I'm not quite sure what happened after that because it's all a blur but I remember vomiting, seeing stars, being freezing cold and then blacking out. When I woke up I was surrounded by medical staff, my blood pressure was 40/30 I had a temperature of 39 but I was shivering so much I was convulsing. I had 8 blankets and a bear hugger on but I felt as though I was encased in ice. I had another 3 units of blood following this incident and it's not something I ever wish to repeat.

There is of course the risk that due to the 6 units of blood I've had, my antibodies may have changed and will no longer be compatible with those of my mother but I'm being monitored closely and so far nothing adverse has shown up.

Three months ago, I was completely against taking the kidney from my mother but after all the health scares and seeing what my illness is doing not just to my mental health but that of my family members too, I've decided I really do have to go for it.

[Rerun]

         

[okarol]

  That's a tough few months - it sounds awful.
I hope your nephrectomy and healing go well.
Your mom is great, tell her I said thanks! 
 

[boswife]

WoW!!  i send you all the best wishes in the world, and Big huge thanks to your mom, and thanks to you for accepting :-)  Hubby wont take mine and though i do understand and have to respect it, it's kinda tough on me for him not to...  anyway, im so happy for you and hope your 'time in waiting' goes much better than those awful months youve gone through.   

[kristina]

Welcome back, romanyscarlett.

I am so glad that you feel better now
 
and I keep my fingers crossed that everything goes alright with your kidney-transplant.

I am so sorry what you went through in recent months and do hope things are looking better now.

Best wishes and good luck,

from Kristina.

[tyefly]

 Wonderful news....   I wish you the best..... and stay in touch

[looneytunes]

OMG, you have been through the wars lately. I am so glad your mother is a donor for you, it sounds like the transplant can happen none too soon.   

[paris]

We all thank your mother for giving you new life - again!  Moms are very special.      I'll be thinking good thoughts for you; surgery, recovery and then a transplant!  Best wishes to you.   

[romanyscarlett]

My mother is ecstatic that I've finally agreed to go ahead with the transplant. I'd been digging my heels in for months and refusing to even consider it. I'm still terrified at the prospect of taking the kidney and it not working but I'm even more terrified that I won't be around for much longer if I don't give this a go.

We are in a bit of a panic at the moment though because my HB seems to be dropping again. It's now down to 9.0 and my doctor is worried that I won't be classed as fit enough to have the nephrectomy. There is always the option of another blood transfusion but since I've already had 6 this year, it's not the ideal solution. I'm on huge doses of Micera and iron so I'm just hoping that I finally start to respond to this treatment.

[phyl1215]

I understand how you feel about accepting your Mothers kidney, my daughter will be my donor (if they can get my antibodies low enough) and I have fought with the idea of that also.
Hope all goes well for you and your Mother, please keep us updated.

[Tracy]

Hang in there!  Good Luck!  I will be thinking of you both!