HEALTH
It’s Time For a Kidney Transplant!
“I got the call”
At 3:00 p.m. on Tuesday, my husband called. When I answered, he said, “I got the call. There’s a kidney available and I’ll be leaving for Salt Lake in about 45 minutes.” He also said, “We’ll be taking my truck in case of snow and bad weather.”
I was in shock and not thinking clearly, so I asked if I needed my car, too. Dave said I was staying behind to take care of the house and the dogs. His mom was going with him for the week that he’d be in the hospital. They’d planned it out ahead of time, but if he’d told me about that plan, I completely missed it.
I left work and helped him pack up three days’ worth of dialysis supplies, just in case. He also took a case of water, snacks, clothes, prescriptions, and other medical supplies.
Salt Lake City is an eight-hour drive from Carson City. The closest kidney transplant center is in Sacramento, CA. It’s only three hours away, but it’s not in our insurance network. Our choices were between Las Vegas, NV and Salt Lake City, UT.
I’d assumed I’d be living in Salt Lake for the next month, but this was so last minute that it made sense. I would stay home, take care of the dogs, come up with a plan for a dog sitter, and then switch out with his mom so she could have a break. We could switch back and forth for a week at a time; we’d each signed the paperwork acknowledging that we’d be full-time caretakers during his recovery time.
Dave will be in the hospital for about a week and is then required to stay near the hospital for the next 3–4 weeks for appointments, blood work, and other labs. He won’t be able to drive for a while, so we’ll be driving him to appointments and picking up prescriptions.
Dave and his mom arrived in Salt Lake at around 2:45 a.m. He was taken out of his hospital room at 7:30 and taken back for surgery at 8:30. At this time, 11:30 a.m. on Wednesday, he is still in surgery. The last update I saw from U of U Health said “The procedure is progressing, the patient is doing well.” They expected it to be 5+ hours of surgery.
UPDATE: Shortly after 12:00 p.m., I got a text from Dave’s mom:
Wow, the procedure is finished! 1 pm Utah time. He did well. The kidney is already starting to pump out a little urine. I still don’t have a room or any sleep yet.
Dave’s been doing at-home peritoneal dialysis now for over a year. He’s been looking forward to not having to hook up to a machine every night. The transplant will come with its own set of rules, risks, and experiences, though.
We’ll learn more about everything in the next month or so, but I know he will be taking immunosuppressants and anti-rejection drugs, among many other prescriptions.
This is the second kidney that Dave was offered, and this time he accepted it. He was hoping his mom or one of his coworkers would qualify as a living donor, which his doctor said was preferable since living kidneys have a better chance of working. Neither were far enough along in the process to know if they were a match beyond having the same blood type.
The first call came at 6:30 p.m. on January 11 with a kidney available. A 15-year-old kid in New York had died from a gunshot wound. Dave told the caller he’d like to hold off, hoping for a living donor. When he told his doctor about the call, he said next time, if a kidney becomes available, to accept it. But at least that call let him know he was high on the list and another one could become available soon.
Here are my previous kidney failure stories:
My Husband Spent a Week in the Hospital With Kidney Failure
