Mother of 28 year old son to trans. in Nov.

[Guest guest]

Hi Lynne,

There are a couple people in this group who have been donors. I hope

that the center that you are going to is doing laparoscopic procedures

on the donor because it makes the donation so much easier. If the donor

has regular surgery, it is harder on the donor that the recipient. The

donor will have to go through several tests to make sure that the donor

is healthy enough to lose a kidney and be OK afterward. When I had my

transplant, my retired nephrologists came to see me in the hospital. He

said that the my donor's one kidney will do 95% of what the 2 were

doing. I felt much better afterward knowing that my donor would have

that kind of function. Additionally, if anything would somehow happen

to the donor's kidney that person would be put at the top of the

transplant list for the next available kidney. I found that very

reassuring.

I do find that transplant centers are very picky and very careful toward

their donor's welfare because they are giving the gift of life to

another person. BUT, I feel that family support is very reassuring to

both donor and receipient. It is best that someone be with both of you

when you are in the hospital. Also, it is just good to have another

pair of ears when talking to the medical staff. My husband had to fuss

because my meds did not get up in time. I would probably not have

complained about that. (he tends to be ainal) Also, my sisters spent

the nights with me the first couple nights. That gave me someone in the

room with me almost continually while I was pretty bad off from the

surgery. I hate to have to tell you this, but They got me up at 4:00 AM

to weigh me the day after surgery. That was hard. The best way for the

hospital stay post surgery is is they have semiprivate rooms so that

both of you can be in the same room.

If you have any more questions just ask.

Re: Regular Doctor will not listen

,

Lots of drugs, in fact almost all, have a warning about the doctor

being

aware of kidney disease. The warning is mostly concerned with whether

the

kidneys will clear the drug adequately or not. But even then, that

doesn't

mean the drug can't be used. I know many people on Lipitor. I'm on it

myself

(but of course, i'm on dialysis). There is already some evidence that

statins may actually be helpful in delaying kidney failure. Like most

things

with IgAN, it's not really all that cut and dried though. Even if

there

were

some risk to the kidneys, and I'm not saying there is, you have to

balance

that against the risk of high cholesterol for other things like

cardiovascular disease - something that people with chronic renal

failure

are already at more risk for. Even I'm wouldn't be too crazy about

taking a

drug that's only been out on the market for just a year, but Lipitor

isn't

in that category.

You can drive yourself crazy by reading the monographs in the

Physician's

Desk Reference. The lists of side effects are endless, for even the

most

common medications.

Nephrologists, by the very nature of their specialty, are quite

experienced

and familiar with the use of cholesterol medications. Almost all

kidney

disease patients have high cholesterol at some point, and IgAN

patients

are

no exception.

I'm the kind of person who is very sensitive to many medications. I

expected

the worst when I was prescribed Lipitor. But I really can't say I've

felt

any effect from it.

Pierre

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