posted on June 6, 2001 04:51:50 PM new
Is there anyone out there who has had a transplant or knows someone? I do because I recieve a double transplant in February 1999 and am doing wonderful my life is so much better. I had a pancreas and kidney transplant. I now no longer have diabetes(which means no more shots, eating restrictions, sugars highs or lows etc.) and no longer have to go to dialysis. If you want you can email me. I would love to hear from anyone.
posted on June 8, 2001 09:07:37 AM new
I had a renal transplant and it functions well. I know many that have had or need transplants as I belong to a support group for transplant donors and recipients.
posted on June 8, 2001 09:12:11 AM new
Good for you. Are there any limitations on what you can do because of the immune suppressing drugs or can you do what you want pretty much? Can you go swimming - eat raw oysters - work with animals?
posted on June 8, 2001 10:50:07 AM new
I do not do kitty litter or bird droppings...they frequently spread specific diseases.
I attempt to avoid large crowds, especially during the cold & flu season. However, I am a nurse and do work with people that are in less than optimal health. I do go to concerts, swim, and chat on OAI boards.
I hate the side effects of the meds...big time alteration in body image...but it is better than the alternatives.
posted on June 8, 2001 06:37:27 PM new
Sweetstuff, that's terrific. A friend of mine got a K-P transplant two years ago and she loves it. I was eligible for a K-P about six years ago, but found that PD is really quite easy, so I dropped off the list.
I bet you're happy they revised the medication rules--are you eligible for the new five years, or the lifetime?
posted on June 8, 2001 06:53:27 PM newGravid I just laughed out loud when I read your post, the bit about working with animals..........you see my daughter (18) who has cronic renal problems works with kindy kids' and she sometimes says it is like working with animals. LOL
My daughter still does all the things most normal healty teenagers do, she plays a mean game of tennis, hockey and swims in the summer months. The one thing that she finds she can not do is run or jog these give her big problems. Mostly she looks like any other young woman you would see out on the street, but she does have bigger fingers than most girls her age, and that is from medication, she also has large ankles. Not fat but more like a swollen look, again that is from medication. The other thing that puts her apart from the average girl her age is the fact that she needs to sleep a lot more than most, she tires out a lot faster than her friends.
Kidney patients can either be grossly overweight or grossly underweight. My daughter when she was younger was so tiny looking but tall, she always looked underfeed again that was a side effect. It was not until she had her first operation at the age of 4 that she gained weight and looked the same as other kids' her age. These days she is a solid girl, but certainly not fat, the doctors' and I watch her like a hawk. I fear that she may get big but so far she seems to be holding her slim figure. When she first started work she lost a lot of weight and her clothes fell off her. That set panic stations for me, but I am just a paranoid mother.
In winter it is essential that she have a flu shot because she does not have the immunity against things that most everyday people have. She also had to have a series of shots for HepA & HepB to protect her from the things she could pick up from the children that she works with.
BittyBug if you are who I think you could be, how is your family?
posted on June 8, 2001 07:26:10 PM new
Hi
thought I had better say something since I started this thread I am doing really well and have not felt any of the side effects of the transplant meds. I do have the runs quite often. I am very active(not really physically] and always have been usually have at least two jobs going. I teach school {sub because of my illnesses} and work at a retail business to get my benefits and do some Ebay for my mother, my self and a couple other people. So if someone emails me and I don't respond right away you will know why. I get tired a little easier than most. Well got to run
posted on June 8, 2001 08:02:36 PM new
nettak - Yeah I know what you are saying - slobber on everything. All surfaces like the back side of a sticky note. Not my thing at all. I like everything shiney clean and smooth. They need to make a kid wash like a little car wash - feed 'em in one end and out through a blast dry on the other. I guess they would need goggles...
The girls are doing well. Kelly Jean will have hip replacement surgery next month, but her dialysis is working and she will just continue it in house.
Kelly Joy had her yearly visit with the transplant team to update everything. She is also doing well with her dialysis. Both are on hemo now, but started out on peritoneal.
Pat, the medicare change will certainly help many with their perscription costs. Naturally the political climate effecting the medicare program is frightening. I know your question was for Sweetstuff. I won't be covered under the new rules as I received my transplant in 1993.
Gravid...I never ate raw oysters and certainly did not start to after the transplant.
posted on June 10, 2001 05:27:50 AM new
Hi BittyBug, I thought it was you.
I am glad that both girls are still doing okay, my own girl is fine. We are thinking of changing specialists as the one she has is top notch, but we are going to see one a bit closer to home. If he is no good she can always stick with the one she has for the time being. It has been hard for us because, my daughter had the same specialist for the first 17 years of her life and then she had to change to an adult specialist and it has been a big upheaval for all of us. Our G.P. has looked around and has found another couple of really good specialists for us to go and talk to, so we will wait and see what the outcome of those visits are.
I think that we have given this current doctor a good run, it is over a year since my daughter started to see her, and my daughter just can not take to her. To be honest neither can I, so I think it is best if we try and find another one who my daughter feels comfortable dealing with, someone she can talk to about how she feels, not just be a name or number to the doctor.
We do not have the same problem that you seem to have with the cost of the medications, my daughter has her own health care card, which she has had since she was 6 years old, she is the only one in the family that can use it, but it means that we get her medications for only a few dollors each. Before she got the card, it used to cost me up to $50 for one particular medication, and that was only for 14 tablets that lasted a week. So I am really greatful for the health care card.
I wish you and the girls continued good health and good luck.
