Kidney Patient Guide

I've also had some good news recently, with which I'm quite pleased. The one thing about me with which the surgeon at the transplant centre was not impressed was my cholesterol level. It was 6.8 back in March when I first saw the surgeon. As a result my dear wife took more control of my diet; the so...

They almost always take the left kidney, as the blood vessels and the ureter tend to be longer which makes the implantiation into the recipient a bit easier. Well, they already know that the left has one artery in and one out, but the right is far more complicated, so left it is. I can't then under...

Well, the date is set again. The hospital team have acepted that my brother's "quality of life" is affected and so have agreed that the operation should be scheduled, eeven though his eGFR remains obstinately above 15% (just). I think they have accepted his evidence which was that he could...

I have to say that I'm impressed - I'm not sure I would have volunteered as a donor for someone other than a relative. I'd agree that your donor should go and see the team on her own. I actually did nearly all my donor testing without even seeing my brother's team, as my local transplant centre did ...

I'm a bit too far south for them, but it's a good idea.

Still waiting for my brother to get even worse, but he's still hovering at just above 15%...

Hi, this is an interesting post for me to read because the other day I saw the neph Dr and he said he will put me on the transplant list when my egfr gets to 20%. It's 39% at the moment but has dropped from 70 to 39 in 2 years. From reading other posts I thought 20% sounded still quite high for a t...

from my experience and for others on here live donor transplantation is very much a foxtrot - slow, slow, quick-quick, slow! Also don't be surprised if the operation date changes. Well predicted, but I bet you didn't think you'd be right so quickly! Today they changed their mind and decided that my...

Well, my brother has seen his consultant and she is very happy with May 1st. I think my brother was nearer than he realized to dialysis; when we saw the surgeon last week, he looked quite shocked when we came out - I don't think he was expecting to be given a date, especially one so soon! I've had m...

Well, unless anything goes wrong in the meantime, or they just change their minds, I shall be donating to my brother on May 1st. He and I saw the surgeon yesterday and were surprised at the early date - we were planning on mid-June. I have to say that I was most impressed with the surgeon and her ch...

MatthewC, I can't point you to any stats but I've always understood that donors live longer than the average person. Presumably because to be allowed to donate you've got to be pretty darn healthy. Yes, I've been told that and I reckon your reason is spot on - it's not a consquence of the donation,...

I used to know someone who had received a heart transplant at about 35 years old. She survived for a further 7 years and she and her husband were just grateful for every day - in fact they always knew exactly how many days extra life she had been given by the transplant. I would guess that many peop...

Matthew, I donated my kidney about a year ago. I found it a tremendously rewarding experience, and I feel great. I had the surgery at about 3 PM on a Tuesday and left the hospital at about 2 on Wednesday (which is admittedly unusually quick and that first night at home was not fun). It took me abou...

I was told last week that my brother's eGFR has fallen to 15% and today he saw his consultant for a "routine" appointment. It was anything but "routine" - they are now putting us on the list for an operation in three months' time (which seems to be their normal forward plan). So,...

I'm happy to hear your brothers eGFR is still holding strong - will they continue to monitor you every so often until your brother needs the transplant, or will they leave it now until the time comes and then re-test? I think they are leaving any re-test on me and waiting to see what his eGFR does....

Hi Morag Good to see your post. I'm a potential donor for my brother and I've been lurking here for some time - this is my first post. I went through all the tests in a hurry last year and was quite surprised to find that I passed everything and moreover we're a perfect match. However, it has all go...