anyone stayed around B'ham post tx ?

[mickdees1]

Hi

Apologies if some of you may may have read this before.

I had a tx in 96 which is now slowly failing GFR20 creatine 300. My brilliant wife is going to a donor.

I lived in Willenhall when I had my last transplant at B'ham QE & although I moved to sunny ( errr cold & windy ) Skegness nearly 5 yrs go I have continued to to treated at the QE because I cannot believe I would be treated better anywhere else. I have never had cause to complain in 15 yrs.

Our problem is where do we stay after this transpant as we will need regular bloods taken following op.

I can think of 4 options but would welcome any other suggestions :

1) Stay with my 81 yr old Mum in a 1 bed flat - put up camp bed / settee everynight - not great with stitches etc

2) Stay with my single male mate - he doesn't do cleaning house,not brill post op

3) Travel backwards & forwards from Skeg - but who drives / train would arrive too late for bloods

4) Rent a house for 6 months - would wprk but vet expensive

I had always assumed we would be able to stay over in the hosp accomadtion for visitors etc bit apparantley we could only stay for a max of 1 wk.

I should add that changing hospitals wouldnt really help as where we live takes 2 and half hrs to any hosp - 3 and half to Bham - so really not much in it travel wise. I am sure one of you will have had similar probs & would appreciate any ideas

[Mike]

I would highly highly recommend leicester general as both myself and Laura both go there from notts and the standard of care is second to none.

I had my transplant at derriford in plymouth and I was living in dorset at the time so was a 3 hour journey each way twice a week. I was transferred back to my home unit in bournemouth within a week as all went well

I completely understand how you feel about changing units as we dont go to notts as they are utterly useless but jsut cannot complain whatsoever about leicester. They are just fantastic.

Not sure if any closer for you but thought I would mention it

[bigbuzzard]

Hi Mick

What about trying to find someone to 'swap' houses with you, for a few months?

I just Googled 'house swap uk' and found one site that arranges swaps between people in council houses/housing associations, plus a load of sites about swapping instead of buying/selling - neither of which may be much use.

But I can imagine that there would be people living in Brum who wouldn't mind a few months by the sea - it's just a case of finding them. All I can suggest s more googling, finding a forum thats based in the area, getting in touch with the local KPA and getting an ad in newsletter/email, or a card in the hospital, or shop window somewhere nearby.

Good luck

[Budgie]

This may just be a wierd suggestion .
But what about a cheap touring caravan on someones driveway or cheap caravan site .
slap me if you want but if all else fails improvise
Regards
Chris

[mickdees1]

Thanks for all the ideas.

Chris I had thought about a caravan probably because we are surrounded by millions in Skeg - so not a bad idea. Maybe I could BORROW one without anyone noticing. Could park in on mates drive but seriously there are nice caravan parks around wolverhampton so if they do short lets bingo.

I have been told by others that Leicester is excellent so again a very good suggestion.

I hadnt really thought about house swaps only renting. So I looked on web about house swaps & discovered a short let specialist in B'ham area which could be answer. So thanks to all your advice I now appear to have a plan.

All the best

Mick

[ukscott]

Hi Mick

Have you had any more thoughts about your transplant logistics?

I'd be interested to know since Im hoping to be a living donor at the QE Birmingham also...my mum (the recipient) lives in the countryside and although I'd assumed I could stay at my mum and dad's house afterwards, I hadnt thought about the practicalities e.g if I get out of hospital first and my dad is driving back and forth to Brum to see my mum...

I was thinking about renting a serviced apartment near the hospital somewhere for a week or two at least, though ive not looked into the costs. Has anyone else done this?

I'm sure enough folks on this list mustve had Tx's - did any of you go straight home (if 'home' was over 2 hrs drive away) on discharge?

You mentioned renting somewhere for 6 months...I'm hoping you are just being cautious there, as i'd hope that follow up bloods etc can be done more locally.

Best of luck

Scott

[Mike]

Hi Scott,

I went straight home (3 hour drive away) on discharge from hospital and was lucky as only had to visit the tx clinic twice before being transferred back to my home unit. I could have had to keep going down there for up to 6 months however and as i said it is a 3 hour drive each way

Mike

[jenjen]

hello

Also, as a donor (rather than recipient) you'll need much less intensive follow up. Recipients need constant checks for rejection etc in the early days

I had my transplant at Edinburgh but was discharged to my home unit (Dundee) after 10 days where they did bloods, biopsies etc there. I never had to visit Edinburgh for follow up at all

Hope this helps,

Jen

[smudge]

Hi

You will almost certainly be out of hospital first but should be fine to stay with your Dad (you might both like the company whilst your Mum's still in) after the op.

I donated in the summer, op on Wednesday and discharged Friday. On Saturday a friend took me back to visit my recipient - an hour's drive away in London - which was absolutely fine. She was then discharged on the Sunday and we both stayed with the same friend for a couple of weeks R&R.

I then had a surgical follow up after 2 weeks at our local renal unit and a medical one after 6 weeks. A guy who had donated to his sister 2 weeks after ours who we met in clinic had come over from South America to donate. He had his surgical follow up at 2 weeks then I think they brought his medical one forward to about 3 weeks. All was fine so he flew back home (he was by then fit to fly) and had the rest of his follow up in South America.

As Jen said, recipients are back and forth to clinic so much in the early days (3 times a week) - as I was around, I went along for the ride to most of them. Especially as I could drive after 2 weeks so it made transport much easier.

Good luck

[ukscott]

Thanks for your input folks...

I'm still waiting for my crossmatch results so have a bit of time (maybe too much!) to plan things
Cheers
Scott