Mayo Clinic: Day 2

PHEW!! What a day. Our heads were jammed full of TONS of info today.

We started out with an abdominal ultrasound, where they scanned my kidneys, liver, pancreas, and gallbladder. The sonographer saw what she THINKS were kidney stones, but she said that they might be calcified arteries. She said that calcified arteries are not uncommon in people whose kidneys are not functioning properly. I also learned that gallstones are easy to diagnose from just ultrasound, because they are made entirely of calcium, but kidney stones are often composed of other things and do not show up very clearly on ultrasound. I will probably be sent to have a CT scan in order to determine exactly what is in there.

After that, we had 3 back to back group classes: Living kidney donors, the transplant process for the recipient, and transplant pharmacy instruction.

We learned ALOT about the living donoation process, which is an area we had many questions about.If I have to wait for a cadaveric kidney (from someone who has died or is brain dead), I will have to wait at LEAST 3-4 years. If we are able to find a living donor who matches, there is a chance that surgery could proceed in a matter of weeks. Right now, I am at the ideal time for a successful transplant- I have reached 20% kidney function, but I do not yet need dialysis.
If anyone is interested in being a living donor, please don't hesitate to ask. I have tons of info and can answer any questions or concerns you might have. You could possibly save my life!

Pharmacy instruction was a little daunting... the recipient of a kidney transplant has a very complicated an extensive regimen of medicines, many of which will have to be taken for life. We also learned how ungodly expensive these medicines are... before insurance, the average post-transplant medicines for the first year will run around $6,000-$7,000 A MONTH. Close your mouth before flies get in there.

Later in the afternoon we met with our financial advisor. This was one of the meetings we have been the most aprehensive about. The average cost for all aspects of a transplant for the first year of care (including the donor & recipient surgeries) is around $260,000. VERY scary numbers.
Our financial advisor was AWESOME and we liked her alot! She put alot of our fears to rest. She confirmed that because I have renal failure, I am elidgeable for Medicare, which will be filed first, and then my insurance through my job. We asked a ton of questions, and she put pretty much all of our fears to rest.

Our last visit of the day was for a cardiac echocardiogram, which is just a sonogram of the heart. This one was pretty cool! We got to watch my heart do it's thing, and we could see all the valves & bits & pieces all working away.

Tomorrow, we go back for follow-up to the allergy & TB skin tests they did on my arm, and we also meet with our social worker. We have lots of questions for her, too!

We are feeling more and more hopeful as we get more information. It's still hard to not be terrified though. We are facing a lifetime of doctors, pills, etc. Also, there is a very good chance that in 15-20 years, we will have to go through this surgery all over again. But, the art of medicine is advancing every day, and who knows what will be available by then.

Thanks for stopping by! More updates to come.