Counseling At Hospital For Kidney Transplant

Last Tuesday I went to hospital as they called me to give some counseling about the kidney transplant procedure…. they asked to bring my parents along & I went with my father…my father explained that this is a regular protocol for everyone who signed-up for the organ transplant. The doctors educate the patients & their family about the transplant procedure & the risks involved…

There were about 7 patients for the counseling & we all assembled in an auditorium…The doctor ran us through couple of slides explaining how a kidney transplant is done, how they harvest organs, how much time it takes to complete the transplant, precautions that they will take post operation, complications that might occur once the transplant is done & how we need to manage the life after the transplant…This was a lot of information & I was aware with most of the information…I read all about it on Google & consulted with other patients who has gone through a kidney transplant.

So the average life of a transplanted kidney is 10-15yrs & it might also come 40yrs…There are live examples of people living with a transplanted kidney for last 30yrs is what the doctor confirmed to us…Then I asked how long a person can live with dialysis? The doctor said we can live 30-40yrs if the patient is not diabetic…Diabetes normally affects other organs so the life span of a person living on dialysis &having other complications might die early..

The final verdict is that “Transplant is the best option” & will improve the quality of life…so don’t be worried about transplant is what the doctor told us… while I am not worried about the transplant earlier after the counciling there is a nagging itch somewhere in my mind that is asking me to evaluate other options if possible…

After coming home I said to my dad…the post operation complications are scary…even though they might occur in 1% to 5% of patients we need to take a chance blindly & have faith that all will go well… he agreed with me & he is sure that all will be well moving forward…As he often say’s this is a mind game, we need to be strong & find solutions for our problems….