Good News, Bad News

Are you ready for some good news to start the new year? After many months, and many screenings, a potential donor has finally been medically cleared!  Hooray!  I’ll call him Superman because he must be super healthy to make it through the very exhaustive screening process, and he may be the one to ultimately save the girl on the tracks from the oncoming train.  He went in for a full day of final tests a few weeks ago, and his case was presented to the board this past Monday.  And he was approved!

But of course my kidney journey has seen no shortage of surprises. On the same day Superman completed all his final tests, UCSF also announced it was suspending its living kidney donor program!  He wouldn’t be able to donate to me at UCSF even when he’s finally approved – not until the suspension is lifted!  A few weeks earlier a kidney donor had died the day after transplant surgery.  The cause is unknown, and while an investigation takes place, UCSF has voluntarily suspended its living kidney donor program. This means we cannot proceed with any living donor surgery right now even if he is approved.  I can still receive a deceased donor kidney if one happens to come in, but I’m far down on the wait list they won’t happen.

Superman Donor isn’t discouraged, however, and is still eager and willing to proceed.  UCSF has never had a donor death, and he understands the risks.  (The risk of a kidney donor death following surgery is about three deaths in every 10,000 cases.)  We just now have to either wait for the suspension to be lifted, or find a new transplant center.  So after a flurry of phone calls to UCSF, UC Davis, Kaiser, and Stanford, we are transferring all our care to UC Davis (whose transplant center is in Sacramento.)  It’s farther to travel (for surgery as well as all those follow up appointments ), and not my preference, but it’s a reputable center with a great staff.  If the suspension lifts before any surgery, I can always switch back to UCSF.

So now what? In the next few days, I will get all my paperwork in order for Kaiser my insurance to designate UC Davis as my new center and get in a few tests that are now outdated (chest X-ray, EKG, etc.). My donor has to visit Sacramento in person to meet with the staff as part of the evaluation process.  Most of his tests, however, should be able to transfer over from UCSF.  Recently I had already registered at Davis as a transplant candidate so most of my work is done.

Then we are almost there except for one last step (hopefully).  Superman and I are not blood compatible, which means my body cannot physically accept his kidney.  We would be entered into the database for the kidney exchange program.  As far as blood type, I’m A, he’s B.  So we would have to be matched with another donor-recipient pair out there, an A donor B recipient combination.  It’s a kidney swap, and he’s donating on my behalf.

So then we just wait.  I hope it won’t take long, and there won’t be any more glitches.  But you never know.  God has a way of waiting for me at the finish line only to surprise me with a detour.

All this makes me feel nervous and excited for my donor and for me.  Thank you for your prayers for us.