More transplant info
I visited my cousin last night and she is doing spectacular! I was so shocked to see how alert, happy and good she looked. The 14 months of dialysis and two years of going through the effects of kidney failure have taken their toll on her, but overall, she looks great.
I got a little 411 on the whole thing. She said her kidneys had actually grown together while she was a fetus and she has a horse-shaped kidney. Weird, but had no effect on any of this. Just an unusual thing. But, what I thought was weird was that they put the transplanted kidney in and leave the old ones in there. She said they will atrophy as the new kidney takes over. Weird, huh? Evidently it is less stressful on the body to just leave them in there than to remove them. She showed me her arm where she took the dialysis and it looks awful. It is all purple and has giant growth-looking things on it. Evidently, this happens to dialysis patients because of how hard it is on the veins and the arteries. It won't ever go away, either, she said. Patients who have undergone dialysis for longer periods look worse, she said. Bless her heart. It doesn't hurt, though. Just looks gross, so I guess that is a plus. She said she got her kidney from a 24-year-old man who was brain dead after overdosing on drugs. Totally bizarre thing that none of his organs were damaged from the drug use. I'm guessing for his family, it was at least one positive thing to come from his death - that he saved others. We talked a lot about how she is doing and feeling and talked about my hair and what kind of haircut I should get. She is a hairstylist, after all, and used to do my hair when I was in high school. She said she can't wait to get back to work.
She thanked everyone for their prayers and asked that you continue to pray for her that her body will continue to respond favorably to the transplant.
I got a little 411 on the whole thing. She said her kidneys had actually grown together while she was a fetus and she has a horse-shaped kidney. Weird, but had no effect on any of this. Just an unusual thing. But, what I thought was weird was that they put the transplanted kidney in and leave the old ones in there. She said they will atrophy as the new kidney takes over. Weird, huh? Evidently it is less stressful on the body to just leave them in there than to remove them. She showed me her arm where she took the dialysis and it looks awful. It is all purple and has giant growth-looking things on it. Evidently, this happens to dialysis patients because of how hard it is on the veins and the arteries. It won't ever go away, either, she said. Patients who have undergone dialysis for longer periods look worse, she said. Bless her heart. It doesn't hurt, though. Just looks gross, so I guess that is a plus. She said she got her kidney from a 24-year-old man who was brain dead after overdosing on drugs. Totally bizarre thing that none of his organs were damaged from the drug use. I'm guessing for his family, it was at least one positive thing to come from his death - that he saved others. We talked a lot about how she is doing and feeling and talked about my hair and what kind of haircut I should get. She is a hairstylist, after all, and used to do my hair when I was in high school. She said she can't wait to get back to work.
She thanked everyone for their prayers and asked that you continue to pray for her that her body will continue to respond favorably to the transplant.
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