October 2010 - Applying for Transplant

After Mom's visit to Boston in June of 2010, I continued going to her nephrologist appointments when I could. The nephrologist (Dr. V) was seeing Mom every three months to keep tabs on her kidney function and her anemia. Now that we knew exactly what Mom had, we started discussing the possibility of getting a transplant (liver, kidney or both). Dr. V talked to us a little about the pros and cons of organ transplants, and rather than make any immediate decisions she recommended that Mom submit a transplant application and see what they say. ("They" being the transplant committee.)

So Mom completed the 13 page transplant application in late October and submitted it to Baylor. We heard back within a month or two that she was denied because her kidney function was not bad enough at that point to justify an organ transplant. So in a way that can be considered good news, being told you haven't reached the point yet where you need a transplant. We'll revisit this situation at a later date, but for now we'll leave it at that.

As the end of 2010 approaches, we have gone from being introduced to the word "amyloidosis" for the first time in January, finding out what Mom really has in July, learning there are no treatments for it other than organ transplants, and being told she doesn't need an organ transplant yet. Before we finish 2010, however, we need to talk a little about one of my favorite subjects: Me.