Duke Revisited

Just got back from a meeting with the surgeon at Duke - a WONDERFUL guy who is a specialist in transplant and PKD kidney removal. Boris and Natasha (the kidney twins) are pretty large and cover an area up into the middle of my back and down into the pelvis. This is right into the site (on both sides) where a new kidney (yet unnamed ;-) would reside.

After about 45 mins of discussion and weighing options, we've decided that Surgery Step One will be the total removal of Boris (who is bigger) and Natasha (smaller one on my right, but a whopper just the same) about 2 weeks (minimum) ahead of any potential transplant. The kidneys are filled with cysts which will certainly burst or will have to BE burst to get the big guys out. The resulting fluids are probably filled with bacteria and all kinds of undesirable things that could cause infection. Because of this, the med team doesn't want to disable my immune system yet, as they will for the transplant. The double whammy of the high risk of infection and the supressed immune sytstem is just too dangerous to attempt the nephrectomy and the transplant all in one, although it's possible.

Step Two, when a donor is identified or a cadaver organ is available, will be transplant. According to the doctor and others, this can be the easier of the two operations.

That's the news as it's coming to you live from THWPress :-D

Peace!
Tim & Twins