Re: In the Midwest - Living donor

[Guest guest]

,

As a living donor, you have a perspective of this that I'd like to know more about. I may soon be in a similar position as was your husband and I've got family members who are showing an interest in donating.

Would you please share your experience of the workup, surgery and recovery with us?

Please include your age, time until resuming normal activities, complications, etc.

Thank you in advance and may God richly bless you. You and people like you display the best of mankind. Your husband is a lucky man and I'm sure he knows it.

Thanks again ...

- 45

PSC, Crohns 2000> > >> > > Hi all, this is my first post in this group!We live in Lansing, > > Michigan.> > >> > > Thanks for any insight!> > >> >> > > >> > __________ NOD32 2531 (20070915) Information __________> >> > This message was checked by NOD32 antivirus system.> > http://www.eset.com>

[Guest guest]

I too was a living donor to my 19 yr old son. If you have questions don't hesitate to ask. Martimemcc238 wrote: , As a living donor, you have a perspective of this that I'd like to know more about. I may soon be in a similar position as was your husband and I've got family members who are showing an interest in donating. Would you please share your experience of the workup, surgery and recovery with us? Please include your

age, time until resuming normal activities, complications, etc. Thank you in advance and may God richly bless you. You and people like you display the best of mankind. Your husband is a lucky man and I'm sure he knows it. Thanks again ... - 45 PSC, Crohns 2000> > >> > > Hi all, this is my first post in this group!We live in Lansing, > > Michigan.> > >> > > Thanks for any insight!> > >> >> > > >> > __________ NOD32 2531 (20070915) Information __________> >> > This message was checked by NOD32 antivirus system.> > http://www.eset.com>

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[Guest guest]

I was 39 (almost 40) when I donated. My husband, was 40. He had

PSC. I donated 60% of my liver. I was in the hospital for 7 days which

is about the average. I had a bile leak and required a stint put in.

It was removed 6 weeks later (outpatient). I had an epidural for pain

control. The first couple of days are pretty rough, but after that the

recovery is not that bad. I was off work from October 16th until

January 1st. Physically I could have gone back sooner, but it takes a

little while to get your strength back. I started walking on the

treadmill a couple of days after I got home. I was in pretty good

shape before surgery which I think helped. My liver regenerated within

6 weeks which is so amazing. I am almost completely back to normal

except I still get a little tired after a long day at work or after a

long workout (but that could a also be just me getting older). I do

experience some discomfort after eating a larger meal so I try to eat

smaller meals more often. did really well after surgery, but on

the 4th day he went septic and almost died. They thought he may need

another transplant because of the drugs they gave him to stay alive.

He made it through that and then about 2 weeks later he developed a

severe leak as well. My liver had 4 vessels (most have only 1). One

of the connections in 's liver came undone and he had to go back

to surgery to have it repaired. He was in the hospital for about a

month. It was rough on me because I didn't get much time to recover at

home because I went to the hospital everyday. 's recovery took

longer, but todayalmost a year post transplant he is doing really

well. His liver numbers are all normal. He is also not as strong as he

once was--but he is alive and living a somewhat normal. After being a

Mason for over 2o years, he decided to go back to school full time into

Biomedical Technology. He started full-time this fall. The life

expectancy for liver transplants can exceed 20 years. The only

restriction on the donor after surgery is no lifting over 5 pounds for

about 3 months, They do no want you to get a hernia. Other than that,

there is none. I have 2 kids, 15 and 21. After surgery you will need

help for about a week. After that I was able to return to most

tasks--slower of course. My husbands insurance covered both our

surgeries and all the pre-testing. My pre-testing included a lot of

bloodwork, XRAYS, CAT Scan, meetings with the Social Worker and

Physiologist. My insurance will cover any post care. I will go for

annual check-ups at the hospital for 5 years. Usually the recipient

insurance will cover both transplants and follow-up care immediately

after. Each insurance is different so that is something you will need

to look into. I hope I answered your questions. Please feel free to

email me with anything I missed. I would do it all over again if I

could.

memcc238 wrote:

> ,

>

> As a living donor, you have a perspective of this that I'd like to

> know more about.

>

>

>

>

>

>

>

> __________ NOD32 2531 (20070915) Information __________

>

> This message was checked by NOD32 antivirus system.

> http://www.eset.com

[Guest guest]

Marti,

Thanks ... and WOW!

It must be an incredible sensation to know you've not only given life to your son once ... but twice!

He should be willing to call you mommy and sit in your lap every so often just to make you feel good, even if he is 19.

May God richly bless you both.

I have the same request to you as . If you could share that experience with us, it would be valuable. If you already have, then I appologize and I'll look through past postings.

Thanks again ...

- 45

PSC, Crohns 2000

> > > >> > > > Hi all, this is my first post in this group!We live in Lansing, > > > Michigan.> > > >> > > > Thanks for any insight!> > > >> > >> > > > > >> > > __________ NOD32 2531 (20070915) Information __________> > >> > > This message was checked by NOD32 antivirus system.> > > http://www.eset.com> >> > > > > > > ---------------------------------> Got a little couch potato? > Check out fun summer activities for kids.>

[Guest guest]

Hi all,

Livers regenerating 60% within 6 weeks. That is amazing!! There must be some drawback to living donor transplants or I would imaging they would be a lot more common, or are they?

How many of them are performed per year? What are the risks?

Ian (51) PSC 89

My liver regenerated within 6 weeks which is so amazing. -- Ian Cribb P.Eng.

[Guest guest]

Ian,

Because of the shortage of organs for pediatric transplants the first

living donors were usually parents donating to their very young

children, who would need only 10 to 25% of the adult's liver. As

transplant centers gained experience, in the late 1990s, adult to

adult living donor transplants were added and between 1999 and 2001

became the criteria for a " cutting edge " program. Some centers only

did a few before deciding they were too demanding and shutting down

the living donor part of their liver transplant program. Since the

high point of 520 transplants in 2001, just over 300 per year have

been done in the US. Compare that number to about 6000 per year for

cadaveric transplants.

The following data taken from

http://www.optn.org/latestData/advancedData.asp selecting Transplant

data for Liver, Living Donor by year and age.

U.S. Liver Transplants Performed : January 1, 1988 - June 30, 2007

For Donor Type = Living Donor

.. . . . . . . To Date. 2007 . 2006 . 2005 . 2004 . 2003 . 2002

..All Ages . . . 3,382 . 130. . 288. . 323. . 323. . 322. . 362

Pediatric . . . 1,114 .. 37 . . 65 . . 59 . . 50 . . 68 . . 73

Adult . . . . . 2,268 .. 93. . 223. . 264. . 273. . 254. . 289

2001 . 2000 . 1999 . 1998 . 1997 . 1996 . 1995 . 1994 . 1993

520. . 400. . 253 . . 92 . . 86 . . 62 . . 54 . . 60 . . 36

110. . 118. . 107 . . 67 . . 83 . . 59 . . 54 . . 59 . . 36

410. . 282. . 146 . . 25. . . 3. . . 3. . . 0. . . 1. . . 0

.. . . . . 1992 . 1991 . 1990 . 1989

..All Ages . 33 . . 22 . . 14 . . 2

Pediatric . 32 . . 21 . . 14 . . 2

Adult. . . . 1. . . 1. . . 0 . . 0

Tim R

[Guest guest]

The draw backs are putting another person through surgery, pnly being able to use part of a liver instead of the whole thing, having to take smaller blood vessels and ducts. MartiIan Cribb wrote: Hi all, Livers regenerating 60% within 6 weeks. That is amazing!! There must be some drawback to living donor transplants or I would imaging they would be a lot more common, or are they? How many of them are performed per year? What are the risks? Ian (51) PSC 89 My liver regenerated within 6 weeks which is so amazing. -- Ian Cribb P.Eng.

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[Guest guest]

I have talked about it before but in a nutshell it was an amazing process. We went through Lahey Clinic outside of Boston. They have an incredible program. had been waiting for a long time and when he started to bleed from his varices quite often we could not wait. In 2 weeks time they did a colonoscopy (my examine had shown a little blood), a stress test because 5 years earlier I was having chest pain, a lot of lab tests, a liver biopsy (this was the worst part definitely), xrays, ekgs and last but not least a psych eval to find out why I wanted to to this. Saving my child seemed a logical answer. I donated 2 units of my own blood and they gave it back during surgery. The day of surgery they put in an IV and that is about all I remembered. I am told while asleep I received an arterial line in the artery in my wrist, an epidural (which never worked so they took it out a few days later and an IV in my neck. I kind of lost 3 days and they thought I had had a

mini stroke because of some weakness and confusion and unequal pupils but there was nothing permanent. We were in the hospital 12 days. and I both had trouble eating. He just did not feel well and I had nausea. We found out later that he did not feel good because the edge of the liver had lost its blood supply and had died. They put a needle in and sucked out the dead parts, gave him antibiotics and he felt better. We lived in a nearby hotel for 6 weeks postop because we live 4 hours from the hospital. I stayed out of work another 2 months. The noly 2 side effects I had was I still have some nausea from time to time and I gained about 20#. I would do it again in a heartbeat though. Marti memcc238 wrote: Marti, Thanks ... and WOW! It must be an incredible sensation to know you've not only given life to your son once ... but twice! He should be willing to call you mommy and sit in your lap every so often just to make you feel good, even if he is 19. May God richly bless you both. I have the same request to you as . If you could share that experience with us, it would be valuable. If you already have, then I appologize and I'll look through past postings. Thanks again ... - 45 PSC, Crohns 2000 > > > >> > > > Hi all, this is my first post in this group!We live in Lansing, > > > Michigan.> > > >> > > > Thanks for any insight!> >

> >> > >> > > > > >> > > __________ NOD32 2531 (20070915) Information __________> > >> > > This message was checked by NOD32 antivirus system.> > > http://www.eset.com> >> > > > > > > ---------------------------------> Got a little couch potato? > Check out fun summer activities for kids.>

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