Saturday, June 14, 2008

An answer to a request from a friend who is far away

I had a friend ask me by email from Beirut what happens from this point on? When will we know when Mike is OK. 

Mike has about three months of serious recovery. He has not had a rejection scenario happen yet so things are good so far. The doctor let us know that usually patients have rejection symptoms at some point but there have been patients who never have rejection scenarios. We hope this will be Mike. The doctor said that usually at some point patients come back into the hospital for some reason or another. 

Mike will have outpatient surgery to remove the stint in his new kidney at the outpatient center in a few weeks if all looks good. He is also scheduled to see the doctor today to have a drain removed from his abdomen. 

He can start to walk outside the house in two weeks. Just short walks with his mask on. 

In six weeks he will be able to drive again once the doctor signs off on him. He will be tapering down off the major portion of the drugs he is on over the three months. Once they have dialed his dose of medication in he will be well enough to start to exercise. Taking it slow and rebuilding his strength.  

If he makes it the first year without a rejection scenario he will have a 99% chance that he will keep his new kidney for 5 years and after the 5 years a 96% chance of keeping it longer. 

Mikes Mom had her transplant for 17 years and so Mike could be that lucky or could have it even longer with all the new technology available. 

Thanks for your question. If anyone else has a question for us please email at: teammikie@gmail.com

I also wanted to thank our friends for the card that have been sent to Mike. It really lifted his spirits. Jon and Janis thank you so much you are very thoughtful and generous!!! Thanks to Jackie and Nathan for your support and I will be in touch if we need anything. Thank you Robert and Suzanne Williams for the funny card. It made us laugh and that was very helpful. 

Love to Shelley in Beirut we send you all the best!

posted by Andrea

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