Adam came home a couple of days with this story. I repeatedly accused him of lying, but really.. who could ever make this crap up.
Adam is currently taking care of transplant patients. He was in clinic and a patient came in (along with his mother) needing "access" for his dialysis treatments. They started asking the patient general health/medical questions and quickly learned that the patient received a kidney from his mother. The transplant was done in Mexico. Great! When did the new kidney fail? The patient couldn't provide them an answer, so they contacted the patient's nephrologist. He explained that while the mother has a scar indicative of a kidney harvest (he had examined her), the son's scar is not "normal" for a kidney recipient. After further investigation (an ultrasound and CT scan) the donor kidney could not be found. They could tell, because usually when a kidney is transplanted they leave all the old kidneys in place and just add the new kidney. I asked Adam to explain why.
From Adam: "The ureter length and the artery and vein are technically easier to deal with if the kidney is in the pelvis"... yeah.. thanks or in non technical terms the tubes aren't long enough to connect your kidney to your bladder if you just put it back in the same old place.)
So, the point is that they suspect/know that although the patient's mother gave a kidney, it is likely that her son did not get said kidney. The funny thing is that NO ONE wanted to tell the mother that her kidney is out there somewhere.
I guess all those crazy urban legends of people waking up in baths of ice with a scar are slightly true.
the end.
6 comments:
So you end up with THREE kidneys?!?! That would be a good one to have for that two truths and a lie game...
How sad for that mother- I wouldn't want to be the one to tell her, or her son!
Huh. I had no idea that they just left the old kidney in there! At first I thought that was where the story was going -- they found THREE kidneys!! Who knew that wouldn't be surprising?
But oh the mystery. Where is the donor kidney? Remind me never to have surgery in Mexico.
So, did the son have only 2 kidneys? Did he ever need a kidney? And what about our neighbor's son that had been given his mother's kidney which he rejected and then another kidney... so how many kidneys does he have?
If you receive a kidney transplant you have 3 total kidneys in your body. I'll get Adam to provide a follow up in terms of how things work.
Wandering Nana- I would assume they took out the donor kidney that wasn't working and put in the new kidney. I don't think there would be enough space for 4.
YES he needed a kidney, but they just gave it to someone else.
In a kidney transplant patient, they really only have one kidney and two pieces of useless meat. Benefit of taking them out usually not worth the risk.
If you have a failed transplant, then we just put in another one. Taking out a transplanted kidney is even harder that removing one you were born with.
For liver transplant it is different. Have to remove the old liver and put the new one in the old spot.
Isn't surgery fun?
holy cow. now i'm really freaking out! our soon-to-be-born baby was diagnosed at 20 weeks with an ectopic kidney, and after a follow-up ultrasound they now say they can't find it. (it's the left one that's m.i.a.) I'm sure Adam hears the most bizarre stories.
Liz Downer
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