Day II Update

Our second visit to Mayo was great! Mark had his blood drawn again. We were also able to meet with a financial advisor, a dietitian, and our social worker. I was finally able to sit down and speak with someone about this whole process and felt like I really had a lot of my questions answered. (of course on the drive home, I came up with a whole list of more questions I wanted to ask) Our social worker was a wonderful lady who was extremely helpful and could answer just about anything for us.

Here are a few things we found out yesterday:

1. In the southwest area of the US, there are a list of a number of hospitals that get the "organs" when someone decides to donate. The hospitals go in order of who receives the kidney.
2. For a kidney donation, seniority is how you move up on the list for donation (unlike liver where they take into consideration how healthy/unhealthy you are)
3. Mark's diet consists of not eating much phosphorus, potassium, and a small amount of liquid each day. After the transplant, his diet will be completely different and all of the food he can't eat now he will be able to eat as well as drinking more liquids.
4. Even though Mark feels much better on dialysis, once he has a transplant the social worker said that patients say they feel amazingly awesome after the transplant (I personally can't wait for that to happen to Mark....so he can finally feel amazing and his freedom can return)
5. Mayo clinic works as a team, so next week after all the test results are in everyone from the team (nursing coordinator, social worker, dietitian, the doctors, the financial advisor) sits down and talks about the patient to decide if Mark is able to be placed on the list. From the opinion of the social worker, she said that Mark should have no problem being put on the list. They will then give us a call and send us a letter letting us know the decision. It is also a team effort once the transplant occurs and they work with the patient and caregiver. A total team effort!

This whole process has seemed a bit scary for me at first, but as I speak with more of the transplant team I am feeling more and more relaxed about this whole process. Mayo clinic is one of the leading hospitals in kidney transplants. Here is a link with a few short videos that explain kidney transplants through Mayo clinic.
http://www.mayoclinic.org/kidney-transplant/