SS: friend who had kidney transplant is rushed into emergency surgery

[nickel]

coming home and getting a message like that on your answering machine totally sucks. i am just sitting... waiting on another phone call to update me.
my gf's husband had an medically unexplainable auto-immune disease whereby his own body attacked his kidneys. they deteriorated so badly that he had to have a transplant. the transplant, his brother was a donor, took place Dec. 7.
he had been in a lot of pain and the kidney "numbers" (creatinine levels) started getting worse so they had to biopsy the new kidney to see if it was rejecting or if there was a blockage. here's the real piss-off part, they biopsied the "wrong part". wtf? so he had to have the biopsy over again today. now i come home to find he has been rushed into exploratory surgery because he was in extreme pain and bleeding internally. wtf is going on?!
i am so scared.

please, if you have read this, say a prayer for my friend. he needs all he can get.

[Jenny]

Oh nickel :( They & you are certainly in my thoughts & prayers tonight! :(

[oblongmelon]

Yikes..uh..perhaps they need to find a competant surgical team. ...on the other hand..best wishes to your friend for a good outcome.

[Kim]

I'll keep your friend in my prayers.

[welfareloser]

good luck. he has an excellent chance of surviving this, and a decent chance of keeping that kidney. based on what you said, it sounds more like a physical problem, like a blockage, tear, etc, that can be fixed.

biopsies of abdominal structures can be rough. they're now often done laprascopically, which is great for not having to rip a bunch of stuff open, but the trade-off is that the surgeon is a bit more likely to get lost in there. my son had to have a biopsy do-over after the first sample was "unusable." it's not necessarily an ominous sign. good luck, and i think there's good reason to hope for best ;)

oh, and in my experience... feel free to call the hospital yourself to ask for an update. you'd just need his wife to verbally authorize the office staff to release the info to you... then you don't have to wait, or worry about bothering your friend, and the office staff is more than happy to relay the official updates.

[oblongmelon]

oh, and in my experience... feel free to call the hospital yourself to ask for an update. you'd just need his wife to verbally authorize the office staff to release the info to you... then you don't have to wait, or worry about bothering your friend, and the office staff is more than happy to relay the official updates.I don't know what hospital you go to where they allow this-but under HIPAA -there is NO WAY that any patient info can be released to anyone (even a spouse)without written consent of the patient.That is totally non-compliant with HIPAA if they do..that's like begging for immediate loss of federal funding and possible jail time if they do..not to mention loss of professional licensing for the person releasing the info...(unless the patient is comatose or unable to answer for him/herself and has no spouse, there has to be a power of attorney to speak on that patient's behalf-most times, unless pre-arranged POA is set up by the patient themselves prior to their illness, the facilities have to have court ordered POA's to handle such cases when there is no Sig.Other...) and even then-there is no health care professional is going to risk professional suicide anymore by violating the HIPAA guidelines. Hospitals/health care facilities won't even release a room number or phone number to a patient's room unless their Release of Information forms have been signed giving the facility legal right to release simple information like that..If I'm correct-the only time patient info can be released to others besides POA's and immediate family is when those other people have some kind of direct dealings with the care of the patient (like a home health aide)..I don't believe that just calling to get info because you are their friend will get you anywhere.

for anyone who doesn't know about HIPAA..it's probably best if you take a quick read through the guidelines-in the event you ever have an emergency situation arise, you will be prepared.

[ufcrusher]

If you know of a hospital or pharmacy that completely complies with HIPPA I would be very impressed. As time passes since the introduction of the law, I have seen more and more places become more aware of the requirements, but many still need to be reminded of certain aspects. For example, I have repeatedly had to admonish drug stores regarding the required distance between patients giving and receiving their drugs/scripts and those waiting. (Mostly because the person behind me was annoying me...not because I am a law enforcing crazy man)


Back on topic - I hope your friend gets better and that this will turn out to be nothing.

[nickel]

well he came out of surgery at 10pm last night. it seems when they do a kidney transplant it is common practice to just leave the old kidneys in there as more harm may come from removing them. the artery that was attached to the old kidney burst and that is where the internal bleeding came from.
being skeptical, i wonder if the surgeon doing the first biopsy where they "biopsied the wrong part" actually nicked that artery?
i don't know all the details, and i may be off, but it does seem a coincidence.

bottom line is he is ok, and back on his road to recovery.


obby, he is at University Medical in Syracuse. have you heard of that hospital? it is supposed to be one of the top transplant hospitals in NYS.

[welfareloser]

pretty good guess at what happened.

glad he's doing well and the new kidney is safe and sound!

[Houdini]

well he came out of surgery at 10pm last night. it seems when they do a kidney transplant it is common practice to just leave the old kidneys in there as more harm may come from removing them. the artery that was attached to the old kidney burst and that is where the internal bleeding came from.
being skeptical, i wonder if the surgeon doing the first biopsy where they "biopsied the wrong part" actually nicked that artery?
i don't know all the details, and i may be off, but it does seem a coincidence.

bottom line is he is ok, and back on his road to recovery.


obby, he is at University Medical in Syracuse. have you heard of that hospital? it is supposed to be one of the top transplant hospitals in NYS.

If they were attempting to biopsy the new kidney, I doubt they would have hit the renal artery attached to the old kidney. The new kidneys are usually attached in the lower front abdomen/pelvis, well away from the old ones.

Anyway, glad to hear he's recovering. That must have been scary!

H

[nickel]

If they were attempting to biopsy the new kidney, I doubt they would have hit the renal artery attached to the old kidney. The new kidneys are usually attached in the lower front abdomen/pelvis, well away from the old ones.

Anyway, glad to hear he's recovering. That must have been scary!

H
i appreciate that info, but i still find it so concidental that this happened at this time without any prompting from any of his medical procedures.
but what do i know? :P

got even better knews yesterday: his creatinine level is holding at 2.1. (it was 1.5 a few days after surgery).
the biopsy didn't show any problems and his new kidney is doing it's thing well. he was finally able to get his catheter out. i have never had a friend have to have a catheter in but he claims it hella sucked to get...um... aroused with that in.

here's so hoping he can be home for Christmas.

[mrmb123]

Glad to hear he is doing well, My father-in Law had a Kidney transplant in September and it has made a world of difference.