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I have a friend being evaluated for an organ transplant (Original Post) spinbaby Aug 2016 OP
Best of luck to your friend (n/t) Metatron Aug 2016 #1
Amen. trof Aug 2016 #2
best wishes for your friend. KMOD Aug 2016 #3
Common for Kidney Transplant persons. Wellstone ruled Aug 2016 #4
Medicare use to cover kidney transplants and drugs. GeorgeGist Aug 2016 #5
I think it still does. femmocrat Aug 2016 #10
Our friend is only Wellstone ruled Aug 2016 #12
My husband is currently listed Texasgal Aug 2016 #6
Prayers for your husband. femmocrat Aug 2016 #11
Thank you! Texasgal Aug 2016 #14
That sucks. No one would chip in to my gofundme. I'm not cute, not a local celebrity, no great story NightWatcher Aug 2016 #7
ain't that the truth dembotoz Aug 2016 #17
Dealing with this with my dad. He needs a liver, I'm cleared to donate half. Insurance is dragging LeftyMom Aug 2016 #8
I'm so sorry LM. Texasgal Aug 2016 #15
Thank you. Dad's doing surprisingly well, all things considered. LeftyMom Aug 2016 #16
Our center is in San Antonio. Texasgal Aug 2016 #18
Prayers for your friend. femmocrat Aug 2016 #9
The USA has the best convenience-store-Leave-a-penny-health-care system in the world!!! Hassin Bin Sober Aug 2016 #13
 

Wellstone ruled

(34,661 posts)
4. Common for Kidney Transplant persons.
Mon Aug 22, 2016, 05:52 PM
Aug 2016

We have a friend who is on the transplant waiting list. The anti-rejection drug is over fifteen hundred per month. That in it's self has to be accounted for before any Operation. Fortunately we were able to help with a full year of his needs. Waiting for his donor results,should be any day now. We still will have to do some fund raising in order to cover out of pocket expenses. After nine years,hopefully things work out for him.

 

Wellstone ruled

(34,661 posts)
12. Our friend is only
Mon Aug 22, 2016, 07:19 PM
Aug 2016

56 and on SSDI. And after nine years of this,the Guy is more than ready. BTW,so many transplant persons find issues with the State where they reside,or even the County they reside in. Waiting lists are a whole other issue.

Texasgal

(17,029 posts)
6. My husband is currently listed
Mon Aug 22, 2016, 06:47 PM
Aug 2016

and awaiting a double transplant Kidney/liver. The fund raising verbage was not only our package but on the American Liver Assc. webpage as well.

It's insane!

Edit: To add that his insurance * Obamacare will pay for his transplant but nothing before. We've had to fight almost every single hospital stay he's had this year and that's been close to 22 times.

NightWatcher

(39,343 posts)
7. That sucks. No one would chip in to my gofundme. I'm not cute, not a local celebrity, no great story
Mon Aug 22, 2016, 06:51 PM
Aug 2016

I don't need any transplant, I'm fine, a little reflux but I'll be great.

So if you're cute, can get a local restaurant or bar to help you out, or have some other "wow" factor you can get medical funds. But if you're an average person with no large social backing, you get to die.

dembotoz

(16,740 posts)
17. ain't that the truth
Mon Aug 22, 2016, 09:15 PM
Aug 2016

my kids used to do sports and club fundraisers....take the stuff to daddy's work or to church ...whamo other kids sell the quota......have little to no social interaction...hell i am becoming part of the loners group here...


my kids were always screwed.....

if my insurance don't cover it, just give me a gun....ain't no one working a bake sale for me.....

and i am generally ok with that

LeftyMom

(49,212 posts)
8. Dealing with this with my dad. He needs a liver, I'm cleared to donate half. Insurance is dragging
Mon Aug 22, 2016, 07:02 PM
Aug 2016

everything out (and on Medicare so this shouldn't be a big thing.) At this rate he might be near the top of the deceased donor wait list by the time everybody gets their shit together, and he's literally the worst possible blood type in the worst possible region to need a liver.

If they drag this out so long that his cancer escapes his liver he dies horribly. If they get their shit together we get hideous matching scars and he lives probably another 25 years. His parents survived into their nineties and then died accidental deaths, so he's good on the genetics front.

Having absolutely no control over this situation is terrifying. Especially since I just lost my mom to her liver disease in April. The drug she needed to save her liver and her life was approved while she was in the ICU dying of an otherwise minor infection.

Anybody who tries to defend our medical system can go fuck themselves.

Texasgal

(17,029 posts)
15. I'm so sorry LM.
Mon Aug 22, 2016, 07:52 PM
Aug 2016

I know exactly what you are going through. Husband has liver cancer too and his MELD is 29. We've been waiting officially a year... although this has been going on longer than that.

I hope you are a good match for your father, we cannot do a living donor unfortunately... he needs more than just a nub.

LeftyMom

(49,212 posts)
16. Thank you. Dad's doing surprisingly well, all things considered.
Mon Aug 22, 2016, 08:53 PM
Aug 2016

The people at the transplant center always ask him questions about his self-sufficiency and they always seem surprised about how few things he's unable to do on his own. (Should we be saying he's sicker than he is to game the system? I don't know.)

Right now his cancer's really small and not showing any signs of growth, but he's still a year and change out from being able to get a cadaver liver and that's a long time to count on his cancer behaving.

We're pretty lucky that live donor is an option at all, he comes from a huge family but I'm the only feasible donor. His siblings are all too old and my sister is an incompatible blood type. The way they want to do it at his transplant center (he's at UCSF) is to give him the two largest segments of my liver, they say they've had good luck in adult-adult transplants doing it that way and that the recovery for the donor doesn't seem to be significantly impacted versus using smaller segments. I guess they said that the comparative sizes of the donor and recipient are also part of that decision, and he's just about a foot taller than I am.

What's the regional center you're at? I know there's one in New Orleans (they suggested moving there or Florida because apparently it's the shortest wait, but packing up and moving for a couple years and hiring a home care nurse is officially not in the budget because Dad forgot to be wealthy before getting sick) but I don't know if there's one in Texas?

Texasgal

(17,029 posts)
18. Our center is in San Antonio.
Mon Aug 22, 2016, 11:06 PM
Aug 2016

We are in Austin about an hour and half drive. Texas is one of the shittiest places to obtain an organ. Our center also suggested Oshner in NOLA and ofcourse Florida but we do not have the means to so so.

We are now #9 on the list. I know that sounds great to most people but it dosen't mean much here in Texas. We still have months and months to wait and he is more sick than ever.

I hope you are a match, it's alot to go through. You'd think it would seem easy but it is not at all! When are you being tested? Hopefully it's soon!

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