Second day of tests

Today was Jake's second day of tests. We had to be at the hospital at 6:30 a.m. Jake had a fasting blood draw and they took 21 tubes of blood. We met with his social worker, his nurse coordinator, a dietitian and one of four surgeons that perform the kidney/pancreas transplant operation. Here's what we learned today.

Blood: O is the universal donor, but someone with O can only receive O. A can get A or O. B can get B or O. AB can get A, B, AB or O. Positive and negative don't matter. Most people are O, so it's the longest list. AB is the rarest, so shortest list. Jake is A.

The list: Right now, in this region, there are four or five people on the A list ahead of Jake. Assuming he's put on the list, priority goes to the best match, not to who is the sickest, because dialysis is available. The hospital has done 28 kidney/pancreas transplants so far this year. If you follow those statistics, Jake is looking at about a 6-12 month wait. Which is much better than just a kidney, which would be three to five years.

Candidate: Everyone we met with today seemed to think Jake was the ideal candidate, so pending something unforeseen, we're pretty sure he'll be put on the list. We should find out about that a week from Wednesday.

Surgery: After the surgery, Jake would have to stay in the hospital five to seven days. He would have to return to the hospital three times a week for two weeks. And then two times a week for another two weeks. And then a week of final testing before he can come back to Salt Lake. He would need a "caregiver," which would probably be me, to stay with him for at least two weeks following his release from the hospital. After that he would have to return to Phoenix after four months, eight months, a year and then once a year for the rest of his life.

Meds: Jake would initially be on anti-viral, anti-fungus, antibiotic and immune suppressive drugs. After a certain amount of time, they would take him off the first three. He would need to take immune suppressive drugs for the rest of his life.

Organs: Once removed from the donor, the kidney/pancreas remain viable for up to 24 hours, which gives us a bigger window to play with than most transplants. Once notified of the available organ, the hospital has one hour to contact Jake, make sure he's healthy and accept the organs. Otherwise, they get sent on to the next candidate.

I think that's it for today. I'll post more if I remember or learn anything else new.