Timeframe ?

[Calkacky]

My mother is currently on the kidney transplant list. However, it appears my brother will likely be a suitable donor.   He's had all the testing and all his stuff go so the transplant committee next Friday for review and (hopefully) approval.

I have a cruise scheduled for early December. Obviously, I don't want to be on it if my mom would be having a transplant during it.  But, I wouldn't want to go if she was recently post transplant either. I think that probably goes without saying.  I've only got a couple of weeks where I can get a full refund for canceling my cruise and I don't think we will have an approval and time to talk to a transplant surgeon to get an estimated surgery date within that time so I'm turning her for some advice.

So, if you received a living donor transplant, how long after approval was it until you had surgery?  Also, are there time limits after one is approved that they have to actually do the donation?

Any advice is appreciated!

[Clark]

Best wishes to you all! Three months is likely a very short time for a donor to go through all the testing, so if your brother just started on the path, he can probably can an average time estimate from the coordinator.

[Calkacky]

Thanks Clark!  He actually has done all the testing. He had a final set of labs done Thursday and all his "stuff" will go to the transplant committee next Friday when they meet again. It is my understanding he will get word that following Monday if he qualifies. The way I understand it, he is a match. He just has to pass all the tests that determine he is healthy enough and that is what the transplant board will decide next Friday.  I just wonder how quickly after that they usually will proceed with transplant should he indeed be approved.

[Fr Pat]

     It can be helpful to also keep in mind that once a date for the transplant surgery has been chosen it may still be postponed for a number of reasons:
--- both the donor and the recipient have to be in pretty good health at the time of the surgery. Should either come down with the flu or other "minor" sickness the doctors may postpone the surgery.
--- It SOMETIMES happens that the recipient develops new anti-bodies, so that the final cross-match between donor and recipient that is done a day or two before the surgery fails even though previous cross-matches have been good. That would cancel the surgery.
--- Since a kidney transplant surgery can usually be postponed without endangering anybody, the surgery could be postponed at the last minute if the operating rooms are needed for a sudden emergency (e.g. a major crash or disaster requiring many emergency surgeries.)
     
       So it may be wise to maintain some flexibility in your schedule as the transplant surgery date is never a sure thing.
             best wishes,
               Fr. Pat

[elephant]

Dear Calkacky,

I was donating to my Dad around 6 weeks after the preliminary testing. But we were avoiding starting dialysis for him.  It would have been even sooner, but one of the surgeons had to present at a conference. 

Love, elephant

[loustar]

Hi Calcacky-

When I donated to my uncle, the transplant team said they usually like to book the operating room about 30 days in advance.  It will also depend on the donor and recipient's surgeon preference.  We booked our surgery about 45 days after I was cleared by the transplant committee.  We had to wait an extra two weeks because my uncle wanted a particular surgeon who had to come back from vacation.