Officially on the list

October 12 2009
I am officially on the list to receive a kidney / pancreas transplant. After much discussion on the merits of live donor transplant vs. getting my new organs from a cadaver. It boiled down to one surgery vs two, one course of anti rejection drugs vs two.

Of course the down side is that I am on dialysis until my name pops up for the next available A blood group set of organs. So I wait.

Some numbers...
At Froedert, I am the only one on the list for A blood group organs. The last recipient was on the list for 5 months.
At UW Madison where I am working to get on the list at the moment I also be at the top of the A blood group list. The last recipient was listed for 6 days prior to transplant.

I can wait that long. We will review where we are if after about 6 months nothing happens.

In this game, being of blood group A is a bonus.
Percentages of the population by blood groups
O - 47%
A - 40%
B - 9%
AB - 4%

Whilest A is a smaller number than O, the wait time is significantly shorter then O. The wait times for O blood groups are measured in years and the live donor would be the best options.

I will keep you all posted. Dialysis is nearly done so I am saving this for you all to read.