<from the newspaper article: “Thomas donated a kidney Thursday to Love at Loyola Medical Center in Maywood. Both were expected to be discharged Saturday.”
That’s amazing! You get/give a kidney on Thursday and are out of the hospital on Saturday! Even if the reporter wasn’t clear and they are out of the hospital a week later, it’s still amazing!
I’m black and had always heard of sickle cell (and had myself tested), but never knew anyone with it until I worked at the front desk of the experimental unit of UMichigan’s hospital as an undergrad in the ‘70’s. You could hear the sickle cell patients just screaming in pain. I’d never heard anything like it. And what was worse, the nurses would hear that screaming and say they couldn’t give pain meds, the patients ‘had enough.’ Whoa. That was my first experience with that kind of thing and it has stayed with me.
We also had a kidney transplant between twins when I was there. In about a day or so, the sick twin looked as good as her healthy twin. It was amazing. The surgery was new at the time and I don’t recall how long the twins had to stay in the hospital. They kept them in isolation rooms. Now, from the picture that goes with the story, it looks like both patients are in a regular hospital room and not in a sterile environment.
I had my transplant on a Saturday night, and was discharged on the following Thursday.
I was in a regular room, had visitors, walked the halls, etc.
It’s much different these days with transplants. I worked in a hospital back in the early 90’s, and the recipient had to wear a mask whenever he/she went out of the room, anyone entering had to wear a mask, etc.
The first 6 months are the most risky for infection, as that is when the immune suppression is at the highest. The docs then back down on that as the risk of acute rejection lessens.
I also had “tolerogenic immunusuppression”. They gave a drug that wiped out my B cells (immune system cells) temporarily, and thus, I only had 2 IV doses of steroids around the surgery, and do not have to be on daily Prednisone.