My visit with Shands

[Kathyfl]

  Today we met with Dr. Baz, who is the head of the Lung Transplant Department at Shands Hospital at the University of Florida . He reviewed Kathy's medical records and testing to date, then did an exam.

    He believes a transplant is in order and is the right thing to do....and gave us the following information:

        After a transplant, 50% of recipients die within the first 5 years. In year 1,  20% die primarily from  infection due to the operation. .In years 2 through 4, 30% more die from  rejection which is the body rejecting the new organ and the failure of rejection drugs to stop this process.
He said that a lung transplant is unlike liver or kidney where you are likely to survive 10 - 12 years.

        Because of this high mortality rate , Dr. Baz believes in holding off putting people on transplant lists as long as possible, until a patient has a year or less to live.

        Thankfully, Dr. Baz believes that Kathy has longer than a year. Therefore he wants to see her in 6 months or earlier if her next testing in January does not come back well. . He  will then  put her through further tests, and if necessary, she will be placed on the list. The average wait time once you are on the list is 6 months to 1 year.

        At this point we plan to take this Doctor's advice and hopefully Kathy will not see him again before 6 months and he will test her further...and tell us to come back again in another 6 months!!

        After seeing Dr. Baz, the good news is that Kathy is now accepted as a patient in the Lung Transplant department at Shands.

[maggiemag]

Thanks for the update!  I was hoping you would post a report.  I think Shands is a well respected place, and congrats on being accepted as a patient, but I will be praying that you won't need to be listed for a long time!