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Organ transplant
Patient Information
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Transplant Center - What's New
November 16, 2006
Issue No. 4
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A reason for thanks
The second week of November a patient presented to UK Chandler Hospital with highly elevated liver enzymes. A detailed history was obtained and multiple tests started in order to determine treatment. Despite testing, the liver failure was of undetermined origin, nothing specific could be identified.
Within hours the patient was gravely ill in fulminant liver failure. By late that night, the transplant surgeons decided that the patient must immediately be placed on the national waiting list. The nurse coordinators and surgeons met with the family to discuss options and the course of treatment.
The patient was listed nationally before 10 a.m. the next day. By that same evening a liver was offered from another state, and the patient went to the operating room for transplant within several hours.
The patient spent the next two days in the surgical ICU and was transferred to the transplant floor on the third day.
At this writing (day four), the patient has started to ambulate, diet has been advanced and teaching begun on anti-rejection medications.
This patient gave us yet another reason to be thankful on Thanksgiving. While recovery is ongoing, we have every reason to be optimistic about the patient’s outcome.
At the UK HealthCare Transplant Center, we see amazing things happen every month, some more stunning than others, but every effort is always made to see that each patient goes home to their family and community to continue productive and happy lives. We look forward to watching our Thanksgiving patient return to spouse, children, family and friends very soon.
Important facts & figures about organ & tissue donation*
More than 89,000 Americans are registered for donated organs on the United Network for Organ Sharing waiting list, including more than 600 people on the waiting list in Kentucky.
A new name is added to the waiting list every 14 minutes.
Every year, about 3,000 people die while waiting for an organ transplant. Ten people die each day because they have not received a donated organ.
Acceptable donors range from newborns to senior citizens.
One individual donor can provide organs, bone and tissue for nearly 50 people in need.
In 2004, 25,000 successful organ transplants were performed. Experts say twice as many could have been performed if more people donated organs.
By law, every American age 18 and older is eligible to be an organ donor. Hospitals are obligated by law to identify potential donors and to inform families of their right to donate.
*statistics provided by KODA
11th annual Transplant Picnic
On Sept. 30, 2006, the UK HealthCare Transplant Center held its 11th annual picnic for our liver/kidney/pancreas transplant patients. The picnic, held at Jacobson Park in Lexington, was attended by more than 200 patients and their families, as well as by the doctors, nurses and staff of the transplant clinic.
The picnic gives patients an opportunity to share the fellowship that arises from the transplant experience and gives the doctors, nurses and staff the chance to mingle with patients and their families in a social atmosphere. The attendees participated in games such as “Pin the Organ on the Doctor.” Good food was shared and educational materials were provided by Ali Issa of Astellas. We look forward to continuing the tradition of our picnics next year for all the patients that have received organs in 2006 at UK.
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