Another Update on Brandon

Location: New Rockdale RV Park; Mansfield, Louisiana

Things have began to move quickly for Brandon. From what I can see it is a good thing and not being prompted by bad health. To be placed on the waiting list for a Pancreas/Kidney transplant, each person goes through a rigorous battery of health tests. These tests are used to see if the patient is not only healthy enough for the transplant surgery but also healthy enough to be "rewarded" with a transplant organ. They do not want to waste a valuable organ on a patient that is not healthy enough to survive long enough for the organ to be a benefit. That sure sounds hard-core and callous but it is what it is. The transplant board makes life and death decisions all the time as to who is active on the list and who is inactive.

Brandon had his carotid arteries checked by ultrasound and they were clear as a bell. That was good. He also had a stress test, EKG and Echo which all showed good. The one test that remains before being placed on the waiting list is a heart cath. It is needed to check the stents that were installed about 10 years ago. The heart cath uses dyes that are squirted into the arteries while images are taken of the arteries around the heart. The kidneys are used to get rid of the dyes after the test. It is believed that the last job of Brandon's kidneys will be to rid his body of the dye. After that job, they may shut down completely or be reduced dramatically. This means he may go directly to dialysis after the heart cath. To prepare for this, he had a Peritoneal Dialysis Catheter installed last week. It is installed in his stomach to do the type of dialysis he chose. Hopefully, his kidneys will handle the dye without degrading too much and he can delay the dialysis longer. 

The heart cath is scheduled for November 15th. The transplant coordinator says if the cath shows "good to go", Brandon will be placed on the active waiting list. At that point, we wait for a phone call. When it comes, we high tail it to the hospital and hope. 

Ya'll take care of each other. 
Be safe out there and maybe I'll Cya down the road.