Month: March 2022

Transplants vs. Dialysis

So someone has gone and started the process of getting a kidney transplant. One thing that annoys me is the social worker at the dialysis clinic. The process has been initiated with Emory. But the social worker gives him info on a transplant center in Norfolk VA. Says different clinics have different lengths of time to transplant.

Now he was FedEx a packet of information from Emory. I read through it. First thing i noted 3 to 5 years of wait time for a kidney to become available. Plus the immunosuppresant drugs for the rest of his life.

So he goes for the first appointment. Nurse practitioner says 8 years. And get this then he brings up Norfolk. I knew that because of HIPPA they can’t without a killer amount of permission forms etc..

But the n.p. mentioned he’d have to go to Norfolk and start the process all over again. Then she started with the risks of disease and cancer. I mentioned toxoplasmosis which they don’t test for. It’s a nasty parasite. And can in fact be b transmitted via transplant. But when he got home i discussed the drugs he takes for dialysis and then those he’d have to take with transplant. Also before the 8 years we might see perhaps 3d printing of organs using his own cells. Or he may even get a porcine donor. Of those two I’d prefer the printed organ. Your own cells, no immunosuppressants either. Imagine.

It’s like when i had emy root canal. I asked the endodontist why we couldn’t regenerate the tooth. She told me that n they’d done that when she was in school. 25 years ago

Covid Vaccine coming for me

Got a call from the county government today. They’re scheduling me for a covid-19 vaccine at home. At last. I haven’t had any issues since I mask up for all interactions. It’ll good to be vaccinated even if it won’t 100% protect me from the variants. But the way to understand it is

And update. Received two more doses in 2022. So in the parlance I’m now triple vaxxed. But i still mask up for interactions with visitors.

Thanksgiving 2020

So once again we come to another holiday that I’m sort of ambivalent about. It represents the immigrant settlers celebrating their survival at the expense of native Americans. So i think one would understand my ambivalence. Otherwise good meal even if it was turkey, mashed potatoes and broccoli casserole.