Results: Rejection

Definition of Rejection:
Something rejected as imperfect, unsatisfactory, or useless

What Max's body doesn't know is that this kidney is perfect. This kidney is what his body needs. This kidney is the most useful thing that his body has seen in 2 1/2years. So why is his body rejecting this perfect and purposeful kidney? We are all still searching for the answer. Whether it be searching spiritually or medically, we are all still searching.

Dr. Brad walked through that door and I knew something was wrong because he didn't have the smile on his face like he does every other time he walks through that door. Then we heard it. The biopsy showed that Max is rejecting the kidney. My heart sunk and Tim sat back in his chair. I was numb. He proceeded to tell us that there are three stages of rejection: 1 being mild, 2 being moderate and 3 being severe. Max is at stage 2. I stopped breathing. Tim reached up and grabbed my hand: a reminder that I wasn't alone. Dr. Brad drew us a picture and spoke about what he was drawing. I don't remember a word of what he said. I heard the word rejection and I shut down. My worst fear was now a reality. Max's body is rejecting this absolutely perfect kidney just a short 3 months after he got it. This perfect kidney, that we didn't have to go looking for, was at risk of failing. Dialysis immediately popped in my head. I just got rid of all that crap- were we going to need it again? We are just now getting used to this new found freedom and now it was gone.

Then I heard it. It's reversible. What?!? I slowly started coming back to what he was saying. He told us that we weren't getting out of here tonight because they were going to put Max on a 3 day course of high dose steriods to try to reverse the rejection. I then asked, what if that doesn't work? Then there is another option. Max will have to have a PICC line placed so that he can get 10-14 days of stronger medication. That will result in a 10-14 day hospital stay or just a few days stay and us coming in every day for the infusion. With this he will have to be put on strong antibiotics because it will wipe his immune system out again. (Remember: I was kind of blanked out at this point so some of this may be wrong, but this is what I think I remember him saying). Dr. Brad seemed cautiously optimistic that the steriods will work. He didn't go into full details about option #2 because he doesn't think we will need it. Fingers crossed that the steriods work.

Anyway, he continued to explain to us what the next couple of weeks are going to look like and it basically looks like this: needles, needles and more needles. Lots of blood draws to keep an eye on that creatinine. They need to see it coming down to know if they got all of the rejection out of there. If it doesn't then Max will be heading back in for another biopsy. If that still shows signs of rejection, then we go to that second option that I explained above.

We were also able to successfully have a test done that they have been contemplating doing now since he got the kidney that tells us exactly how much Prograf Max actually needs. They hesitated doing it because it requires 4 blood draws at 4 different times and they didn't want to put him through that. Since he has an IV from the procedure they went ahead and drew from that today and were able to get all 4 of the blood draws without any sticks.

So hopefully between the biopsy and the kinetics blood testing they will be able to figure out what Max needs to keep this kidney happy.

We have been told over and over and over again that the chance of Max rejecting this perfect, 12 out of 12 matched kidney is so very low. All I have to say is that the CCHMC Nephrology staff just got one hell of a case study. I guess we just proved that it doesn't really matter if you are a 1 out of 6 match, a 6 out of 6 match or a 12 out of 12 match.

Needless to say, my faith is shot and I don't think Tim ever got his back since all of this began so we are counting on you. We need you. Please lift us up in prayer. We have seen miracles happen, but after having been through what we have been through you really start to wonder. Was it a medical miracle or a miracle of God?

We are down on our knees begging for this steriod treatment to work. Please keep Max in your prayers. I have a feeling we are going to be hearing a lot of "I tuck" tomorrow considering he is stuck in this God forsaken room until at least Saturday.

Please, oh please let the steroids work.