The Kidney Saga - Part III

As you probably remember (or maybe not), my BIL needs a kidney transplant.

Here’s some background, in case you don’t remember:

- Out of 9 siblings, my husband and two of his sisters were found to be compatible
- A few weeks ago they told us Ana (one of my SIL’s) was the best match, though we didn’t quite understand why
- Then they ruled out Inês (my other SIL, the nun) because she has a high cholesterol and her kidneys are not 100%

So the new development is that they do think Ana is slightly better than Zé Maria but they are leaving it up to us to decide. They still have one more exam and then we’ll have to decide.
Ana is 25 and getting married next year, and she wants children soon. A major abdominal surgery is probably not the best thing for a person in her situation. In fact, there are some hospitals who wouldn’t even consider her as a possible donor. So, unless this last exam reveals something is wrong with Zé Maria, he will be the donor.

We will try to schedule the surgery before the summer so that he will be fully operational by the time the baby is born. I’m not sure what I’ll do meanwhile since I am not allowed to pick up R but I’m sure it will work out.

What I’m really worried about is my BIL. He’s only 30 and he has been on dialysis for 12 years now. He has had a transplant before, from a dead donor, and rejected it, which makes the chances of him rejecting this one much higher. His health is clearly deteriorating, even though the quality of dialysis (the filters, etc) has improved significantly in the past few years. But the fact is we don’t know how long he can live like this, or how his quality of life will be. So we really need this to work out.