This is what my kidney transplant looks like. See the light-colored "bagel" on the left side of the screen? It's a transplanted kidney, cradled in the "iliac fossa" of the right hipbone, probably in a safer spot than it had been originally!
This is something that's puzzled lots of people -- "So which kidney do they take out to put Cheryl's in?" I still have both my monsters -- the nephrology fellow was somewhat surprised to encounter them today where no one expects to find a kidney -- and this one has been tucked into my hip and is the third connection to my bladder. This is done mainly because the right iliac blood vessels are easiest to attach to the new kidney. I'm told my "native kidneys" will soon realize there's a new, avid worker in town and will gladly give up their fight. They'll still be alive, attached to their original blood vessels, but they'll probably stop producing urine.
Cheryl, thank goodness, also just had abdominal surgery, with about a 3-inch incision next to her navel. Years ago, removal of a donor's kidney involved an 8-inch incision from your back around your side -- LOTS of muscle involved -- and removal of a back rib! The only thing Cheryl had to worry about was whether she was subject to back pain -- once she was out on the operating table, the surgeons twisted her hip back and chest forward so that the kidney "popped" up as other organs pushed against it.
I found my incision is a little bigger than I expected when the nurse held her thumb and finger about 5 inches apart during one of my "T - 1" (the day before transplant) appointments.When I finally got to a mirror where I could see the whole thing, I found out it's at least 8 inches long. And you know what? There's not a stitch or a staple in it!
That's thanks to the brand-new world of surgical adhesives. Where do you find a glue that works on admittedly wet -- and constantly generating more wet -- surfaces?
I haven't been able to run into a surgeon at my lab appointments, but I suspect it's "BioGlue." It's a biologic (based on purified matter from cows) system where two materials are mixed together as they hit the wound, and knit it together within 2 minutes. Hmm. . . sounds like my father's favorite kinds of epoxy!
Thank heavens for advances in medicine.
image from www.medcyclopedia.com
Components of BioGlue:http://www.cryolife.com/products/bioglue-surgical-adhesive
New fields in surgical adhesives, including slugs (!) and mussels:
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/05/090501200853.htm
http://www.sciencedaily.com/
