I REALLY Miss CHOP....

 I miss, terribly, the access I had for Babygirl when she was a pediatric patient. Because she is an adult, my access to her (and my ability to be a support to her) are MUCH more limited.

That being said....

Babygirl was sent for dialysis about midnight.  I was no allowed in dialysis with her, and after she was gone was informed that i couldn't stay in her room because she wasn't there.  Bye-bye, no idea when she is going in for surgery in the morning, kidney is still in transit, see ya at 8 when visiting hours open back up. 

Well, duck.

There were no social workers who would contact the local hotels to confirm that I qualify for the hospital discount. My first call to a hotel got me in for tonight but they can't keep me for the 5 days I'm likely to need to be here.

I got a call about 6:30 that Babygirl is on her way to the OR.  I didn't have a chance to talk to her.  I still can't go in until 8.  I don't know where I'm staying tonight.  I want MY mommy. 

To answer your questions:

The donor is deceased. We would have had many weeks notice for a living donor.

Yes, this was fast, both in the sense that she was only listed for about 18 months, and in the sense that we had very little warning.  The lack of warning has to do with the fact that when someone dies and donates, there is a rapidly ticking clock on the length of time those organs remain viable. 

The short wait is more complicated.  The average wait is 3-5 years for an adult organ recipient.  However, ones place on the list is multifactorial.  Babygirl was placed on the top of the list, not just locally, but NATIONALLY.  And again, the reasons for that placement are complicated. 

The first and most important reason is that she has a (partially) live donor kidney already in her body.  Her immune system is systematically killing that kidney, but it has had some residual function: She still produces urine, potassium is apparently being cleared. But she has a gazillion antibodies in her body working to kill that sucker, and those same antibodies will go to town on any kidney that doesn't match ALMOST EXACTLY to her current situation. She is young, healthy and needs a kidney that will last a long time, so preferably a young donor.  The odds of finding such as kidney are about 1:10,000. But because the match is so difficult, she was at the top of the list, all lists, so that if that 1:10,00 kidney turned up by some miracle, it would bypass everybody else on the list and go directly to her, since another kidney like that might take years to find. 

This kidney is a GOOD match.  Donor her age, size, and tissue type.  So here we are. 

DeeDee