MY LATEST KIDNEY TRANSPLANT UPDATE.........

Now in my third year of dialysis while awaiting a kidney transplant, I have begun looking beyond Sacramento for a possible transplant center. In addition to continue being listed at UC Davis Transplant Center, as I have been for the past two years, my prospective donor Victor Herrera and I are now exploring other recommended transplant centers for eligibilty interviews and acceptance. The two other transplant centers I have contacted in recent weeks are Cedars-Sinai Hospital in Los Angeles and the Mayo Clinic in Arizona. On Wednesday May 20, Victor and I attended five and a half hours of interviews with the eleven members of the Cedars-Sinai transplant team of doctors, nurses, social worker, and coordinators and I underwent a brief physical, an EKG, a chest X ray and a full set of blood labs. Victor was also given a computerized body mass analysis by the donor transplant coordinator and found to be within the acceptable range for eligibility as my donor. In the next several weeks Victor will return to Cedars-Sinai to complete their required testing for potential donors. Then we await word of the transplant team's decision as to whether they will list me as a kidney transplant candiate at Cedars-Sinai. The Mayo Clinic in Arizona has also indicated a willingness to interview me to consider my eligibility in their transplant program. Victor and I will travel to Phoenix in coming weeks to meet with the Mayo Clinic's kidney transplant team, just as we did in Los Angeles. I am hopeful these further explorations will help expedite my receiving a kidney transplant, so that I can be returned to ministry and the work of being a parish priest I was ordained to do in the Diocese of Sacramento, 22 years ago.........Further updates will be posted here on my blog as developments warrant. Thank you for your prayers, support, and continuing friendships.........Fr. Troy