If you saw last week’s post, you’ll know that I finally have a date for my long awaited kidney transplant which brings with it a number of emotions, excitement, relief and nervousness being some of those.
I know for most of you it must have felt like there was a whole lot of nothing happening. I went quiet about the process, mostly because I wasn’t sure of what to say. Eventually people started reaching out and asking what was happening. Today I want to let you into the story of what was happening in the background.
I began the process of searching for a kidney donor back in May 225, just over a year ago. A friend, Melanie, contacted me and said she would be willing to be tested. And so the process began.
Initially, both Melanie and I underwent a number of tests to see if we might be possible matches for the transplant. These included blood tests of various kinds, scans, X-rays and assessments. All seemed to be looking positive.
Then, in October we had a temporary setback when my angiogram showed that I needed stents in some of my arteries. Which meant we had to pause the transplant for six months while everything settled and came back to normal.
In February I was cleared by the cardiologist to go ahead with the transplant surgery.
At that point my case was again assessed by the medical team in Cape Town and they agreed to proceed.
Eventually, on 3 March my application was submitted to the Department of Health in South Africa. This step was necessary as my donor is not related to me by blood.
Then the waiting began.
I had originally been told that approval could take about three weeks. So that was what I was expecting.
Three weeks came and went.
A month came and went.
Six weeks came and went – and still I’d heard nothing despite following up a number of times.
At ten weeks a friend reached out and suggested we approach it differently. If you know anything about me and my work, you’ll know that seeing things differently is part of my brand, part of my being.
My friend, Jeremy, suggested I reach out to Dr Karl le Roux, a medical doctor who is also a member of parliament here in South Africa. And Dr le Roux agreed to investigate to see if he could clear up some of the obstacles.
I believe firmly that it is thanks to Dr le Roux that, on 14 May, I received an e-mail from the Department of Health requesting that my donor, Melanie, redo two of the blood tests. Thankfully, Melanie was able to do so the following day and the results were sent to them on Monday, 18 May.
I received a phone call on the morning of Tuesday, 19 May telling me that we had finally been approved for the transplant. I had tears in my eyes as I heard the news we had been awaiting for so long.
Life has been a complete whirlwind since then.
I’ve taken two weeks to reach out to friends and family who need to know. Hopefully I haven’t forgotten anyone in my chaos.
I’ve also been busy finishing off my current work including the podcast and this blog. Because I anticipate I’m going to need several weeks to recover from what is a major surgery.
And, of course, there is tons to do to prepare for my time in hospital. And to ensure I have all I need for when I return home following the operation;. As an aside, when I expressed my frustration to the medical team about how long the approval was taking, I was told that it can take several months and that whoever had informed me that it would be about three weeks was misinformed. So there you have it.
And there it is –what’s been happening in the background while I’ve been silent. It may have sounded like all I was doing was going to my dialysis sessions and staying as healthy as I can but, as you can see, there’s actually been quite a bit going on which I haven’t mentioned.
Ultimately, we are now less than a week away from the surgery and it’s almost time for me to wrap everything up and focus on getting myself ready for what is to come.
PS: If you’d like to receive updates on the op and my immediate recovery, we have set up a broadcast group on the WhatsApp platform, which you can join by contacting me.
