In December 2010, one phone message changed everything for Greg Baldauf. After thirty-five years of living with polycystic kidney disease (PKD), he learned that his kidneys were in renal failure and he would need a transplant to survive. My New Kidney & Me tells his story: the long search for a donor, the anxious lead-up to transplant surgery, the sometimes-disorienting recovery process, and the gratitude and joy that came after. Baldauf's words will be illuminating for anyone going through this situation, describing the physical, psychological, and emotional struggles that can come when facing a failure of the body. My New Kidney & Me brings the mysteries of transplant surgery out of the dark and hope into the light.
If most Americans accept the notion that the market is the most efficient means to distribute resources, why should body parts be excluded? Each year thousands of people die waiting for organ transplants. Many of these deaths could have been prevented were it not for the almost universal moral hand-wringing over the concept of selling human organs. Kidney for Sale by Owner, now with a new preface, boldly deconstructs the roadblocks that are standing in the way of restoring health to thousands of people. Author and bioethicist Mark Cherry reasserts the case that health care could be improved and lives saved by introducing a regulated transplant organs market rather than by well-meant, but misguided, prohibitions.
In Kidney to Share, Martha Gershun tells the story of her decision to donate a kidney to a stranger. She takes readers through the complex process by which such donors are vetted to ensure that they are physically and psychologically fit to take the risk of a major operation. John D. Lantos, a physician and bioethicist, places Gershun's story in the larger context of the history of kidney transplantation and the ethical controversies that surround living donors. Together, they help readers understand the discoveries that made transplantation relatively safe and effective as well as the legal, ethical, and economic policies that make it feasible. Gershun and Lantos explore the steps involved in recovering and allocating organs. They analyze the differences that arise depending on whether the organ comes from a living donor or one who has died. They observe the expertise—and the shortcomings—of doctors, nurses, and other professionals and describe the burdens that we place on people who are willing to donate. In this raw and vivid book, Gershun and Lantos ask us to consider just how far society should go in using one person's healthy body parts in order to save another person. Kidney to Share provides an account of organ donation that is both personal and analytical. The combination of perspectives leads to a profound and compelling exploration of a largely opaque practice. Gershun and Lantos pull back the curtain to offer readers a more transparent view of the fascinating world of organ donation.
A wild-and-crazy memoir about the author's trip to Beijing to help his black-sheep cousin receive an illegal kidney transplant, collect a mail-order bride, and restore East-West relations while they're at it.
Edited by leaders at one of the acclaimed transplant institutions in the United States, this reference covers all aspects of living donor solid organ and cellular transplantation in current clinical practice, including the kidney, liver, pancreas, lung, small bowel, islet, and hematopoietic stem cell transplantation. Detailed, engaging, and organ-
You're in need of a living kidney donor, but you're not sure how to go about the process. You've been told to share your story with family and friends-but striking up a conversation about your need for a kidney transplant (and search for a living kidney donor) is the most nerve-racking conversation you can imagine. Whether you're trying to avoid dialysis or be "free of the machine," this book can help get you there. In Pursuit of a Better Life provides communication principles, campaign strategies, template letters and old fashion relationship skills that can instantly create a desire to help. In this book, the author shares strategies taught in her motivational seminars and webinars, and with her mentoring and coaching clients. Living her best life possible as a preemptive (live-donor) kidney transplant recipient, the author invites her readers to proactively engage as their own best advocate and "join her at the top," where dreams do come true. Known as the quintessential marketing plan for finding living kidney donors, this book reveals strategies rarely discussed in your doctor's office or transplant center. Uncover this wildly successful path for attracting potential kidney donors today! ABOUT THE AUTHOR The highlight of Risa Simon's life was the day an unexpected, unrelated, living kidney donor offered to give her a kidney and tests revealed a sister-like match. That day didn't come easy-and it might never have if she wasn't willing to become a proactive contender, competing for her best life possible. Risa knows all too well what it's like to be a kidney patient trapped in a hopeless sinkhole headed towards dialysis. As she watched her renal function numbers decline, her emotions escalated. The thought of surrendering her sense of control over her future consumed her thoughts and immobilized her dreams. Unwittingly, she discovered a new paradigm after attending a kidney patient conference. The presentation she attended caused an awakening that compelled her to stand before her disease and use her voice to proactively secure her best choice - a transplant before dialysis. Today, Risa is living her best life ever as a preemptive (live-donor) transplant recipient. Her passion for helping others reflects in the names of her principal firms, The Proactive Path and the TransplantFirst Academy, a non-profit (501c3) organization leading the way to better outcomes. As an enthusiastic "positive-disruptor," she's dedicated her life to inspiring eligible kidney patients to bypass dialysis (or become dialysis-free) by proactively seeking live-donor transplant opportunities. Known for her trailblazing patient empowerment strategies, she invites her fans and followers to "join her at the top" - where dreams can come true.
Living donor kidney (LDK) transplantation has become the definitive approach to the treatment of end-stage renal failure, providing a better quality of life and the best opportunity for survival when compared with dialysis or transplantation from a deceased donor. A timely compendium of the modern day practice of LDK transplantation from a group of outstanding international experts, this text explores a number of controversial aspects of this innovative new technique. Discussing in detail the current situation, the authors also focus on the responsibility of the medical community to the live kidney donor as a patient, and the potential for complacency regarding donor risk. Emphasizing the ethical principles that must dictate medical practice in LDK transplantation for the foreseeable future - voluntarism, informed consent and medical follow-up - this book comprehensively records the best practices currently available.
Gripping and evocative, How Death Becomes Life takes us inside the operating room and presents the stark dilemmas that transplant surgeons must face daily: How much risk should a healthy person be allowed to take to save someone she loves? Should a patient suffering from alcoholism receive a healthy liver? The human story behind the most exceptional medicine of our time and it is a poignant reminder that a life lost can also offer the hope of a new beginning. Leading transplant surgeon Dr Joshua Mezrich creates life from loss, moving organs from one body to another. In this intimate, profoundly moving work, he examines more than one hundred years of remarkable medical breakthroughs, connecting this fascinating history with the stories of his own patients.
Vitamin D deficiency, circulating levels lower than 15 ng/ml, is an epidemic disease worldwide with more than a billion people suffering of it in the beginning of the 21-century. Besides its impact on mineral and bone metabolism, these low vitamin D levels are also associated with a diversity of non-skeletal complications, among them cardiovascular disease, diabetes mellitus, multiple sclerosis, cancer, tuberculosis, and immune system dysfunction. Chronic Kidney Disease is also a very common disease, affecting more than 10% of the world population, ranging from stage 1 to stage 5 before dialysis. Approximately 1% of the population in industrialized countries is affected by end-stage renal disease (ESRD), needing a renal replacement therapy either hemodialysis or peritoneal dialysis, and ultimately by renal transplantation. Those CKD patients are more susceptible to exhibit reduced vitamin D stocks. Consequently, more than eighty percent of CKD patients have either insufficient or deficient vitamin D levels for multiple reasons.
Underwood's Pathology (formerly General and Systematic Pathology) is an internationally popular and highly acclaimed textbook, written and designed principally for students of medicine and the related health sciences. Pathology is presented in the context of modern cellular and molecular biology and contemporary clinical practice. After a clear introduction to basic principles, it provides comprehensive coverage of disease mechanisms and the pathology of specific disorders ordered by body system. An unrivalled collection of clinical photographs, histopathology images and graphics complement the clear, concise text. For this seventh edition, the entire book has been revised and updated. Well liked features to assist problem-based learning – including body diagrams annotated with signs, symptoms and diseases and a separate index of common clinical problems – have been retained and refreshed. The advent of whole genome sequencing and increased knowledge of the genetics of disease has been recognised by updated sections in many chapters. Download the enhanced eBook version (from studentconsult.com) for anytime access to the complete contents plus bonus learning materials, including: - clinical case studies – to help apply essential principles to modern practice - the fully revised, interactive self-assessment section with over 200 questions and answers – to check your understanding and aid exam preparation - especially produced video and podcast tutorials – to further explain and bring to life key topics - bonus pathology crosswords – to recall key words and topics in a fun and interactive way This all combines to make Underwood's an unsurpassed learning package in this fascinating and most central medical specialty. From reviews of previous editions: "...it truly is an outstanding textbook...highly recommended" Histopathology "...no doubt it will remain a bestseller – excellent value for undergraduates" Journal of Clinical Pathology "A book of this kind deserves a wide readership" Modern Pathology ".. the definitive textbook of pathology...expands on previous success and cements its position as the market leader for undergraduate pathology" The Bulletin A prize winner: Previous editions have won First Prize in the Medical Writers Group of the Society of Authors Awards, the British Book Design and Production Awards and the British Medical Association Student Textbook Award.
