Having a new kidney: One year later

Today is a red-letter day for me as it is the first anniversary of my kidney transplant. One can truly say "how time flies!" First off, I would like to thank the medical team of Dr. Alvin Roxas and the nurses and staff of the Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center and my ever-watchful nephrologist, Dr. Juliet Chua Chong Noel, who took care of me before I even knew I had a kidney problem and kept watch over my recovery.

Frankly speaking I didn't know these doctors until March of 2016 when I was first hospitalized before I left for the historic PAL flight to Los Angeles from Cebu. Then Dr. Noel asked me to visit her after my US trip because she was doing some medical tests on me, and that's when we found out that my kidneys were already failing. After a series of attempts to improve my creatinine level, I had to face the inevitable that either I go for a dialysis or get a kidney transplant, which I found to be a drastic measure.

Then I met Dr. Roxas who told me that for as long as I wasn't yet on dialysis, he would give me priority over patients lining up for a kidney transplant who were already on dialysis. My daughter Katrina, who studied Nursing and trained in a dialysis center, told me that she would never want me to undergo a dialysis if she could help it and indeed we went to extreme lengths to avoid having a dialysis.

Add the fact that my compadre, the late Jesus "Dodong" Tequillo, the father of my son-in-law Atty. Jennoh Tequillo, who was in dialysis for many years succumbed to an infection and passed away five years ago. I observed that despite his kidney problems pareng Dodong handled his kidney problems with his friends, making them cheerful creating a Kidney Failure Club (KFC) doing a song and dance routine. I saw their presentation, which was a lot of fun, but then my compadre died and no one took his place.

So there was no question I had to undergo a transplant. So the next question was should I have it at the National Kidney and Transplant Institute in Manila or at the VSMMC? Since this was a learning process, the problem I faced if I had my operation in Manila was my support group. My family is all here in Cebu, which meant that if I had the operation done in Manila, we would have to get hotel rooms close to the hospital. Few people realized that the operation is only part of the treatment of a kidney transplant patient, your support group for your recovery is equally important.

Also of great importance for a kidney transplant patient is to secure a donor for the kidney replacement. Unfortunately for me, all my children who were willing to donate their kidneys for me did not match my blood type, so we had to literally scrounge the countryside looking for a willing donor. In fact the biggest problem you often face is when you find a willing donor is if your blood types match. I was lucky enough to get two donors who matched my parameters.

But before I could get a transplant I had to be operated for gallstones, which wasn't bothering me, but our doctors didn't want this issue to complicate in the future. So my cousin, Dr. Eduard "Don" Rosello, did a laparoscopy on me at the Cebu Doctors Hospital. Then finally on November 8, Dr. Roxas and his medical team gave me a new kidney at the VSMMC.

I didn't realize that November 8 was also the anniversary of the super typhoon "Yolanda" (international code name "Haiyan") which celebrates its 4th anniversary today. It didn't dawn on me that I would have the same anniversary as super typhoon Yolanda. Alas, recovery in the areas hit by the super typhoon is very slow thanks to the reality that much of the foreign money intended for the typhoon victims was pocketed by officials who until today have not yet been charged. Yes it's been a year since my kidney transplant and we continue living our life with the grace of God and the support of my family and friends. Praise God!

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