New here.

[Rmatthew]

Hey, I’m Ross and I was on dialysis for 12 years before receiving a kidney transplant in august this year. At the beginning it was very hard due to the kidney taking a while to wake up, I was in hospital for 19 days, almost had to get a biopsy, but they then gave me a high diesel of steroids because they thought there was a small rejection. Also, my bladder was very very small due to being on dialysis for so long. After the steroids, my levels were coming down to where they should be. It’s been around 5 months now and I’m feeling great now, with just some side effects eg: Losing my hair at an accelerated rate for example. I’m mainly here to talk to people in a similar position or have been through similar things as I don’t know anyone else who has.

Thankyou!

[Hidden]

Hi and welcome to the community.There are folks in this community who are undergoing dialysis and others who also have had transplants and still others who are dealing with CKD and waiting for either dialysis and/or transplant.

There are two other communities you might also investigate. One is Kidney Dialysis and the other is Kidney Transplant.

It sounds like you have a lot of information to share so feel free to post at your convenience and share as much as you are comfortable with.

Wishing you continued success.

[Rmatthew in reply to Hidden]

Thank you very much for the welcome! I have joined those pages aswell, the illness I have is cystinosis, I’ll have this for the rest of my life and will continue to be on medication for that, thankfully my transplant had made things a lot easier.

Thanks again for the welcome.

[WYOAnne NKF Ambassador in reply to Rmatthew]

Congratulations on your transplant and welcome to this great community! I had my transplant 21+ years ago. My kidney started working right away. The first 2 years my labs were all over the place and did have 2 or 3 biopsies. I was not rejecting and all turned out well. I had a lot of GI issues and they had to adjust my immunosuppressant meds. At first I was on Prednisone and am still on Myfortic (Cellcept) and Neoral (Cyclosporine). My Myfortic dose was adjusted several times.Hair loss seems to be a common complaint. I had that too at first, but for me after a time my hair came in thicker. Make sure you tell your transplant team regarding the hair loss. Maybe adjusting your meds can help. Some on this site have gotten their team to prescribe something to aide with the hair loss and helps hair to come back in. I know there are a lot of OTC products now. Just don't take any of them without the OK from your doctor.

The one thing that I have learned is to always report any thing out of the ordinary to your nephrologist/transplant team. You know your body better than anyone and know when something isn't quite right.

Take care and stay safe!

[Rmatthew in reply to WYOAnne]

Thankyou for the welcome! That’s brilliant your kidney started working straight away! Mine took about a week or so to wake up, after they gave me a big dose of prednisone because there was a small rejection and that seemed to sort it. I’ve also had a lot of meds change over the past few weeks especially the Advograf where I was on 22mg and I’m now down to 12.

When I’ve been going to my clinic appointments I’ve been saying everything that’s changed in the week or two since the previous appointment. The good and the bad!

I don’t want to jinx it, but they have been really happy with my results recently, just making a few changes with one of the calcium and advograf meds .

Thank again for the lovely welcome from everyone!

[WYOAnne NKF Ambassador in reply to Rmatthew]

Remember we are here for you! We are not medical experts, but answer from our own experiences. Glad you are doing well!Take care and stay safe during these COVID times

Is the UK starting vaccinations?

US talking about the end of this month.

[Rmatthew in reply to WYOAnne]

Thankyou, I feel welcomed so far! It’s just nice to talk to other people who have experienced similar things!

Yes, the this morning was the first person to get vaccinated in the world apparently, and that was in a hospital in Coventry England (I’m from Scotland), they showed it on tv this morning!