I am new to this sight. Just want to say I am feeling incredibly grateful for my kidney transplant that occurred on Oct 4. My daughter was my donor and we were both released 2 days later. I was the first robot assisted kidney transplant at Mayo Clinic. I have to say it was fantastic. I have about a 2 inch vertical scar by my belly button so they didn’t have to cut through muscle. I never had to take any pain killers, and so recovery has been quite easy. Have been walking 2 - 4 miles daily.
I know I still have a lot of things that may still come up but so far, meds and labs are working.
My biggest concern right now is getting sick and thus going backwards.
If anyone is still looking for a transplant and wants to know more about the robot assisted, please contact me and I can let you know what I know.
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Pjpanning
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Just curious.... Is this the surgery with the device call the DaVinci arm? We have one at the medical center. You don't have to answer this, but are you a large person? I was told that they use this device on heavy people because it is easier for them to do the transplant. I would think that the less evasive for everyone and they should be training more surgeons to use it. I was told at the Med Center that they only had one surgeon trained...... for some reason, I think they are blowing smoke ...
This is the latest Intuitive Da Vinci XI machine. Pretty new. I think there are like 4 arms. I am 5’4” 150 lbs, so pretty average. No I think they chose me to be first because it was probably not a complicated case. I had not been on dialysis and was healthy and in pretty good shape.
It is pretty interesting to utube the Da Vinci XI.
I had my kidney transplant 3 years ago. Had a couple of UTIs at the beginning but other than that it’s been pretty good. I know you heard this a lot but the biggest thing is drinking plenty of water. Good luck on your new exciting journey!
Congratulations! Thank you for mentioning robotic surgery. It seems to have a lot of advantages. Hope it catches on everywhere! And may you continued to live trouble free here on out!
Congratulations! I too would have agreed to that type of transplant surgery. Many reasons you should feel so very grateful with the care and technology at the Mayo Clinic and the loving donation from your daughter.
So glad to hear of your success. I have applied at the Baylor Scott & White transplant center in Dallas in hope of being able to have a robotic transplant, as they do them at that center. My local transplant center told me to lose 10 pounds before they would go further, which is much easier said than done for a large person. The coordinator at BSW said it depends on the body contour, which will be determined at my evaluation meeting. I am hoping my son can be a match, as of course, they only do live donor transplants with the robot. I am pre-dialysis and hope I can maintain without further deterioration until a transplant can be done.
Glad to hear that it was not complicated and you are recovering so quickly. That is very encouraging. Congrats!!
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Kidney Transplant Survivor for 14 years! It's been a great ride...but I now need a new Kidney. 
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