Transplant

I must say I am an uncommon and fortunate one because I had preemptive transplant - before my kidneys fail and need any dialysis.

To begin with, I knew very well the chance of having a kidney in this center was not high, and, when my kidney function was rather advanced, I planned for emigration to the other side of the harbour. It was therefore a great surprise to me when S, the newly appointed transplant coordinator at that time, rang me up on a August morning and told me a kidney was available.

In fact I had the agreement to emigrate on my desk and was about to sign and fax the documents back later that day. If that were done, I would decline the kidney and my life in the past twelve years would be very much different.

Maybe I would have died after a few years of dialysis.

PS. I must say I had early transplant not because I was treated favorably; it was a marginal kidney and the two persons ahead of me on the waiting list declined the organ.