Aerothorn on 21/3/2016 at 01:40
I don't suppose there is an actual ETA on a heart? is it just "depends on how many organ donors kick the bucket soon?"
(Also PS, in college I ran a bunch of organ donation drives and was really grossed out by how many people were opposed to being organ donors - not for religeous regions but because they Didn't Want To Think About Dying, or were genuinely convinced someone would harvest their organs while they were still alive).
Medlar on 21/3/2016 at 08:31
Keep fighting fett.
fett on 21/3/2016 at 15:49
Yeah, no ETA - independent probability, and all that. I think most people just don't realize how desperate the need for organs are. Over 8,000 people died just last year while waiting on a list. If even half of the people who died last year had been organ donors, it could have cleared every transplant waiting list twice over. I never thought about it before all this, but I guarantee if I'd had to spend even one week waiting in a hospital, just to experience what it was like - the desperate hoping and waiting, separation from family, the meds and blood draws, the bad food, the isolation and wondering how long I'd be there - I would have made damn sure I and everyone I knew was a donor. I'm doing as much as I can to stay sane, but at the same time, there's this temptation to just say "fuck it" and go home, let things take their course.
Phatose on 21/3/2016 at 19:10
Out of curiosity, how many medical limits are there on acceptable donors? I expect it's not "Any heart will do, just jam it in", but that could be anywhere between "Must be compatable blood type" and only having .1% of all donor hearts being acceptable.
fett on 22/3/2016 at 14:54
I don't really know (not sure if I understand the question). Beyond blood type, body size, and gender (The Big Three) anti-body match is another HUGE factor that isn't often discussed because it's complicated. Essentially, everyone's blood has certain anti-bodies. Anytime you receive a blood transfusion, it introduces more anti-bodies into your system (from someone else's system) and there is always the possibility those anti-bodies may conflict with one another, which can cause all kinds of problems - everything from other organ failure to anemia, to blood poisoning, sepsis, etc. and contributes to rejection of the heart organ. So someone like me, who's had to have transfusions, already has a higher chance of conflict with transplant - I had at least 5 transfusions when I had my artificial put in. When they take it out, the surgery will be very bloody because the tissue in the chest cavity adheres to the implant and has to be cut away, requiring blood to be replaced. More anti-bodies. Then the heart is implanted, meaning even more anti-bodies. The odds of a conflict increase with each transfusion. There are markers they can check to get the closest match possible. Even if anti-bodies don't match exactly, it doesn't mean bad things will happen, it just increases the risk. I'm not sure what the margin of error is but generally, if there's a viable heart but potential anti-body conflicts, they proceed with transplant anyway, because it's easier to resolve the effects of anti-body rejection and peripheral problems than it is to find another matching heart.
faetal on 22/3/2016 at 15:29
I'm guessing after the transplant you'll be on heavy duty immune suppressants indefinitely?
shalebridgenights on 22/3/2016 at 16:30
There's people worse off than you, you know.
Pyrian on 22/3/2016 at 16:44
Well, yes. But they're mostly dead.
Matthew on 22/3/2016 at 17:32
Seriously thinking of becoming an organ donor itt. I've never fully committed to the idea, as it's been frowned upon somewhat in my family circle for whatever reason in the past, but thinking that a dude like fett could be saved if I manned up and signed the donor card has me reconsidering.
fett, we're rooting for you old buddy.
