The Ballad of Billy The Kidney

All I want for Christmas is a Christmas drink

2009-12-19T01:38:00+11:00

As we approach the festive season, I thought it would be good to see how the season is marked by the good folk at the Liver Transplant Unit at Flinders Medical Centre in my soon-to-be-new-hometown of Adelaide.

The pre-Christmas season used to be a nightmare for me each year whilst I was on dialysis. All those people drinking litres of drink (including non-alcoholic, just as eveil in excess to my strict fluid intake quota). And plenty of opportunities to fall off the diet – something that I must watch to this day.

It really bugged me; then I thought ~ Just get over it, John!

And I did.

Stick to your fluid quotas and diets, folks! Its just not worth the trouble in the medium- and long-term.

Robert Mayne, This (transplanted) life, The Weekend Australian, 12th December 2009.

This cartoon by rmay is from toonpool.com

Dialysis in the Australian outback

2009-12-12T13:38:00+11:00

Recently in this blog I discussed the situation of public dialysis facilities in Fiji.

Lest I be accused of pointing the finger at allegedly less-wealthy nations, allow me to shame-facedly report that my own wealthy nation of Australia has issues in access to dialysis.

The problem of dialysis access in the outback is discussed in this item from ABC [Australia] News.

This access necessarily affects the health of indigenous Australians, who make up a disproportionate number of Australian dialysis patients.

It is a national disgrace that Australians in remote areas have these difficulties in dialysis access, and that indigenous Australian continue to have such severe health issues.

Sara Everingham, Dialysis policy "like sending him to Mars". ABC News Online, 4th December 2009

Radio broadcast version of this story [link to MP3 file]

-----

UPDATE 15th DECEMBER 2009: I have re-read this story, and realise that the distances involved might have been missed by international audiences.

If you lived just over the state border from the Northern Territory, and you found that you have been shut out of dialysis facilities at Alice Springs by the Northern Territory Government, and you were asked to travel to Perth or Adelaide of Kalgoorlie to dialyse, then you would have to do a journey that is roughly equivalent to:

San Francisco to Chicago
London to Tbilisi in the Republic of Georgia
Seoul (South Korea) to, say, Kunming in southern China or Hanoi in Vietnam

It is extraordinary that people who have paid taxes all their lives (including the Goods & Services Tax) should be sked to do this, just because some bureaucrat in Darwin signs a piece of paper.

-----

The image at the top of this post is from the website of Cairns Unlimited! Outback Tours

Great Figures in Transplant / Non-transplant History > Jerry Richardson

2009-12-05T01:08:00+11:00

Today's instalment in this series introduces you to Jerry Richardson, owner and founder of the Carolina Panthers in the [US] National Football League.

I usually try to alternate these columns between a figure likely to be known to American audiences and a figure more likely to be known to Australian audiences.

This has been a wee bit out of sequence lately, including some figures that fit into neither category (such as my lovely wife). So here we are back on track.

Usually this post is an abstract of the articles mentioned in this post. But most of these articles are a wee bit bogged down in American football terms that are completely lost on me; a humbling experience for an adult educator, and a salutary reminder of what a lot of my students experience when they arrive at TAFE College.

But Mr Richardson is mentioned here because of his recent heart transplant.

Articles I located on this gentleman include:

Official biography on the Carolina Panthers website (and no mention of his transplant!)
Wikipedia article
Gary Myers, Classy Jerry Richardson in fight for his life, New York Daily News, 21st Decembner 2008 (written just before his transplant)
Richardson recovering from transplant, ESPN, 2nd February 2009
Addie Rising, Panthers Owner's Heart Transplant Surgery Successful, Addie's Charlotte Blog, About.com, 4th February 2009

The picture is from Addies' Charlotte Blog on About.com

Xenotransplantation in Australia

2009-11-28T23:42:00+11:00

The National Health and Medical Research Council has announced that the ban in Australia on xenotransplantation is about to be lifted.

According to the Sydney Morning Herald, this will be

opening the way for research into the use of pig cells in fighting diabetes, Parkinson's disease, Huntingdon's disease and strokes.

The image of Porky Pig is from Wikimedia Commons

Career change has its downs as well as its ups

2009-11-14T23:55:00+11:00

In this blog I have written of the positive challenge involved in changing careers as a result of health issues.

This is by no means an easy thing, but it is a positive thing. And it can be done. I did it from the age of 45. Thérèse Rein's dad did it as a paraplegic in an era before accessibility and equal opportunity were widely understood.

Its a great thing. And it has its bonuses - such as the college excursions (field trips) that I have been fortunate to organise.

Unfortunately its got its down sides too - such as being buried in end-of-term marking and assessments, such as I am at the moment.

This has swamped me to such an extent that I have been unable to come up with a post this week. So I have to ask my readers to indulge me and forgive me as I pass on a meaningful post this week.

In the meantime, here are some irrelevant but personally-favoured YouTube posts to waste your time and bandwidth.

-----

The first is a flash mob video of a mob of people dancing to a variety of disco hits on Bondi Beach, Sydney. The video was placed by RockYourBox to promote the 2010 Sydney Gay & Lesbian Mardi Gras.

Next is a new rendition of the Eric Carmen alleged hit, courtesy of Barack Obama and felixsputnik.

Next we have an alternative version of Joe Cocker's take on With a little help from my friends, courtesy of clickmo.

An oldie but a goodie is the re-telling as a 1960s era Chinese propaganda film of the success of Kevin Rudd in the 2007 Australian General Election. This was posted by hmatkin

And finally we have an alternative telling of the downfall of Morris Iemma from the role of Premier of New South Wales (a role very broadly similar to that of Governor of a US State). The clip appears courtesy of khuxley1973 and the movie Der Untergang (2004).

There are several viewer advisories attached to this clip"

Coarse language
Images of actors playing Adolf Hitler and assorted henchmen
Readers unfamiliar with recent events in New South Wales State politics will find this largely incomprehensible (although this primer might help)

You have been warned! The video may be viewed here.

Great Figures in Transplant / Non-transplant History > Stan Whippy Ritova

2009-11-07T01:23:00+11:00

Stan Whippy Ritova, titled Ratu Viliame Ritova (1935-2009) was a noted journalist in Australia and in his home nation of Fiji.

He stood for the welfare and rights of kidney patients in Fiji.

Paradoxically, the shortage of facilities in his home country was to eventually force him to move to Australia. From this base he continued his journalistic career up to the time of his death.

His work eventually led to the eventual establishment of the first kidney dialysis centre in Fiji in 2008. (2008!)

-----

Obituaries in:

Anshoo Mala Chandra, New Dialysis Centre to Save Lives, Fiji Government Online Portal, 27th May 2008

Image credit: the image of Stan Whippy Ritova with the non-elected and self-appointed Prime Minister of Fiji, Commodore Voreqe (Frank) Bainimarama, is from the Fiji Government Online Portal of 27th May 2008

Location of the Fijian Islands via Google Maps

Running to your strengths: the views of Thérèse Rein

2009-10-31T01:19:00+11:00

The 7.30 Report on ABC [Australia] last Wednesday night featured an interview with Thérèse Rein, wife of the Prime Minister of Australia, the Rt Hon Kevin Rudd MP. The interview was conducted by Kerry O'Brien.

Whilst not specifically about transplantation, nor the illnesses associated with this, Ms Rein nonetheless did have some very interesting and worthwhile things to say about identifying one's health strengths and then running with those - rather than being fixated with the negatives.

Broadband version of interview

Dial-up version of interview (very thoughtful of the ABC to provide this!)

Transcript of interview

Ms Rein grew up with a father who did not let his paraplegia get in the way of developing an aeronautical engineering career. She later built up an international business specialising in job placement of disabled people.

Ms Rein's words about taking stock of one's limitations and then running to one's strengths are very worthwhile.

When confronted with a chronic illness - such as are often associated with organ transplantation - one can sometimes forget that one still has many strengths and skills that one can develop and utilise.

[...] something that I actually heard [...] what Paralympians do - and my dad was a Paralympian. What Paralympians do is they don't focus on what doesn't work, they focus on making what does work, work to the max. And that's what my dad did. And I think I've learnt a little bit about how to do that from him.

Indeed, I try to get this across to my students at TAFE; although not in the context of chronic illness, some experience other feelings of negativity after arriving in a new country or being out of the workplace for many years or just not being confident enough.

My message is to certainly learn what you can in your classes - but to also take stock of your existing skills and strengths and to use those as well.

So cheers to Therese Rein - I shall play the first part of this interview in my classes in the future.

-----

Image credit: Website of the Prime Minister of Australia

Old kidneys for "old folks"?

2009-10-24T16:24:00+11:00

And as we mark United Nations Day today, here's a googly bowled up in the local media: old kidneys for old folks.

I must admit that I hitherto had been under the impression that a donor's age had no real bearing in the allocation of donor kidneys. Potentially, so I believed, an "old" kidney that was otherwise healthy could tick over quite well in a young recipient.

Maybe this article suggests that kidneys with identified issues up to a certain threshold would be considered for elderly patients.

It could also suggest that

My previous understanding was wrong.

The newspaper didn't quite get it right - and general newspapers are notorious for getting transplant stories wrong. Like most of the general population, most journalists do not 100% understand what they are dealing with here. I can excuse this in most people, but journalists have a professional responsibilty to get things right. (I am not suggesting that the journalist who wrote this story is off the mark.)

Well, I don't quite know what to make of this. Should "old folks" be grateful for a chance at a transplant? I know at least one older person who is quite happy to keep chugging along with peritoneal dialysis.

-----

Article in the Sydney Morning Herald

Disclaimer

I tried to lead this post off with a picture as per my usual practice, but alas I am stumped.

The vexed issue of transporting donor organs

2009-10-17T22:46:00+11:00

Local media has this week reported that Australian scientists have developed an improvement in the solution in which donor hearts are transported – making a donor heart viable for up to 14 hours, as against the current situation of 5 or so hours.

The solution also apparently makes the organ generally more viable for transplantation, even when rapid transfer is accomplished.

The time factor is of great importance in a geographically-large nation such as Australia, where it can be impossible to move a donor organ coast to coast due to limited time frames.

This would also have effects in other geographically-large nations such as the USA (which geographically is about the same size as Australia) or Russia.

The Australian newspaper reported this as follows:

The crucial extra hours would for the first time allow a heart that suddenly became available on the east or west coasts of Australia to be flown across the country if a suitable match were identified -- or even across the Tasman [Sea, to New Zealand].

This is especially important in the case of my country, which amongst the advanced nations of the world has a poor record of organ donation.

It also appears that this would also open donor organ movement between Australia and New Zealand.

An increase in the range of potential donor organs would, to my untrained eye, appear to be a path to long-term increase in likely success of organ transplants overall.

At the moment this breakthrough is geared to donor hearts. A stated aim of this research is to extend this to other donor organs.

The research for this breakthrough was undertaken at the Victor Chang Cardiac Research Institute of Sydney.

-----

Articles in

ABC [Australia] News Online

Sydney Morning Herald

Image credit: from the blog Hannah's World

Postcard from Adelaide

2009-10-10T01:32:00+11:00

We’re having a short vacation in the city of Adelaide, capital city of the Australian State of South Australia – 1320 km (820 miles) west of Wollongong.

This has given me cause to reflect on the very different (to the rest of Australia) system of organ donation in South Australia.

Organ transplantation is a matter for State law rather than federal law in Australia. Given this, South Australia has embarked on a model of a network donor co-ordinators pro-actively identifying potential sources of donor organs – a model similar to that used in Spain. [footnote 1]

I realise that this might, to a casual reader, sound a wee bit calculating and macabre. But what can I say - these very sad events happen (sudden and accidental death), and to my mind it at least provided some small solace to the grief-stricken family of the person who gave me his/her kidney that that person was helping 7 or 8 other people (and their families) change their lives.

In 1996 the South Australian Government also launched a state-based organ donation – the South Australia Organ Donation Agency [footnote 2]. In this regard this State was far ahead of its state counterparts in Australia and 12 years ahead of federal action with the formation in 2008 of the Australian Organ and Tissue Donation and Transplantation Authority.

South Australia’s proactive stance in matters of organ donation has led it to a statistical figure of 17 donors per million population (dpmp) (or even 20 dpp according to Lawrence), against a national median of 10 dpmp. [footnote 3].

What does this mean for the average Australian citizen?

For some time, the statistically best place to live in Australia if you needed an organ transplant has been South Australia.

Its not right that one's chance of success in an organ transplant should be in part tied to where one happens to live in a nation - especially when the overall rate for organ transplantation in my country is so relatively poor for an advanced nation. It is to be hoped that the new national authority will be able to work to fix such inequities.

And now, Pauline and I are going to hit the town!

-----

FOOTNOTES

1 – Thomas M and Klapdor M (2008), The future of organ donation in Australia: moving beyond the ‘gift of life’. Parliament of Australia – Research paper # 11 2008-09.

2 – Lawrence A (2004). Presumed consent organ donation under Australian law. Student assessment, Australian Medical Association / Australian National University LAWS internship program. Pp 8 – 9.

3 – Thomas M and Klapdor M (2008), The future of organ donation in Australia: moving beyond the ‘gift of life’. Parliament of Australia – Research paper # 11 2008-09.

Image credit: the picture of the evening skyline of Adelaide is from the 2009-2010 schedule of the University of Nevada, Las Vegas Dance Company.