Bad luck befalls a woman from Mauricie who has to resolve for a second time in two years to have to return to a waiting list in order to receive a kidney, this time after contracting COVID.
“I feel like it’s Groundhog Day, it’s the same thing repeating itself […] I try to remain optimistic, but it’s really another big disappointment,” confides Nancy Plante.
In JuneThe newspaper spoke with the 52-year-old woman who explained her steps to find a donor on Facebook. After several months of hoping, she finally received a call from Maisonneuve-Rosemont hospital on November 15. He was told that a compatible kidney could be transplanted the next day.
“I was so feverish, the nurse started asking me questions and that’s when I mentioned that I had contracted COVID less than 10 days ago […] I was called back 10 minutes later to tell me that the transplant could not take place,” laments the woman from Louiseville.
PHOTO PROVIDED BY Nancy Plante
Risk factors
Before performing a transplant, several factors must be respected, in particular to ensure that the patient’s immune system reacts well to the operation. According to Transplant Québec, each program has “the responsibility to determine the status of each patient” according to defined criteria.
“After the transplant, patients must take anti-rejection medications, including high doses of cortisone and two other medications that act on the immune system. […] The first weeks and months after a transplant are the most critical. This is the reason why in the event of infection, we cannot proceed with the transplant,” explains Valérie Joly, clinical nurse, living kidney donation coordinator at Maisonneuve-Rosemont Hospital.
The healthcare professional emphasizes the importance of notifying her healthcare staff of the slightest health concern so that the waiting patient’s file is updated and to avoid false hopes.
Live with hope
This is the second disappointment that Nancy Plante has experienced in less than two years. The first time was in December 2021 after being called and then hospitalized for a kidney transplant, she was unfortunately told when she woke up from the operating table that the kidney that was about to be transplanted into her was ultimately damaged. .
“It took two years [d’attente] to be reminded [pour le premier don]. Last time, I was called after two weeks of waiting. I don’t know how long it will take this time,” observes Nancy Plante.
Now that she is back on the waiting list, she has no idea where she is and whether her case is considered a priority.
“It’s disappointing, I didn’t even know I had to call my center to say I was sick […] I’m going to be more on the lookout in the future, because I don’t want to relive another disappointment like that,” she whispers.
The fifty-year-old, who has had to get up at 5:30 a.m. every Monday, Wednesday and Friday morning for 2 years to go to her dialysis, tries to keep her spirits up.
PHOTO PROVIDED BY Nancy Plante
“I don’t blame anyone, I’m well surrounded […] My state of health is quite stable, everything that the doctors monitor like phosphorus, potassium and iron are very good,” she emphasizes.
Despite everything, she still hopes to get a new kidney by the holiday season and continues to wait for her turn to come back.