Early kidney transplant rejection treatment — really scared and looking for experiences
Hi everyone,
I’m currently about 10 days post kidney transplant and I’m going through a really stressful situation right now. My creatinine had been improving after surgery, but suddenly it went back up quite significantly over the last couple of days. The doctors repeated the blood tests to confirm it, and unfortunately the rise is real.
What’s confusing and scary to me is that:
I don’t have a fever
my ultrasounds have been normal
I’m still urinating normally
overall I don’t feel that sick, apart from pain around the drain area and exhaustion
But despite that, my transplant team believes something immunological is happening, and they are starting plasmapheresis once a day for 5 days beginning tomorrow.
I was already highly sensitized before transplant, so I know this increases the risk of antibody-mediated rejection, but emotionally this is really hard. I went through so much physically and mentally to get this transplant, and now I’m terrified of losing the kidney so soon after surgery.
I think what’s hardest is the uncertainty. My mind keeps jumping to the worst-case scenario.
Has anyone here gone through something similar?
Early rejection treated with plasmapheresis?
Sudden creatinine rise shortly after transplant?
Antibody-mediated rejection that improved afterward?
I would really appreciate hearing real experiences — both positive and honest ones — because right now I feel very alone and anxious.
Thank you.