I have said for a while that I would not likely accept a lung transplant because there are so many young people awaiting organ transplants, I also question whether my body would accept a set of lungs. My orthopedic surgeon said that people with RA are the most likely patients to reject a shoulder replacement. In any event, I came across this article yesterday that was in Prevention Magazine:
If you're short, you may wait longer for a lung transplant.
If you're 5'4" or shorter, you're 34% less likely to receive a lung transplant than a taller patient, finds a new study from Columbia University. You're also more likely to be removed from transplant waitlists because of worsening health or to die before receiving a transplant. The researchers say transplant doctors seem to believe patients fare better when paired with lungs from like-sized donors, and more tend to come from taller people. They also say actual outcomes don't support this bias.
What you can do: Unfortunately, this one is out of your control, says study co-author David Lederer, MD, director of Columbia's Advanced Lung Disease Program. "One solution would be to alter allocation policy in the United States to increase the waiting list priority of shorter folks," he says. But that's up to national health authorities.
It would appear that the decision has been taken out of my hands...even BEFORE I developed degenerative disc disease, I was never 5' 4" and now I am JUST 5' 1" and my doctor says she is being "generous" when she measures me.
Thank you to all of you for getting me over that hump on Saturday, I would not have smoked but I sure would have been a lot more teary and believe me, I was teary enough. It's beautiful outside, we have to pick up our youngest at midnight, I might send my husband alone because I am NOT a night owl and the ride is really a lot for me. It's an hour and a quarter to where she gets dropped off...in a deserted K-Mart parking lot (actually BEHIND the K-Mart). We always try to get there early because it is no place to wait alone. Of course, the bus is always late so WE wait but my husband loves listening to the radio so he actually enjoys it. I need to get some things done before she gets here, the guest room has been vacuumed, sheets changed, damp dusted, floors steamed so, of course, the cats will do everything they can to get in there. She is terribly allergic to cats and they love her, of course.
