After years and years of immersion in Reams-think it is hard for me to see the world through medico eyes. Below is a story about a kidney failure. God alone knows exactly how much money will be spent on this one case. I'll bet a donut and a cup of coffee that Reams simply would have made the man drink his water---no drama whatsoever. Does that "protein build up" sound like huge numbers of delta and omega cells stacked up and waiting to get out? Are we talking extreme congestion? Should we add some lemon at the right time and some goldenseal to be sure everything gets out? Of course we have to run the risk of the medical-lobby screaming that we are "practicing medicine without *our* license" as they try to throw us in jail. Pointing to a happy guy with both kidneys intact means little to them.
But where is the money in something as easy as drinking water? What MD has been trained to discover ways to help the patient's body deal with the problem? These people are taught to find the most expensive way to do it. And the transplant is really only the beginning of the costly toll. Yes, I will admit neither of these people, giver or take, will live all that long. They might make it to 50, but the immune suppressants and other drugs should take them out fairly soon.
The whole thing is ridiculous.
Rex Harrill
PS: I know the nay-sayers will search long and hard to find that one person in a thousand that RBTI might not actually save so they can a single-case anomaly to further their dreams of total control. It doesn't bother me a bit.
MIAMI — A 26-year-old South Florida woman has given her husband the gift of life.
Ricardo Bermudez, who suffers from IgA nephrophaty, was on a three-year waiting list to receive a kidney transplant when his wife discovered she shares his blood type and antigens.
Doctors at Miami's Jackson Memorial Hospital were thrilled when they learned Andrea Bermudez, 26, was a match.
"Lucky for him she was like a sister, genetically," Dr. Adlea Mattiazzi, a University of Miami/Jackson transplant nephrologist told The Miami Herald (http://hrld.us/13wn4JH ). "It's really unusual to get a non-biologically related donor. It's once in a blue moon."
Ricardo Bermudez, 30, first complained of sharp pain in his lower back in August 2011. Shortly afterward, he was diagnosed with the kidney disorder, in which protein builds up in the kidney. It causes the kidney to become inflamed and to malfunction.
He began hemodialysis three times a week in December 2011 and switched to peritoneal dialysis last August. That allowed him to take the treatments at home.
Andrea Bermudez told The Herald she knew she could live with one kidney so she had no problem sharing with her husband of six years.
"I did it for my kids. I didn't have a father around. I wanted to give the opportunity to them," she said. They have two children, Jacquelyn, 6, and Ricky Jr., 2.
The transplant happened on June 12 and both spent the summer recovering.
For Ricardo Bermudez, who was a tree-trimmer, more changes are in store. He won't be able to work outside because of his weakened immune system. He has to wear a mask in public for a year and is prohibited from strenuous work.
The whole thing is ridiculous.
Rex Harrill
PS: I know the nay-sayers will search long and hard to find that one person in a thousand that RBTI might not actually save so they can a single-case anomaly to further their dreams of total control. It doesn't bother me a bit.
MIAMI — A 26-year-old South Florida woman has given her husband the gift of life.
Ricardo Bermudez, who suffers from IgA nephrophaty, was on a three-year waiting list to receive a kidney transplant when his wife discovered she shares his blood type and antigens.
Doctors at Miami's Jackson Memorial Hospital were thrilled when they learned Andrea Bermudez, 26, was a match.
"Lucky for him she was like a sister, genetically," Dr. Adlea Mattiazzi, a University of Miami/Jackson transplant nephrologist told The Miami Herald (http://hrld.us/13wn4JH ). "It's really unusual to get a non-biologically related donor. It's once in a blue moon."
Ricardo Bermudez, 30, first complained of sharp pain in his lower back in August 2011. Shortly afterward, he was diagnosed with the kidney disorder, in which protein builds up in the kidney. It causes the kidney to become inflamed and to malfunction.
He began hemodialysis three times a week in December 2011 and switched to peritoneal dialysis last August. That allowed him to take the treatments at home.
Andrea Bermudez told The Herald she knew she could live with one kidney so she had no problem sharing with her husband of six years.
"I did it for my kids. I didn't have a father around. I wanted to give the opportunity to them," she said. They have two children, Jacquelyn, 6, and Ricky Jr., 2.
The transplant happened on June 12 and both spent the summer recovering.
For Ricardo Bermudez, who was a tree-trimmer, more changes are in store. He won't be able to work outside because of his weakened immune system. He has to wear a mask in public for a year and is prohibited from strenuous work.
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