A Kidney for Dr. Pickle

02/10/2026

A small but intriguing transplant study is exploring a new way to prevent rejection without the usual daily high toxicity drugs.
In a phase 2a trial published in the American Journal of Transplantation and reported by Medscape, researchers tested a dual biologic regimen of dazodalibep plus belatacept as the main long term anti rejection therapy after kidney transplant. The goal is to reduce reliance on calcineurin inhibitors and steroids, which work well but carry long term risks and side effects.
In 23 kidney transplant recipients, the regimen was generally safe, preserved kidney function, and showed no cases of antibody mediated rejection. Even when rejection occurred, kidney function recovered after standard rescue treatment. Patient and graft survival were 100 percent at one year.
This is early phase research and the study was small, but it points toward a future where transplant patients may rely on more targeted biologic therapies with fewer toxic effects and potentially better long term adherence.

Kidney transplantation science keeps moving forward. 💚

02/10/2026

Three doors down singer Brad Arnold passed away at age 47 from stage 4 kidney cancer today.

I was diagnosed with the same cancer. Small cell renal cell cancer. Fortunately they found it and removed my kidney before it metastasized. It is usually a death sentence cancer because it is metastasized too far by the time it is diagnosed.

02/06/2026

I seriously don’t know if I’m going to make it. I’ve spent hours on the phone today with Mayo livi g donor team, transplant team, my nephrologist, and Mayo Patient experience teams.

No one wants to take responsibility. Everyone wants to gaslight me and suggest I am mistaken in my expectations. That it’s going to take months for them to find me a potential donor, and I’m just supposed to sit here with my thumb up my ass, waiting for a call that may come today, next week, or a month from now. They can’t give me any information and I must “Trust the process”.

They have tried to blow smoke up my ass with feel good stories that are supposed to make me ok with waiting for the unknown. They have tried to blame my donor for not understanding the process, they have tried to say they don’t know who told me 7-10 days, because that was never a likely scenario.

I mean it. I’m done. The question is when do I call it quits and check into hospice. 4 years of my life on hold. Four fu***ng years of my life being torn apart, and the goal posts keep moving. And what is on the other side? Not much as far as I can see.

02/05/2026

02/04/2026

Why do I ever believe things will happen like they should? Why do I put faith in anyone other than myself to ensure things get done? I seriously wonder this, and how others survive in life without overseeing their care.

Today I finally called Mayo and lit a fire under my transplant advocate’s ass. I haven’t heard anything since my living donor donated. They are waiting for the living donor team to contact them and tell them they have a match for me.

I asked her. Are you calling and getting an update every few days from the living donor team? Are you ensuring they understand I am now a high priority patient? I have already had a living donor give for me, and that puts me at the top of your list, yet here we are weeks later and there is no urgency in your demeanor, or your actions. You aren’t even pretending to make me a high priority.

I have it now where I will be expecting a call every 2 days with a report on the number of donors they reviewed, the number they still have to review, the general reason for them being turned away from my case, nationwide. We will see what happens in a couple of days. I will be calling Friday if I don’t hear from them by noon.

God I hate being an ass, but if people would just do what they say they will do, I wouldn’t have to. Do better people.

02/02/2026

This is something I never experienced, but I had to learn and research about myself. My team never shared this information with me.

Now, I had excellent circulation, but informed consent requires doctors to share all potential complications with a procedure. This sadly does happen.

01/23/2026

I know I have been quiet for a few weeks, and the truth is I wasn’t going to say much until I get the call from Mayo that my kidney transplant is being scheduled. There are a lot of moving parts right now, and no one wants to say how quickly they will all come together. Which is interesting because they have all been very vocal about things until it’s time to start moving.

My living donor, who is my hero and the most selfless person in the world has done his part. He has donated his kidney, and the voucher has been given to Mayo on my behalf. My donor wishes to remain mostly anonymous. Some people close to us know whom he is, but he truly believes gifts do not need recognition of whom they are from. He gave selflessly, and his kidney went to someone in Atlanta Georgia, while now I am first in line for a perfect kidney match for myself thanks to his voucher.

Originally Mayo said it would be a quick 7-10 days once they recieved the voucher. Then they said I wil know my surgery date 2 weeks in advance while they coordinate the surgery of the donor and the transport to Mayo and my surgery. Then they said someone with type O blood or someone with significant HLA or tissue type issues could take up to 6 months to find a match for.

So I’m now waiting for Mayo to go through all the potential donors in the Kidney registry, and for them to find if there is a positive match for me. If there isn’t. They wil continue to check regularly until they find one.

So all I can do is wait and see when I get a call to schedule the surgery. This is not what they educate you on when they sell you on this procedure, which is something I feel very strongly about. This entire event has not been what they sell you on since the beginning. I am so thankful for my donor, but it has been a full year of trying to get through all the pre-requisites to allow him to donate. I am so thankful he was committed and determined to donate, but we were hoping for this to all happen back in September 2025. Future transplant recipients need to be informed of the realities of the journey, not the frosting covered highlights the transplant centers feed you. Whenever I ran into a roadblock, my dialysis team would admit this happens often, but never guided me to expect the issues. It is an emotional roller coaster that sadly far too many renal failure patients give up on and turn to hospice or worse.

I am hoping to change that, and I am currently in the middle of negotiations to begin a solution for 40% of all dialysis patients nationwide. We are also trying to get an audience with a second dialysis company to raise that number to 80% of all dialysis patients nationwide. I will leave a mark on this disease. Hopefully a mark for the better when I’m fully done with it all.

01/20/2026

There are certainly some promising devices and research happening for Renal Failure, but the funding for such research has been woefully inadequate. Cancer, ALS and other diseases receive significantly more funding. Most of these devices are still a decade or more away from being a consumer usable device, but it’s a start.

Imagine a world where kidney patients no longer spend hours tied to dialysis machines three times a week… where transplant recipients can live without a lifetime of anti-rejection drugs… and where donated kidneys stay viable longer, giving more people a second chance at life.

The latest breakthroughs in kidney devices and cell therapies are bringing that future closer than ever!

🌟 The Holly™ implantable dialysis system just earned FDA Breakthrough status – it’s designed to work continuously inside the body, filtering waste and balancing fluids 24/7, potentially freeing patients from traditional dialysis altogether.

🌟 MDR-101 cell therapy is showing incredible promise in trials: a one-time treatment using donor cells to “retrain” the immune system, allowing many transplant patients to safely stop immunosuppressive drugs.

🌟 Room-temperature machine perfusion (like BMI OrganBank’s tech) keeps donated kidneys healthier longer and tests their function before transplant, which could dramatically increase the number of successful transplants.

🌟 Portable and bioartificial kidney projects are advancing fast, with devices that could one day be as small as a smartphone or grown from your own cells.

These innovations aren’t science fiction – they’re in trials and gaining regulatory momentum right now. For millions living with kidney disease, hope is growing stronger every day.

If you or someone you love is affected by kidney issues, share this post to spread awareness – the future of kidney health is looking brighter! 💙

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12/25/2025

Merry Christmas everyone. There is a lot going on in the background, but I have avoided sharing due to the holidays. Let’s all stay positive and look towards the new year. My living donor has been steadfast with seeing his donation through. As of now he will be going into the hospital of Jan. 5th evening, which is his birthday, and the surgery to accept his donated kidney will be on January 6th.

Words can’t describe how much of a hero he is to me. His kidney will go to someone in need in the Maine area, and he will receive a voucher for a kidney for his donation. That voucher will be given to me to turn into Mayo Clinic here in Arizona.

Mayo claims they will have a kidney as good or better than my donor’s in 7-10 days to be implanted for me. I’m still a little sceptical of that timeline, but i am just hoping to have a kidney by mid february at the latest. I have to curb my anticipation because I’ve been let down before.

After that, we begin a few months of regulating the kidney and the immunosuppressive drugs on a daily and weekly basis. I anticipate by May or June 2026 I will be living a bit more normal life. I am already making arrangements for where I’m going and who I will be celebrating with, and that includes my donor, and those who have supported me during this difficult time.

To quote Red from Shawshank Rredemption, “Get busy living, or get busy dying.” I have an opportunity to make that living amazing, and i will be doing that in some exciting ways.

11/29/2025

It’s been a crazy week, and I really hate that most of my posts are negative, this one is mostly positive.

I spent 3 days in home dialysis training learning the proper procedures to maintaining and using my tunnel catheter. It really isn’t hard, but a lot of “clean” procedure to avoid infection, and the challenge of doing this while it is just below your collar bone. Try looking at that area on yourself. You will see what I mean.

I am now allowed to go back to home hemodialysis, and all my supplies arrived last night to change dressings, maintain clean procedure, flush the catheter with a heparin lock, etc.

I did score a few boxes of Tegaderm bandages from the clinic (thanks Ray😉) so I can continue to shower, but I still avoid water directly flowing over the catheter. The cotton bandaging would never fly for that application.

On Wednesday I did have a small hiccup, and that is why I had to return for Friday training. While on dialysis, my blood pressure collapsed, I passed out, fell out of my chair, whacked my head, and broke my eye glasses. I’m not sure if it was a physical passing out, or falling asleep, because I am increadibly exhausted with lack of sleep, low iron, low hemoglobin and RBC count, and a costovertebral joint issue from that hospital bed that has me sleeping in a chair right now.

EMTs were called, hospital admissions were discussed, but in the end I assured them I would be fine, and was able to drive myself home.

I really can’t wait for the next chapter to begin, because this current one has been getting boring after the last 3.5+ years. My living donor is donating his kidney on Jan. 6th, so according to Mayo Clinic, his voucher will come to me, and will be submitted. I should have my own Kidney in 7-10 days for transplant. I’m still a little cautious about that estimate, but I am hoping for a kidney by January 30th in my mind.

To say I’m Thankful this season is an understatement. My living donor is the most wonderful and selfless person I know, and I am beyond thankful for his gift of life to me. I have a lot of Plans on what I’m going to do, and where I’m going to go once this chapter is all over, and it will be vastly different than my past I feel. Not that my life was horrific, or bad, but the new prospective of time and what is important has certainly made me feel like I want to make some changes. Some of those changes my doctors are going to cringe at, but I refuse to remain bubble wrapped after all of this.

11/14/2025

I guess it’s time To update everyone on my dialysis saga. Remember back in March when I had that heart attack? How it bumped be off the transplant
List and I had to fight to get back on? Well, that’s is not the only thong it screwed up.

Usually I get a venogram to check my fistula twice a year. Well we skipped it while I was on platelet thinners, because they couldnt do anything surgically to impRove the flow. Fast forward to 2 weeks ago. They sent me for a venogram, but instead of doing the ultrasound, then consulting with me, they just put me under, did the venogram, and decided to stick a stent in my shoulder without my consent.

This of course has not changed my venous flow, and has caused so much edema I can barely extend my arm, the biceps is bruised and swollen, and I can’t get any access for dialysis anymore. I’ve been in in center dialysis for the past week and even they are struggling to get access. I’m doing this all one handed, and they are much better with two hands and an assistant.

They want me to go back to the access center for them to try and fix this, which I have completely denied. I am now working to get a Mayo vascular surgeon to assess things.

So yeah. In center sucks compared to home hemo dialysis.