This Thanksgiving, Mei Mei Brown has a lot to be thankful for
BRANDON — After almost four years of waiting and wondering if she would be given a new lease on life, Mei Mei Brown, who has had a Dartmouth Hitch pager with her 24-7 for the past couple of years, has a lot to be thankful for.
“I got ‘the call’ from Dartmouth telling me that they had a cadaver kidney for me on Tuesday, August 9,” she said, recalling she and her husband Bruce had just returned home from a week in Maine the night before.
“Timing is everything,” she continued. “At the time of the call Dartmouth was almost through the screening process of my 38th potential donor. I am so very appreciative to everyone who reached out to Dartmouth to see if they were eligible to donate a kidney to me.”
Mei Mei, a long-time Brandon resident and a prolific volunteer of several organizations in town, had been seeking potential donors for the past couple of years and had ramped it up the past year as her own kidneys were reaching total failure and she would have to go on a kidney dialysis machine. Brown, who was diagnosed at 59 with polycystic kidney disease, had been on the waiting list for a kidney for the previous 44 months.
Fortunately, Mei Mei felt well enough that she never needed to go on dialysis, even though her kidney function had dipped to as low as 7, where normal is in the mid-50s.
In a recent email exchange, Mei Mei explained the process of getting the kidney, the immediate action needed once notified, and what she has gone through since:
“Once I got the call that Tuesday, I had to take a Covid test while still at home as the timing before surgery would not give the hospital enough time to run the test at the hospital. It was negative and over the mountain we headed.
“We arrived at Dartmouth at 3 p.m. and I was led straight to a bed to get settled in. Lots of pre-screening was done, along with a conversation by my surgeon. That was when I learned a bit about my donor and his kidney. He was 26 years old and died of “cardiac arrest.” The kidney was intended for another person somewhere in New England. When the kidney arrived at that facility the surgeon noticed that the kidney had two small arteries coming off it instead of the normal one. The kidney was refused.
“A notice went out to all the kidney transplant centers in New England to see if anyone wanted the kidney. Dartmouth’s transplant team studied it and said, ‘that’s Mei Mei’s kidney.’ The two arteries were close enough together that my surgeon was able to make it one artery so that it could be hooked up to my bladder.
“Surgery started at 7 p.m. and they were done by 10 p.m. I was taken to my ICU room around 11 p.m. Totally amazing.
“I had no pain. Only took Tylenol for the first 30 hours or so, then nothing.
“While in the hospital I started my anti-rejection medications immediately to minimize my body rejecting the new kidney. I also received significant amounts of magnesium and Vit D3 through my IV as my body was struggling to function with those levels being so low (I’m still taking both in pill form and the numbers are improving).
“My first week home had us traveling to Dartmouth three times to check my incision with its 26 or so staples (about 6” long on the right side of my abdomen (because I received the right kidney from the donor). Blood and urine are collected for analysis each visit, and my medications are adjusted based on the results.
“For the first month I had to collect and measure my urine output 24/7, along with measuring all fluids ingested. They were supposed to come close to equaling each other but didn’t for the first month. I also had to take my temperature each morning, my blood pressure and weigh myself. Any large change from the day before required contacting my RN on the transplant team. My goal was to drink between 2-3 liters of fluids daily. (Half electrolytes, half water).
“The second week and until the first week of October I went to Dartmouth twice a week to review my progress. Now I am on the once-a-month cycle. At the six-month mark (this coming February), I will visit every three months.
“My new kidney, who I call ‘my little man’, did not want to ‘wake up’ post-surgery. The team had concern that my body was going to reject it. The surgeon was concerned enough that by mid-September he worked his way through the Chinese wall of UNOS (United Network for Organ Sharing) to be able to speak to the surgeon who implanted my donor’s other kidney to see how it was waking up. We learned that the left kidney was functioning just like mine, slow to wake up. Relief! My body wasn’t trying to reject it, it was just being lazy.
“Medications were increased and they did finally cause my blood values to improve. It was slow, and it wasn’t until the first week of October that the transplant team stopped worrying that I wasn’t going to keep the new kidney.
Mei Mei Brown wears this pin “almost daily” to help spread the importance of organ donation.
“My visit to Dartmouth this month had the head of the department almost jumping for joy with my progress after reviewing my labs! It has been a test of patience, but so rewarding in the long run.
“Because of the new kidney not wanting to wake up “normally” and do its job, I am one-to-two months behind in regaining my immune system. (So I’m very vulnerable to catching any diseases or flu strains.) I received my flu shot on Nov. 4, but the team is very cautious that I will receive any benefit from it.
“In October, the team had given me permission to do limited grocery shopping, provided I went to the store during a “quiet” time, have a list and get in/out as quickly as possible. Of course, wear a mask. Bruce took that “treat” away from me a few weeks ago when the Covid, flu and RSV numbers started climbing, even with me wearing a KN95 mask.
“Except for the loss of social contact, I’m actually relieved. I am in communication with a group of people who are pre- and post-kidney transplant. One person recently lost her transplanted kidney because of the RSV virus and two others are fighting to keep theirs. Covid has been very destructive to transplanted kidneys, even those who’s transplanted kidney has been in place for more than a year.
“As I said, recovery was slow. I slept most of the days for the first month. There was no pain. My body was just so low on so many thing — magnesium, calcium, protein and phosphorus, plus my red blood cells were so low that the team contemplated giving me a transfusion, but they didn’t want to introduce another person’s DNA to my body.
“I still take a general antibiotic three times a week. For the first three months I was on medication to help prevent me from having shingles. Even though I was fully vaccinated, the immune suppressing medications pretty much negate those vaccinations.
“During months two and three I was a bit stronger, but not by a lot. Still taking 1-2 hour naps every afternoon. I would do something productive and then take a nap for an hour or so. I couldn’t, and still can’t, lift anything heavier than 10 pounds, so Bruce has been my lifter and carrier. I can’t even pick up two of our cats!
“Post-surgery I was on 14 medications daily. I am now down to 11. I am on three anti-rejections twice a day. Hopefully before the end of year one I will be down to just one. They are tough on the body. My main medication has caused tremors in both my hands. I can barely write (and be able to read what I wrote), things were easily dropped and getting veggies like peas and corn to my mouth from a plate was a huge challenge. My lower digestive system was a mess for three months!
“For the first month the pharmacists helped me set up my pill box (meds changed at every visit). It was critical that I not miss taking a pill. My anti-rejection medications must be taken twice a day, 12 hours apart. Some meds need to be taken on an empty stomach, others on a full stomach. Morning is my hardest time to get the pills ingested in an orderly and timely fashion, but I have it pretty much down pat now. Only have missed one pilling in four months. After a lecture on the potential harm this could cause, my nurse said she would forgive me that one time. I haven’t missed since!
“The last month has been an awakening for me. I have stamina, I’m walking, no napping (if I do it is for 15-20 minutes), I have regained the 10-pounds I lost post-surgery and my house is finally getting clean!
“I’m hoping by February I will have a stronger immune system, will be able to have the Covid booster and have a bit more freedom to interact with people beyond Zoom!”
Asked to sum up her ordeal and what this Thanksgiving means to her, she was humble and grateful.
“It has been an amazing ride,” she said, adding jokingly, “Not sure I’d recommend it as an event for everyone!
While thanking Dartmouth for its “excellence in care,” she noted “this Thanksgiving is extra special. Both my parents died at 67, my mother from my disease, Polycystic Kidney Disease. I turned 67 two weeks after my transplant. The Transplant Team expects my transplant to add another 20 years to my life!
“We will be celebrating all those people who stepped up to donate a kidney to me and an extra special acknowledgement to the family who lost their 26-year-old son, allowing me to receive “the gift of life.”
