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| DIL - Second Transplant Second Chances |
February 2, 2004
Second Transplant, Second Chances
By SUSAN M. GREEN sgreen@tampatrib.com
Stefanie Reed, 20, has
had two kidney transplants.
TAMPA - Strawberry milk and E.L. Fudge cookies. When Judy Reed heard that request, she knew her daughter had beaten the odds - again.
``Those were the two things I had to have ready when she came out of surgery and was able to eat solid food,'' she said.
``This is the greatest part of all,'' chimed in daughter Stefanie, 20. ``I can eat and drink.''
For her mother, Nov. 22 brought a familiar situation: Another operating room, another cutting-edge medical intervention, another kidney transplant for her daughter.
Stefanie underwent her first kidney transplant in September 1984 at 17 months old. The organ donor was her father, Walter Lee Reed. The hospital was in Minnesota. Stefanie was one of only a few babies to receive an adult kidney.
She doesn't remember how she dwindled away to 11 pounds before the surgery, or how the 1-pound kidney filled her tiny body and cramped her lungs before it gradually shrank.
She has no memory of her mother's screams for help when she went into cardiac arrest a few weeks after surgery, or the doctor who revived her.
Her only knowledge of the recovery her family and doctors deemed miraculous comes from relatives.
This time, with her mother at her side, Stefanie is calling the shots.
She discusses weight in terms of kilos and ticks off words such as ``plasmapheresis'' the way others her age rattle off the names of musical groups or sports figures.
If a procedure doesn't seem right, she asks about it.
Tracks and bruises remain on her right arm, souvenirs of a half-dozen years of needles being stuck into her veins to draw blood, and she still wears a catheter under her shirt. Her doctors say she will require drugs for the rest of her life to keep her body from rejecting the second kidney.
But there's a bounce in her step when she makes the rounds of the pediatric dialysis ward at Tampa General Hospital.
``It's freedom,'' said Stefanie, who greets youngsters in the ward twice a week before heading down the hall for blood testing.
``I'm so happy. I feel human again.''
Gone are the long hours hooked up to a dialysis machine three days a week. The last-minute gobbling of forbidden pizza or Butterfinger candy bars before dialysis. The 17 to 22 hours a day spent sleeping. Her weight dropped from 126 to 86 pounds.
``I was so tired, sometimes I had to concentrate on breathing,'' Stefanie said. ``I didn't even care about breathing.''
Near the end of ninth grade, she developed blood pressure problems. She stopped reporting to class and tried a study- at-home program in which teachers would call her each afternoon.
``I'd fall asleep waiting for them to call,'' Stefanie said. Eventually, she dropped out of high school.
Realizing the teenager's kidney was failing, doctors put her on dialysis almost three years ago. By the time of her second transplant, she was spending four hours a day, three days a week on machines in Tampa General's pediatric ward.
Campos said the first kidney failed because Stefanie's body gradually rejected it.
``But it allowed her to grow and develop,'' he said.
Now, after the second transplant, she goes to the hospital twice a week, but it is only for a half-hour or so for tests that monitor antibodies in her blood. Last week, she spent two nights in the hospital battling an infection but was home Thursday. Soon, if her results stay good, she hopes to reduce her hospital visits to once a week.
With newfound energy, she plans to pursue a high school equivalency diploma and then take classes at Hillsborough Community College. She wants to be a bookkeeper.
Campos said Stefanie has always had a positive outlook and served as a role model for other young patients.
``I've known this girl since she was 6 months old,'' he said. ``I have been privileged. ... That's the beauty of working with children, when you see them grow and develop normally.''
Reporter Susan M. Green can be reached at (813) 657-4529
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[Revised:
09-20-2007
]