Kidney talk: Getting to know you, Einstein Hospital

"You wash somebody's dishes at night; I take out their colon," said Radi Zaki, MD, head of transplantation at Einstein.

Ada and Rich Fleisher accompanied me to my pre-surgery appt at Einstein Hospital on Broad Street in Philadelphia. Here's Rich looking at my list of meds I'll be taking for the rest of my life.

Dig this! One-third of all transplant patients do not need immunosuppressant drugs. BUT no one has figured out who these one third are!

We learned this and many other fascinating nuggets of information in our conference with the head of transplantation Radi Zaki.

If I ever had any doubts about who I was dealing with, this visit quelled them all. The guy is smart, down to earth, funny, and is taking a vacation with his wife, and two kids, 6 and 5, to San Diego - they'll visit the zoo - the week before my transplant.

Zaki, 43, was raised in New Jersey by two parents who were veteranarians, got his medical degree at University of Cairo, and then returned to Jersey. He only has distant relatives in Egypt.

He was hired from a New York transplant center - where his mentor was Khalid Butt - to be transplant director at Einstein and does high-risk transplants as well as oncological surgery.

His children call him Dr Zaki because they never see him. They live in Elkins Park, "6 minutes from the hospital, on purpose."

Paige Lockwood, RN, nurse coordinator

Paige is a one-woman show, totally dedicated to her kidney patients. She was in her element when she took us on a tour of her hospital, pausing along the way to hug some of her patients. "I love this place," she said, "because everyone gets the same treatment whether they're rich or poor."

I asked Zaki (rhymes with yakky) if he read the letter I mailed him (see previous post) suggesting that all transplant patients are given a 6-week introductory session instead of a 2-day one.

He said the letter was insightful but can't be "executed," he said b/c most patients don't know when the operation will occur.

I should've argued back, Yes, but the elective recipients do!

Zaki's last operation took place the day before - at 5 pm. He re-constructed a cancerous vena cava.

The amount of information I imbibed during our three-hour Einstein visit was extraordinary. Ada and I both took notes.

The Fleishers were really impressed with Zaki, Paige, and the entire team. We met nurses when we went touring. Here's the operating room:
nice patch of sunlite on the floor

Zaki teaches. What's the most important thing you teach your students, I asked:

Compassion, compassion, compassion, he said.

I asked him how he prepares for surgery.

"There's no preparation," he said. "You do your dishes at nite, I remove a colon."

We were laffing hysterically in there.

He pointed out how different I am from other transplant patients.

I am not sick. I feel good. I look healthy, have energy.

Most patients are on dialysis. As soon as they get a transplant, they feel 20,000 percent better the next day, he said.

He performs surgery differently than most transplant surgeons he said. What? He covers his eyes cuz he's afraid of blood? He performs while high on acid?

He views it, he said, the way Henry Ford did when making his automobiles. An assembly line where every surgeon has his own specialty. He does what he's good at.



He and his team transplant

liver
kidney
pancreas

plus they do other high-risk surgeries for cancer.

Here is the answer to some questions I asked Paige and Zaki:

- I'll be in the ICU for 24 hours. I'll be given morphine for the pain. Will be sent home with Percosetts. This girl does not wanna be in pain.

- Forget about wanting to go off the antirejection meds.

- Operation takes four hours.

- They transplant the left kidney b/c it only has one pedicule. Whatever that is.

When I got home, Scott came over to see how I made out. I was on the phone discussing my next story for Patch.com.

I will be writing the story of my kidney transplant for Patch. Perhaps I'll title it, Ask me Why I've Got Three Kidneys.