2025-03-05 Instagram Live - Kidney Q&A

IG Live 03.05.2025 – DPC Education Center’s Healthcare Consultant, Velma Scantlebury, MD, Live on Instagram to answer your kidney related questions. This month, Dr. Scantlebury talks about being listed on multiple transplant lists, exploring living donation, the importance of continuing your anti-rejection medications, and many other kidney-related topics.

Getting on the transplant list is a huge step towards receiving a kidney and getting transplanted But, did you know that you can be listed at multiple centers to increase your chances of receiving an organ? If centers are not in the same region (and therefore pulling from the same donor pool) you can even get listed in another state, as long as you’re able to get there and have a place to stay post-op for monitoring and initial checkups. Dr. Scantlebury discusses this, including other factors to consider such as comparing the size of the lists as well as the number of donors an area typically gets, when looking into where to be listed. Another option for transplantation is to explore living donation. A great way to do this is to tap into the communities you may already be involved in, such as places of worship, book clubs, community centers, etc. Even if someone directly involved isn’t a match, sharing your story and raising awareness can spark interest from others. It’s also a great way to let others know about kidney disease and possible risk factors to be on the lookout for.

As part of the transplantation discussion, Dr. Scantlebury also talks about anti-rejection medication and the importance of taking all of your medicines, as prescribed, no matter how long you’ve had your transplant. Anti-rejection medications essentially “cloak” your new kidney, so that your body’s white blood cells to not see it and attack it as a foreign object. If you stop taking your medications, you run the risk of your body suddenly being able to “see” the foreign kidney and attack it, causing you to go into rejection. That’s why it is also so important to always stay on top of your labs, especially if you’ve recently been sick, since illness can alter your body’s immune system and cause rejection. Your labs will be able to detect any changes and give your healthcare team a heads up much earlier to be able to treat you.

If you have your own questions you’d like to have the doctor answer, tune in for our Live events on both Instagram and Facebook:

• IG Live @patientcitizens the first Wednesday of each month, 12:30pm EST
• Facebook Live www.facebook.com/patientcitizens the third Wednesday of each month, 12:30pm EST