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April 3, 2013
of wabash county inc.
www.thepaperofwabash.com
Proudly Serving Wabash County Since 1977
Vol. 36, No. 3
PO Box 603, Wabash, IN 46992 (260) 563-8326
Wabash Middle School teacher receives kidney transplant
by Emily Armentrout A year to the day after being diagnosed with end stage renal failure, Abi Armentrout received the kidney transplant she had been waiting for. As previously reported by The Paper of Wabash County, Abi Armentrout received her diagnosis after attempting to take out a life insurance policy. For a year, Abi went through dialysis treatments every night. Family members were tested to be potential donors, but two of them had already been ruled out, and her cousin, Jeremy, was only in the beginning stages of testing. On Wednesday, Feb. 6, Abi received a call at 8:30 a.m. that she let go to voicemail as she was finishing up teaching her Spanish class at W.C. Mills Elementary. Potential transplant recipients are required to respond to the calls within an hour or the transplant center will move on to another recipient. Abi immediately called the transplant center back and was informed that there was potentially a kidney for her. “I thought is this really happening?” said Abi. “We were expecting the donor to be someone from the family, with my nephew getting tested, and the wait list time being so long,” added Abi’s mother, Phyllis. The typical wait time on the kidney transplant list is three to five years. Abi was on the list for seven months. Abi made arrangements to have her classes covered, and waited to hear the results of the blood work that were being run. The results came back that she was a good match to the kidney, and she was to be at Lutheran Hospital, Fort Wayne at 5 a.m. Thursday morning. Upon arriving at Lutheran, she was immediately put into a room, where the doctors ran final tests and Abi was prepped for surgery. She met with the surgeon, Dr. Kizilisik, the Nephrologist, Dr. Ducker, and Nurse Cheryl, who Armentrout described as “kind, explaining what was happening, which put me at ease.” Her mother’s initial reaction was a bit of disbelief. “It was a shock because we were still in the process of finding a living donor,” said Phyllis, of her reaction to Abi’s phone call. Abi’s father, Eric, recalls walking into the hospital room after the surgery and seeing Abi in “agony; she wanted to go home. She couldn’t have liquids for about four hours. Her mouth was so dry.” Abi was in the hospital for four days. The doctors said the typical hospital stay is three days to a week, pending any complications. After watching the nurses take care of Abi, Phyllis had no real worries about caring for her. “The initial worry is if the kidney fails and we don’t realize it. Kidney transplants aren’t considered to be life saving because if your kidney fails you can go back on dialysis. The thing that caused
me the most anxiety was watching her try to regain her strength,” explained Phyllis. Abi stayed with her parents until she recovered from surgery. The first week was difficult and painful, according to her family. She moved home about three weeks after surgery. She was not allowed to drive herself until her staples were removed. Currently, Abi is traveling to Lutheran Hospital twice a week for blood work, and meeting with Dr. Ducker at the second visit. Lab work has indicated that the kidney is functioning at a normal level. “I am overwhelmed by what God has done for Abi and our family; getting this taken care of as quickly as He did. I was expecting a three to five year wait, and here we are, a year later, and she’s on her way to getting back to normal,” added Eric. After spending a year hooked up to a dialysis machine every night, she is no longer going to bed at 8:30 p.m. in order to cycle through dialysis in time for work the next day, Abi can finally get into her old routine; her old life. She can sleep uninterrupted. At night, Abi wasn’t able to leave her room after hooking up to the machine, so she would have to make sure every detail was taken care of before she went to bed. She made sure lights were off, doors were locked, that she had water by the bed in case she got thirsty during the night. She was hooked to 20 feet of tube, which doesn’t stretch as far as you’d think. “My friends were always really good about being accommodating to me, but I always felt guilty that my condition dictated everything,” explained Abi. When the 2013-2014 school starts, she will be able to go back to work, and plans on supporting the school and the students more by attending games, concerts, and chaperoning dances. “I think it’s important for teachers to show their students that they are interested in what they do outside of the classroom,” said Abi. Recently, Abi had started a Spanish Club that was forced to take a backseat until the fall due to Abi’s absence. “We’re thankful the process has gone as well as it has. I appreciate the support from friends and family. I appreciate that the school has been so accommodating, and we appreciate the caring, hard working staff at Lutheran for the care I’ve received,” said Abi. “We don’t know any-
(top) CURRENTLY, ABI VISITS HER DOCTOR TWICE A WEEK AT LUTHERAN HOSPITAL. If the kidney continues to function normally, she’ll go down to visits once a month. As time progresses and the kidney continues to function the way it is supposed to, her visits will be down to once or twice a year. Pictured here are Abi and one of her nurses, Kelly Smith. (photo by Emily Armentrout)
(bottom) ALL THE EQUIPMENT THAT DIALYSIS REQUIRED MADE TRAVEL DIFFICULT, even for weekend trips. In this picture, Abi and her father, Eric, are at Comerica Park in Detroit, Mich. Luggage for one night included the machine itself, pictured in a previous issue of The Paper, three boxes containing a total of 20 liters of fluid, and various medical supplies in a suitcase that weighed, all together, 50 pounds. All those items were in addition to regular luggage for an overnight stay. thing about my donor, due to confidentiality reasons, but my family and I are very grateful to the donor and their fam-
ily for making such a difficult and selfless decision.”