Buchta's transplanted pancreas and kidney are attached to blood vessels in her lower abdomen, leaving her own pancreas and kidneys in place. Her original pancreas still produces digestive enzymes, while her new pancreas makes the insulin she needs.
Her newly transplanted kidney will filter her blood and produce urine.
Hopeful future
With careful control of their blood glucose, cholesterol, and blood pressure, many type 1 diabetics can avoid serious complications. But for those who do develop renal failure, Wellen says a kidney-pancreas transplant can be life-saving.
"If she did not get this transplant, Tiffany would have a 30 percent chance of living five years."
With the pancreas and kidney of her donor - a 23-year-old car crash victim - Buchta is likely to live longer.
"This operation should give her a five year survival hopefully in the 85 percent range," says Wellen. "So you're going from a 30 percent chance of living five years to an 85 percent chance. I mean that's a big difference."
Instead of insulin, Buchta will now need to take medications that suppress her immune system, to keep her body from rejecting her new organs. The drugs will also make her more vulnerable to infections and disease.
But it's all worth it to Buchta. One month after the surgery, she's just happy to be off dialysis.
"I mean I have so much more energy," she says. "And even with, you know, starting back to work, I was kind of scared on how, how much that would wear me out, but it really hasn't."
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2013-11-27
2013-11-27
2013-11-27
2013-11-27
2013-11-27
2013-11-27