In addition, she shared photos of her transplant scars. “I honestly look forward to sharing with you, soon my journey through these past several months as I have always wanted to do with you. Until then I want to publicly thank my family and the incredible team of doctors for everything they have done for me prior to and post-surgery.”
Gomez has shared some of the health woes she’s had to deal with after her lupus diagnosis a couple of years ago. Every person goes through their own journey when diagnosed with this type of disease and the symptoms and complications can vary from person to person. Gomez underwent chemotherapy and even had to deal with depression. People can have mild or more aggressive symptoms during the various stages of lupus, but from the looks of it, her diagnosis seems more severe.
Lupus nephritis is a complication that causes inflammation in the kidneys. When this happens, the kidneys are unable to properly filter toxins from the body out through the urine. In severe cases, the kidneys may not be able to filter the blood properly and a person can even go into complete liver failure if not treated.
Kidney transplants are extremely difficult to get, especially when you are put on a kidney transplant waiting list. The wait for a deceased donor could be 5 years or more depending on how long you’ve been on the waiting list, blood type, immune system activity and other factors. Living donors go through a vigorous screening and multiple blood tests to make sure they are healthy and a good match for the person receiving the kidney. The good news is that once the kidney transplant is deemed successful, there’s very little chance of the kidney becoming infected again.
After the kidney transplant, Gomez will more than likely be taking prescription medicine to treat not only lupus but more drugs that support her new kidney, for the rest of her life. It’s definitely a very difficult thing that Gomez is going through, but thankfully she has an amazing support system and friend that gave her an amazing gift.