News From Terre Haute, Indiana

Breaking News

Local & Bistate

#calebskidney talk

Among the Tweets sent out Wednesday via #calebskidney and @IU_Health were the following updates and messages from people following the surgery progress via Twitter.

• Tameer Siddiqui @tameersiddiqui — @IU_Health Thank you for the live tweets! What a wonderful way to kick off the day watching surgeons save lives (:
• Chelsea Caltuna @ccaltuna — Reading @IU_Health’s live tweeting of a kidney transplant. Fascinating mix of medical terminology, organ donation info and a good story.
• neil gifford @neilgifford — Live tweeting a surgery? Bold move @IU_Health bold move
• Los Angeles Times @latimes — #calebskidney: As tens of thousands await a new kidney, Caleb gets his transplant http://lat.ms/M3xJzX
• Brandon Hays @TheBrandonHays — Although I still haven’t seen a transplant surgery (though I’ve gone through one), @IU_Health’s work today is fascinating and touching.
• Meg Liffick @megliffick — So. Um. @iu_health is live-tweeting a kidney transplant. I am fascinated, amazed, and terrified all at the same time. WOW.
• IU Health @IU_Health — Caleb’s last thought before anesthesia kicked in? His life dream was to play basketball at Indiana University’s Assembly Hall
• Zach Thompson @ZachZach1730 — @IU_Health I thought that was every Hoosiers dream:)
• Topher Howden @cmhowden — Work productivity decreasing, time spent reading @IU_Health’s livetweet of #calebskidney increasing.
• Samantha Cotten @samanthacotten — I love that @IU_Health is not afraid to tweet real, graphic photos of #calebskidney. Props to Caleb and Colin for agreeing to this!
• IU Health @IU_Health — In the waiting room: Colin’s wife, mom watching the Twittercast.
• Lindsay Keegan @lindsaykeegan — @IU_Health Hi Colin’s wife — my husband will need a transplant eventually too. Thoughts going out to you!

Related Photos

  • Success in the ER: IU Health kidney transplant surgeon Dr. William C. Goggins listens as partner and urological surgeon Dr. Chandra Sundaram discusses the kidney transplant that they performed during a press conference after the procedure Wednesday in Indianapolis.

    MET 061312 KIDNEY DOCS.jpg

Discussion

Welcome to our online comments feature. We welcome your thoughts and your opinions, including unpopular ones. We ask only that you keep the conversation civil and clean. We reserve the right to remove comments that are obscene, racist or abusive and statements that are false or unverifiable as well as posts that are attacking other users. Repeat offenders will be blocked. You may flag objectionable comments for review by a moderator.
comments powered by Disqus
June 14, 2012

@IU_Health draws big audience for transplant

Live tweeting of surgery flooded with positive feedback

Lisa Trigg The Tribune-Star

INDIANAPOLIS — As two Sullivan County men went through a life-saving kidney transplant on Wednesday, a worldwide audience checked in online to follow the progress of the surgery and ask questions of the medical team via Indiana’s first “Twittercast” of a live surgery.

“So. Um. @iu_health is live-tweeting a kidney transplant. I am fascinated, amazed, and terrified all at the same time. WOW.” That tweet from a female follower of #calebskidney is representative of the positive feedback that the social media event received.

The transplant tweets came from Indiana University Health (@IU_Health) during the four hours of surgery performed at the Indianapolis hospital. In six to eight weeks, organ donor Colin Newton and recipient Caleb Johnson plan to be back to work — and enjoying the benefits of each having a healthy kidney. For now they are recuperating, and their doctors are celebrating the success of both the surgeries and the public education project.

“I hope it had a positive effect in terms of organ donation,” Dr. William Goggins said of the Twittercast following the kidney transplant. “It gets to a younger age group.”

IU Health estimated 500 tweets occurred Wednesday about the surgery, including those of the IU Health team, the re-tweets by followers, and the questions and answers. Before IU Health started the hashtag #calebskidney last week, the IU Health Twitter page had about 4,400 followers. Since first announcing #calebskidney, more than 1,000 new Twitter followers added IU_Health. Of that number, more than 500 started following the hashtag today during the course of the surgery.

IU Health public relations coordinator Gene Ford called the following “very exciting.”

Spreading information about live donor kidney transplants was the main goal of the tweets from surgeons William Goggins and Chandru Sundaram and others at IU Health.

“We hope not only to eventually have people who come forward to donate live organs,” Goggins said, “but that people also sign up to become organ donors on their driver’s license.”

The surgery itself was nothing new to the IU Health medical team.

Goggins (Caleb’s surgeon) is the surgical director for the kidney transplant program at IU Health. He was one of the surgeons involved in Indiana’s first kidney donation chain in 2009, which involved eight individuals and led to four people receiving lifesaving kidneys. Last month, Goggins performed his 1,000th kidney transplant since joining IU Health eight years ago. Caleb’s transplant was the 93rd for Goggins this year.

“We do a lot of them, and if you do it a lot, you get good at it,” Goggins said, noting that Caleb was doing “sensationally well” after the surgery and that his new kidney was already making urine.

Colin’s surgeon — Sundaram — is a professor and the director of minimally invasive surgery in the IU School of Medicine Department of Urology. Sundaram performed the first urologic robotic surgery in Indiana in 2002. He directs the nationally recognized fellowship in endourology and laparoscopy and specializes in performing daVinci robot assisted laparoscopic prostatectomy for prostate cancer and minimally invasive kidney and adrenal surgery.

Kidney transplant medical director Tim Taber is a transplant nephrologist and the medical director for the kidney transplant program at IU Health.

Sundaram said that the improvements in immunosuppression drugs makes transplants more successful. The laparoscopic procedure to remove the live organ — resulting in less pain and recovery time for the donor — also has caused live donations to almost double, he said.

IU Health has averaged 190 to 220 kidney transplants a year for the past seven years, Goggins said, and of those, 80 to 95 each year are living donor transplants.

Caleb and Colin have been friends for almost five years. When Colin, a graduate of Terre Haute South High School, learned that Caleb, a graduate of Sullivan High School, needed a kidney transplant due to a fast-acting condition that was causing his kidneys to fail, Colin agreed to go through testing to become a donor for his fishing and hunting buddy.

Both men also agreed to the Twittercast to spread the word about live organ donation and to hopefully get more people to sign up as donors. More than 90 percent of the 100,000-plus Americans waiting on the national transplant list are in need of a new kidney.

Ford said the hospital has been interested for some time in sharing information about transplant surgery through social media, and he was pleased Wednesday with the response from the public — which included input from prior organ donors and recipients.

A pastor in northwest Indiana stated that he “was a part of a kidney donation surgery 8 weeks ago @IU_Health, the same surgery as #calebskidney. I would do it again w/out any hesitation.”

When asked why he supported the Twittercast, the donor stated: “Tweeting is good because many don’t understand how advanced and safe the surgery is. More info will help more to donate.”

Tweets from the surgery are available online via www.Twitter.com.

Text Only | Photo Reprints
Local & Bistate
Latest News
Community Calendar
Loading…
Events by eviesays.com
TribStar.com Poll
AP Video
Obama: US Has Helped Syrian Rebels Robot Action Connected to Human Thought Obama: NSA Secret Data Gathering 'Transparent' California Cops Cruise on Stand-up Paddle Patrol Man Who Disrupted Flight Ranted About CIA Feds: 7-Eleven Stores Exploited Immigrants Transgender Candidate Running in NYC Tiger on Sergio: 'It's Time to Move On' Raw: 100K Protesters Flood Brazilian Streets Afghan Forces Take Afghanistan Security Lead Rain Damages Brazil Soccer Stadium Ex-NFL Star Chad Johnson Out of Jail Iran's Rowhani Urges 'Path of Moderation' Falling Cable Hurts 10 NASCAR Fans Today in History June 18 Raw: NASCAR Driver Jason Leffler Dies in Wreck Raw: First Lady, Daughters Enjoy Irish Sights Daughter: Mandela Doing 'Very Well' Raw: Prince Philip Leaves Hospital After Surgery G8 Leaders Huddle on Syria
NDN Video
RAW: NSA Director Says 50 Plots Foiled Video: worst way to load cargo onto a plane Never-before-seen footage of '08 Times Square bomber Mariah Carey Looks Beautiful in a Tiny Cut-Out Swimsuit Obama: NSA Secret Data Gathering 'Transparent' WATCH IT: Lil Wayne tramples American flag Out of Control Boat Throws Passengers Overboard See Lindsay Lohan in Rehab Sofia Vergara Posts Perky Backside Pic in Thong Gaga Ditches Her Crazy Couture Caught on Tape: Teacher Accused of Beating Autistic Child "Stay Classy" Campaign Aims to Curb Binge Drinking Sesame Street Tackling Tough Topic Parents in Jail Miss Utah Fumbles Interview Question Deranged man claims Newark-bound flight was poisoned Cameron Diaz and Kate Upton Show Off Their Amazing Bikini Bodies NBA FINALS: Spurs Win Game 5, Lead Series Exclusive Clip: Jodi Arias: 'Dirty Little Secret' Amphibious bus filled with tourists sinks Best Bikini Abs
Parade
Magazine
Click HERE to read all your Parade favorites including Hollywood Wire, Celebrity interviews and photo galleries, Food recipes and cooking tips, Games and lots more.
  • -

     

    March 12, 2010

activity
Real Estate News