Your primary care provider matters
Your family doctor or nurse practitioner continues to play an essential role in your overall health after transplant. While the transplant team manages everything related to your kidney transplant, your primary care provider is the best person to help with:
- Non-transplant-related health issues (e.g., injuries and routine screenings).
- Renewing medications that are not related to your transplant.
- Providing care in between your transplant clinic visits.
We encourage you to stay connected with your family doctor and ensure they are aware of your transplant status.
If you don’t currently have a primary care provider, we encourage you to register with Health Care Connect, a program that helps Ontarians without a family doctor find one in their community. Visit Health Care Connect or call 1-800-445-1822 to learn more.
Being on anti-rejection (immunosuppressant) medication can affect your eyes, skin, teeth and mouth. It is recommended that you keep regular appointments with:
- Your dentist
- Your optometrist (eye doctor)
- Your dermatologist (skin doctor)
Coping, mental health and emotional wellness
Living with a transplant can bring emotional ups and downs. It’s normal to feel anxious about your health or the future, especially when adjusting to medications, new routines, or ongoing appointments. If you’re feeling low, isolated, or overwhelmed, you’re not alone.
Our social worker can support you with:
Managing anxiety or depression
Coping with major life changes
Accessing mental health services in the community
Navigating health-related trauma
Talk to other transplant patients through online or community-based support groups. Sometimes it may help to talk to other people who have shared the same transplant experience.