BOMBECK GETS A NEW KIDNEY                         HUMORIST WAITED SINCE 1993DATE: Friday, April 5, 1996           By Jim DeBrosse DAYTON DAILY NEWS                              DAYTON DAILY NEWS                   Copyright (c) 1996, Dayton Newspapers Inc.   Erma Bombeck, syndicated columnist and Dayton native, was in good conditionThursday following a kidney transplant that she has been waiting for since 1993.   `She's conscious and comfortable, and her indicators are good,' said Rebecca Higbee, a spokeswoman for the University of California-San Francisco Medical Center. The operation was performed Wednesday morning. The kidney camefrom a donor in Northern California, but the family of the donor asked that noother information be released.   Medical experts say the next 60 days to 90 days will be the most critical for Bombeck's recovery. Approximately two-thirds of all rejections of transplanted kidneys occur in the first 60 days.   Bombeck, 69, had been on home dialysis four times a day since 1993 when herkidneys quit working. She suffers from a hereditary condition called polycystic kidney disease, in which cysts grow in the kidneys.   Throughout her battle with kidney disease, Bombeck has maintained a positive attitude. Until the surgery Wednesday, she continued to write her twice-weekly column and chastised those who tried to make it sound as though she is dying.   Shirley Fleischman, an Oakwood resident who has been a friend of Bombeck's since high school, had visited her home in Arizona last week.   `She was positive, just her funny self - and so confident that she would get her kidney soon,' Fleischman said. `We went out to dinner and she was justgreat.'   Bombeck's outlook greatly enhances her chances for a successful transplant,said Jean McClellan, 53, a Beavercreek resident who underwent a kidney transplant last year.   `Based on my reading of her writings, she's not going to have any problems at all, as long as she has a compatible kidney,' McClellan said. `I think attitude has a lot to do with it.'   In her own case, McClellan was able to return to her job as a human resources assistant 10 weeks after her surgery.   `I was surprised,' she said. `Truly, the only side effect I had was some puffiness' from the steroids taken to control rejection of the kidney.   Dr. Roy First, who heads the kidney transplant medical team at the University of Cincinnati Medical Center, said older patients such as Bombeck run an increased risk of infection following transplant surgery. But at the same time, he said, their immune systems are less prone to rejecting the donorkidney.   Because of new and better drugs to control rejection, more older patients are undergoing kidney transplants, he said. The percentage of kidney transplant patients over the age of 65 doubled between 1988 and 1994, from 3 percent to 6 percent.   Despite the risks and side effects, McClellan said, `I would definitely go through a kidney transplant again tomorrow if this one would fail me' rather than return to dialysis.   The hardest part, McClellan said, is the fatigue caused by dialysis and poorly functioning kidneys. `Now I'm back to doing all the things I've always done,' including golfing and gardening.   Alan McDermott, Bombeck's editor at Universal Press Syndicate, said Bombeckhad written enough new columns prior to her surgery to carry through next week.   `After that, I assume we'll have to substitute past columns, but we're waiting to see what happens' with her recovery, he said.   McDermott said Bombeck had no chance to plan ahead for the surgery. `It's the kind of thing where you wait and wait, and then when you get the call (that a kidney is available), you just drop everything and go,' he said.   Bombeck moved from the Dayton area to Paradise Valley, Ariz., in 1971. She was diagnosed with breast cancer and had a mastectomy in 1992. Her best-selling books and her syndicated column, which appears in the Dayton Daily News , offer a humorous look at the daily tribulations of life.BOX:      KIDNEY TRANSPLANT FACTS          * Has highest success rate of any transplanted organ, with 94 percent of      recipients surviving a year past surgery and 87 percent surviving three      years.     * The first successful kidney transplant was performed in 1954 and now      kidneys are the most commonly transplanted organs.     * More than 31,000 people nationally, and more than 2,800 in Ohio, are      waiting for a kidney donation.     * The average wait for a kidney transplant is 26 months. Nearly 1,400      potential transplant patients died in 1994 waiting for a kidney.     * For more information on transplants, and to request a donor card, call      223-8223.     LENGTH: Medium:   96 LINESILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: (Erma) Bombeck          SUBJ: ORGAN TRANSPLANTS      KIDNEY TRANSPLANTNA: ERMA BOMBECK    ENHANCER: REF2