Living Kidney Donation

Posts Tagged ‘living kidney donation’

Unfortunately I could not make the meeting but was told afterwards I had been given an award for my work in promoting living kidney donation. I am so honoured to have received this award and totally took me by surprise when I was told.

I have met some truly wonderful people along the way – donors, potential donors, recipients, medical staff and everyone that is connected with living donation.

I still get very excited when potential donors contact me and so proud and honoured to be able to be there for them. When I hear that they have donated I cannot help but shed a tear of pure joy and happiness that someone has given part of themselves to help save another’s life.

If anyone is considering donating a kidney, either to someone they know, or to a total stranger – I am here for you. I found my donation process emotionally lonely as only someone who has donated can truly know how we feel inside 🙂 ….. to be able to share feeling with someone who “understands”, or just ask questions about the donation process, can be hugely helpful and I am here for anyone who wants to make contact. You can use the “contact” link at the top of the page to privately make contact if you wish 🙂

Again, I am soooo chuffed to get this award. I was not able to make the meeting but will be presented with it in the near future. All I could say when I was told was to keep repeating the word “wow” 🙂 🙂

Give my sight to the man who has never seen a sunrise, a baby’s face, or love in the eyes of a woman.

Give my heart to a person whose own heart has caused nothing but endless days of pain.

Give my blood to the teenager who was pulled from the wreckage of his car, so that he might live to see his grandchildren play.

Give my kidneys to one who depends on a machine to exist from week to week.

Take my bones, every muscle, every fiber and nerve in my body and find a way to make a crippled child walk.

If you must bury something, let it be my faults, my weaknesses, and all prejudice against my fellow man.

If, by chance, you wish to remember me, do it with a kind deed or word to someone who needs you. If you do all I have asked, I will live forever.

— Robert N. Test

Don’t take your organs with you – Sign the Register
and save a life !

NHS Organ Donation Register

Every patient waiting on a kidney transplant in Scotland is to be sent an information pack telling them how to get a living donor in a bid to reduce the current waiting list.

At present there are more than 400 people on the transplant list, facing an average wait of up to three years for a kidney from a deceased donor.

This latest move by the Scottish Government is part of a national drive to increase awareness of the possibility of donating a kidney to someone in need of a transplant, whilst still alive, either to a loved one or a stranger.

Over the last ten years, more than 500 people in Scotland have become living kidney donors, with figures highlighting 86 people donated in 2016-17 alone. The information pack has been designed to inform patients of the different routes to living donation and reinforce that a successful kidney transplant from a living donor is the best treatment option for those waiting, as the kidney tends to be healthier. It features the perspectives of donors, recipients and various clinical specialists working to ensure each transplant is as successful as possible.

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Interesting idea …. read more about it here  Living Donor Scheme

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From the Guardian by an anonymous donor.

“Why I donated one of my kidneys to a stranger – it wasn’t a difficult choice”

Non-directed altruistic kidney donation. An unlovely term that means giving one of your kidneys to a stranger. I’d always known this was a thing but I’d thought it was a bit weird, a bit excessive, like donating an arm. Why not just stick to blood donation?

I’d last come across the idea in Larissa MacFarquhar’s 2015 book Strangers Drowning which had the alarming subtitle “Voyages to the Brink of Moral Extremity”. It’s about ultra do-gooders who make normal people feel uncomfortable or worse. Which may be part of why they do it.

MacFarquhar’s subjects include people whose sense of the world’s suffering leads them to give all their possessions away, live like vagrants, move to impossibly dangerous parts of the world. The help they provide for the poor seems questionable, but there is no doubt about the harm they do to themselves and those around them. Among these extremists are altruistic kidney donors. Many people, she says, “particularly doctors” (she’s writing about US doctors) find this donation “bizarre even repellent”. The brink of moral extremity did not sound like a place I wanted to go.

In October of last year I was in the car with my wife and we were listening to a podcast in which a speaker used kidney donation as an example of a contract that can’t be enforced. Almost irrelevantly he said people’s queasiness about the subject isn’t really rational: we don’t need two kidneys, the operation is safe and the benefit to the recipient huge. I immediately thought: if that’s true, it sounds like a good idea.
Would you give your kidney to a complete stranger?

Read more here —-
https://www.theguardian.com/society/2017/may/20/why-i-decided-to-donate-one-of-my-kidneys-to-a-stranger

I donated a kidney to someone I did not know. All I knew was that there were thousands of people out there in need a new kidney as their health was really suffering. I had two kidneys – one of them was a spare. Why wait until I am dead, in the hope my organs would still be viable. I wanted to make sure at least one person benefited now.

It is not just the recipient who benefits from a kidney transplant. It is their whole family! What must it be like to be the spouse, parent, child, best friend etc of someone who you know, just watching them day after day ….. praying they get the life saving phone call to say there is a kidney available.

What must it be like for the person knowing they cannot have as much water as needed when thirsty – because their kidneys cannot process it. Even foods with liquid have to be monitored – fruit, vegetables etc. I am no expert on what is required to keep alive when on dialysis. I just know, having spoken to some people who are – it reduced me to tears. I said to one person “I don’t think I could live the life you live, year after year, with such limitations on what you can eat/drink. Spending three days a week travelling/hooked up to dialysis, week after week, year after year.  The fact you cannot stray too far away in case that life saving phone call comes”. I felt humbled, and ashamed, when he said “you have no choice – you either want to live or you don’t”!

People ask – why should I donate when the family are not! Very simply, just because they have family, does not mean the family are a match. It is more than just being a compatible blood group. Also a lot of people needing a new kidney is because they have a hereditary illness that causes the kidneys to fail. So family members also can have this. Many reasons why someone, other than family, needs to be the donor.

A question I am sometimes asked is why does someone need a kidney when they have dialysis to replace the kidney?

I have to say I was so guilty of that assumption pre donation!! You see pictures in the media of people on dialysis, and to be honest, so often the person looks very healthy as though dialysis is the perfect solution.  I still feel so guilty when I realise how wrong I was. Dialysis is a life support machine. No more, no less. It helps keep people alive until they can get a new kidney. It does NOT replace a kidney, far from it.

So if the thought ever crosses your mind about donating a kidney to someone – anyone – JUST DO IT! It will also be the most rewarding experience you could have.

Read the links on the left of this page under “Become a Donor” to find out what it is like and what the process is. Any questions, just comment on this post or send me a message via the Contact Page – link at top of this page.

I take a personal interest in anyone who wishes to donate and will stay in contact with them, and support them throughout the whole process.

My only regret about donating, is that I have no spare kidneys left to donate. If I had, I would – in a heart beat. I just pray when my time comes to meet my Maker – that my remaining organs are viable and can go to helping other people.

Please sign the organ donor register.

Please consider donating a kidney to someone during your lifetime. Don’t think your age will be against you – people in their 80’s have donated.

To all reading this who are waiting for an organ transplant, or know someone who is – stay strong! Your time will come.

Altruistic Kidney Donor Stats – 2007 – end 2014

For year end April

2007 – 2008 = 6 donors
2008 – 2009 = 15 donors
2009 – 2010 = 15 donors
2010 – 2011  = 28 donors
2011 – 2012  = 34 donors
2012 – 2013  = 76 donors
2013 – 2014  = 118 donors
April 2014 – Dec 2014  = 77 donors

TOTAL: As at end December 2014
there had been 369 altruistic kidney donors.

Each year the numbers increase considerably. I am so excited by the number of people who are now donating.

Let’s hope we continue to see this increase in donors each year.

Wishing you all a wonderful Christmas and I so hope 2014 will be a great year for many of you.

Thank you so much for your support of this website. It makes my day when I receive a comment or someone contacts me through the website wanting more information or support through their donation experience.  I love also hearing from recipients, or family members of donors or recipients. Thank you all so much.

I also want to pass my thanks on to all those involved in the kidney donation process. Not just the front line i.e. doctors, co-ordinators, nurses etc  but all those that help to keep the hospitals running smoothly who perhaps we never even get to see.  I have always said, donating a kidney is a great team effort. Without the medical people, caterers, cleaners, administration  and everyone who works at the hospitals – we would not be able to donate.  I cannot list everyone who is involved as to be honest I know there will be some I will leave out – because I don’t even know they exist as their work is behind the scenes.! Great thanks to them and everyone.  you are all so truly appreciated.

People wonder whether Miracles exist – if 200 years ago someone said “one day we will be able to take out an organ from a living person and put it inside another living person – and they will both continue to live” – I am sure they would have been shouted out of town as a mad person. Yet here we are today with this great Miracle happening.  What will the next 50 years bring …..  I find it exciting just thinking about it as I am sure there are huge medical breakthrough that will happen during that time.

For those first timers to this website – thank you for visiting. To find out what it is like being a kidney donor, please check out the links top left of this page under the heading “become a donor”.  I do so hope I can inspire someone to consider donating a kidney, whether it is to a family member or friend who is in need of a kidney – or whether you feel you just want to help anyone – no matter who.  I have never regretted once my donation and only wish I had more spare kidneys as would so willingly donate again.   What greater gift could anyone give or receive.

So … everyone have a really wonderful Christmas and after years and years of trying to find the proof that Santa exists – he was spotted the other night …….. I will leave you all on this wonderful picture to bring smiles and chuckles from many .

Proof at long last

Proof that Santa really does exist

Christmas time is just about upon us. The time of year when “giving” not only gives pleasure but we receive pleasure also when we give.

Have you considered giving the best present ever to someone – a kidney? Okay you won’t be able to do it in time for Christmas but you can start the giving process this Christmas/New Year by seriously considering giving one of your kidneys to a stranger – or even family or friend that you know needs one.

Look at the links on the top left of this page under “Become a Donor”. Read through them as it gives my pesonal account of my own donation. Step by step; test by test I say it as it was. It covers the operation and my recovery in hospital after and my recovery at home.  Read some of the links going across the top of the page for other information.

When I donated my kidney I didn’t think too much about how would I feel about the actual giving of the kidney. I knew I would feel happy I had been able to help someone but it went far deeper than that. I was quite surprised to feel a wonderful deep sense of contentment in my life knowing I had made such a huge difference to someone (and their family).   If I had another spare kidney I would not hesitate to give it to someone else.

I can’t think of a much greater gift to give someone than a second chance at life. You are also giving them back to their family as the family also suffers when a loved one is so ill.

Being on dialysis is not a picnic.  It does not replace the kidney. Dialysis is a form of Life Support. That is all.

With dialysis comes many problems. Not everyone takes to it BUT they have to as that is all that is available if they want to stay alive. That is – unless they get a kidney transplant!

So – we are a nation of givers. It is human nature to help people where we can. Read this website including comments people have given about their own donations or those waiting for a kidney. Look deep inside you – could you help save someone by giving them one of your kidneys.  Believe me, we do not need two. If we did then live kidney donation would not be allowed.  I don’t even know I only have one kidney. My life has not changed at all. Well actually it has. It has changed because donating my kidney has made me more aware of the vulnerabilities of our own bodies and it has made me take extra better care of  myself. I don’t have to take any medications though because of only having one kidney. Nothing in my life has changed except I watch what I eat a bit more. That is out of choice, not necessity.

Please consider giving the best gift of all.

God Bless
With Love to you all

Di
xxxx

If you want to know what is involved in donating a kidney to a stranger then check out the links on the left of this page under “become a donor”. Gives you step by step description of the evaluation process, the operation recovery in hospital and recovery at home. I say it as it s and don’t gloss over anything.

If you feel you would like to donate, then please contact your local Transplant Center to discuss with them. I will help / support anyone through this. It is good to be able to chat to someone who has been through the donation process and know they understand how you are feeling.

Di Franks

A full in depth account of being a Living Kidney Donor can be found here. From my decision to donate, risks of living with one kidney to the risks of donating a kidney. My emotions along the way and why I donated. The evaluation tests involved in being a living kidney donor and what I thought of them! The frustrations and sadness and finally joy of finding a recipient for my kidney. The final pre-donation tests that gave me a sleepless night or two right up until the day before the kidney operation! Then the day of the operation to remove my kidney together with recovery after the kidney donation, in hospital as well as back home.

A lot of useful advice is also given in the comments section of the post, so they are worth reading also.

Please either scroll to the bottom of this page or use the links on the left to read about the different stages of kidney donation. The links across the top of the page also give an insight into my reasons for donating a kidney plus some useful links on the subject.

If anyone has any questions regarding the donation process or how I felt about any aspect of it, then please do post a comment or if you prefer contact me via the contact page (link at top of page).

One thing I will say is that if I could do this all over again I would without hesitation.
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Evaluation process to be a Living Kidney Donor – finding a recipient – laparascopic surgery to remove kidney – my recovery

Even though the process was not without its frustrations and last minute blips – I would not hesitate to donate a kidney all over again if I could.
For anyone considering donating a kidney, whether to a relative or friend or to a stranger, the majority of this blog would apply. I have been as honest as I can and not just put a glossy cover on it all.  The events are as they happened and my feelings and thoughts at the time. I hope this blog will enlighten some people as to the process of donating a kidney. It has been a great learning experience for myself as well. Spending so much time with people who have kidney problems and speaking to patients on dialysis or just having had a transplant, and speaking with their families ….. it has opened my eyes even more to the fact more organ donors are needed.  There was nothing in my evaluation or the operation or recovery process that put me off having donated.

Through this journey I have met people on dialysis and they are not living a life, they are surviving a life. Dialysis is life support. Without it they will die – with it they are alive but the quality of life for them and their families is not the sort of life anyone should have to live. They do for years.  Once I knew it was possible to give someone and their family back their life it was just something that, God willing,  I was determined to do.

I also want to thank everyone working at the transplant unit. Everyone was great and made this whole experience good. There was always a smile and more than that, everyone had time for me. I was never made to feel rushed. When it came time for the operation itself I was made to feel very relaxed and the after care was brilliant.

Please scroll down to read my account of being a kidney donor. The first posts are at the bottom of the blog, the latest just below this posting.

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My Recovery at Home

I was allowed home 2 days after the operation. The journey home was okay. Couldn’t really avoid all the bumps and potholes in the road so had to support my abdomen during the journey. It was good to be home. Own bed, own bathroom etc. Couldn’t keep my eyes open so had not been home for long before went up to bed. Now of course, my bed does not raise up like the hospital one. So with great effort I got onto the bed at a sort of an angle and then couldn’t move, lol. The pain in my abdomen was intense. Oh well – I just stayed there on the bed sort of laying across it – and went to sleep. Woke about 5am feeling refreshed and wanting the bathroom, but quite a battle to get out of bed. took around 10 minutes trying to work out the least painful way.

Decided that the next night I would sleep with lots of pillows behind me so my upper half is already raised, just like the hospital bed was. It would then be much easier getting in and out of bed as would not have to use my abdominal muscles as much.

In myself I felt very well. Still bloated which was uncomfortable rather than anything else so hopefully the extra 4 kilos would go soon. I got tired very very quickly. In fact I had only been up for around 3 hours and was walking back from the kitchen with a cup of tea and almost dropped it as I found my eyes closing as I walked. The tiredness just came out the blue!! I know I was told I would feel tired, but I was not sure if that meant bodily tired i.e. no energy, or tired in wanting to go to sleep. Now I know. I had to go back upstairs and get some sleep. I arranged the pillows so they were like a backrest. I have a memory foam mattress which is bliss. I could get into bed a lot easier now with little pain. I got a good hours sleep and woke refreshed. Around 3pm the same thing happened and I found my eyes just would not stay open, so got another hours sleep. I must say the first four or five days was like this. Suddenly feeling sleepy when I had only been up a few hours. I didn’t fight it as I knew my body needed the rest. I was also going up to bed around 7pm or 8pm in the evenings. I actually felt more comfortable laying propped up in bed than sitting in the chair downstairs, which squashed my abdomen up a bit and was uncomfortable. I had very good night sleep for the first week, most nights not waking at all until the morning. Pre operation I would wake about 3 or 4 times needing the bathroom. I also found that sleeping with my upper half propped up I could breathe a lot easier as well which I am sure aided a good night sleep. In fact I have continued to sleep propped up and find it much better than laying flat in bed. When I have saved the money I may just invest in a bed where I can raise the back up. I am surprised at the difference in quality of sleep I get this way.

The first week was obviously the hardest as I was not allowed to do much and I felt tired so quickly throughout the day and there was a bit of pain when I walked or used my lower abdomen. For some reason the first couple of days I forgot about the pain medication. Duh! After that I took it and made sure I took enough. Although I still had some pain, it was not troublesome. In fact I was quite pleased I had a little bit of pain as it reminded me to take things easy. I enjoyed being spoilt and looked after the first week!

Some people get no pain at all. I believe the only reason I got pain was because I am overweight and the pressure of a tummy “overhang” on the incision area coupled with gravity pulling down on it when I walked, just aggravated everything! If you picture walking with a bowl of jelly ….?? Yup I think you have the picture!  If I held in my abdomen muscles which then supported the incision area, then I had no pain at all when I walked. Of course remembering to take the pain medication would have helped!

Once 10 days had passed then I noticed a quicker improvement. I was not sleepy during the day any more, although I did physically get tired. It was quite some time before energy levels restored themselves. Incisions were healing nicely and everything was just great.

I also heard that the recipient was doing excellently well! That is the best news of all. Wonderful!

Recovery continued and things are great.  It has been a while since the evaluation finished in October 2009  and some time since kidney donation, so I hope I have remembered everything, I did make notes at the time but not always. Anyway I hope this blog gives a good insight into the process of becoming an Living  kidney donor and the actual donation process itself. I know if I had another spare kidney I would do it all again without hesitation.

CT Scan now booked – 28th October 2009

CT stands for Computerised Tomography. This will be in the Radiology Department.
The CT Scanner is a machine that takes detailed slice-type pictures of the body using x-rays and a computer. Instead of sending out a single X-ray through your body as with ordinary X-rays, several beams are sent simultaneously from different angles. In my case it will result in detailed image of the kidneys, their location, size, the arteries and veins connected to the kidneys. From this image the surgeon can decide which will be the safest kidney to remove.  Although we have two kidneys they are not necessarily identical. One can be larger (my left one is) and they can each have a different number of veins. The fewer the better as far as surgical procedures.

I will be asked to lay on a couch which then moves through the CT machine which will scan my abdomen.  The machine is an open ring-like structure – rather like a doughnut!   I will feel nothing, but will be able to see lights on the machine.  I may be given an injection of a colourless dye which will help to show up the blood vessels.

This is what a CT Scanner can look like.

CT Scanner

The hospital are great, they promised they would manage to fit in this CT Scan before I went to London and they have. I did not want my time away from home to hold up procedings any more than they had to.

The purpose of this interview was to make sure that I understood what I was offering to do and that I was not doing this under any sort of coersion. Was not being offered money or any incentive to donate. They also needed to know there was not any underlying mental conditions that could adversely affect my decision making . That I was donating for the right reasons and my life was stable etc etc.

The interview lasted around an hour and basically we just chatted. The doctor asked me about my childhood and schooldays … also about my time while growing up and then questions about my family life past and present. I was also, of course, asked why I wanted to donate. She probed further and asked me how I would feel if say the operation presented problems … if something went wrong – how would I cope. How did I feel about never knowing who the recipient is? Would that bother me. I explained to her that just knowing they were living a better life and enjoying doing things again was plenty to make me smile. I think at the end of our chat she could see that I was a strong person mentally, knew my own mind and had made my decision freely with no coersion from anyone or payment and with full understanding of the whole procedure and risks etc etc.

It is a bit nerve-wracking knowing you are going to be quizzed by a psychiatrist. All one can do is say things as they are.

The doctor had no more questions and asked if I had any. I said I just had one … “Had I passed!” …. lol …. she said there was nothing untoward in our discussions – nothing that would make her query my decision. She would write up her report and send it to those concerned and a copy to me.

Couple of days ago I wrote to the Transplant Nurse Specialist and asked her to remind me of what happens next. We are so near now. I did chat with her a few weeks ago about what happens once the evaluation tests are done – but I never wrote anything down, so I am in a muddle as to what order things happen next. So look forward to her response.

I was challenged recently to try to explain what drives me to donating to a stranger and what is in it for me. If I were paid a large sum of money, then that could be understood as to the motives behind this. But with no apparent benefit – then why do it? Very good question and not always easy to answer.

Why do people decide to sail around the world or climb the highest mountains in the most atrocious of conditions? They are hailed as Explorers and record breakers and daring and brave! Who have they benefited by doing those things? Don’t get me wrong, they are courageous and brave and have pushed the boundaries of what the body can endure to the limit and beyond and I have great admiration for them. Why then when we decide to help someone lead a better life, we are often viewed as … crazy!

Why do we do anything though? Emotions drive us either to do something or not do something. Emotions that just seem to spring from nowhere.

Sometimes the drive inside us is so strong we just can’t ignore it. I had such  a desire inside me to offer one of my kidneys to someone who needed one. That desire just grew over time. I knew it was something I really wanted to do. Having said that, I did not go into this blindly. Even though my heart kept telling me this was something I wanted to do, reality also told me to investigate this, really look into it and then decide whether heart or head wins! I found nothing to dissuade me from doing this … so my heart won.

What do I get out of donating? I do agree that whenever we give, we do also receive, whether it is a great sense of satisfaction or disappointment should something go wrong.
Read the rest of this entry »

I thought it might help to just go over what has happened so far, and the evaluation stages left.

I had an initial consultation with the surgeon and a Transplant Specialist Nurse. Various questions regarding my health, past and present and my families health as far as any illnesses they may have had.  My weight and height were checked.

Blood pressure
This gets taken as high blood pressure can cause damage to the kidneys.  Blood pressure is taken more than once during the evaluation period. 

Urine sample
Urine sample is taken and checked for underlying problems such as glucose, protein, bacteria, etc.

I have had blood taken three times and  checked for a variety of things. Blood group, tissue type …. infections, all sorts of things are checked for to make sure you are quite healthy.

Blood tests
Blood samples will be taken which is checked for blood group, tissue type, can show if there is anaemia, various infections etc etc . Various checks on the blood are done to make sure you are quite healthy and the kidney and liver are functioning okay ….

X-rays
A chest x-ray was taken.

Electrocardiogram (ECG)
I had an ECG (Electrocardiogram) where you have electrodes placed on you and your heart is monitored and the electrical impulses of the heart are recorded onto a graph and from that they can tell if there are any weaknesses in the heart.

Renal ultrasound
This is a non-invasive scan.  It  checks that there are two kidneys. Some people are born with only one kidney but are totally unaware of the fact.  The ultrasound can show the size of the kidneys, if there is any scarring or obstructions.   I had a small scar on the top of the right kidney which was probably due to an infection as a child.  It did not affect my ability to donate.  For those who have never had an ultrasound (most pregnant mums have) – then for a kidney ultrasound they wanted it done on a full bladder (that was the hardest part ..lol…). A gel is put onto your abdomen/side and then the technician moves a probe over your abdomen and sides and the probe can “see” your kidneys.  Once she had done the part that required the full bladder I was allowed to go and pee ! Then came back for the rest of the ultrasound. It is totally painless, not at all uncomfortable. The gel was a bit cold but that was all.  None of the tests I have had have been at all uncomfortable.  

A doctor was assigned to me to make sure that everything was being done that should to ensure I was healthy and fit enough to donate.  He checked my weight and height.  Asked me a few questions.   Listened to my heart which sounded okay. Blood pressure was 138/81. Peripheral pulses were present.  His opinion was that I was fit to proceed for further evaluation.  Ideally though I should lose some weight (being 89kb with a height of 1.6m). I also take HRT and was recomended I come off that for the donation. 

(Note: I do not take any form of  HRT which is derived from pregnant mares – such as Premarin etc.  I take kliovance which is plant based.  Speak to your doctor about switching if you are concerned about how the medication is produced).

I am working on the weight loss …. !

I saw the psychologist (see previous blog entry) and that is all fine.

Still to come ….
Psychiatrist Assessment
I am waiting to hear my appointment date for this.  They need to make sure I am fully aware of what I am committing myself to; that I am mentally okay and freely consenting to this procedure.

DMSA
This I have yet to have. It This is where they have to check the anatomy of each kidney. Arteries and veins have to be identified. It is not unusual for a kidney to have more than one artery.  These results go towards making a decision as to which kidney will be removed.   

GFR Test (Isotope Glomerular Filtration Rate).
I also have this to come. I believe I will be having this same day as the DMSA. The GFR is a test to assess the capability of the kidney to ’clear’ the blood of a substance. A small amount of dye is injected into a vein and blood samples are taken at hourly intervals for three/four hours, to measure the renal clearance of the dye. 

Finally I have to see the Consultant Nephrologist again  as he gives the final decision as to whether I am medically fit enough etc to donate a kidney.

All the information is given to an independant Assessor and I have a meeting with him. He  needs to make sure I understand everything etc etc. He then makes a report and presents to the Human Tissue Board and seeks their permission for the donation to go ahead.  The producing of the report and seeking permission can take up to a month in total.

It was explained to me that there was no guarantee that it would be keyhole surgery.  The surgeon would make that decision once both kidneys had been evaluted etc. It is not unusual for a kidney to have more than one artery and vein and if it turns out that there are two or three arteries and/or veins etc, it maybe that the operation would easier  with open surgery.  So that does affect recovery time.  Keyhole surgery – the stay in hospital is shorter by a couple days I believe and the recovery time  is much quicker.

I have some personal committments late Autumn  that are a must to keep and may involve physical activity. So allowing enough time for the donation and full recovery, it may be difficult to make the actual donation any earlier than late November/December.  That is fine and allows plenty of time for the rest of the tests and assessments to take place. Approval for the donation will be sought once my committments are over.  I certainly don’t want to be under any pressure during my recovery especially as I don’t know if keyhole or not – so need to be sure  there is plenty of time afterward to get back to normal.

Kidney donation – altruistic

February 3rd

My first appointment at the hospital to meet the surgeon and have some initial tests done. It was during the heavy snows we had but luckily once I had got a few miles out from home, the snow thinned and travelling wasn’t a problem.

There had been some mix up with the appointments and I was in the book for 30 minutes after the time in the appointments letter. The hospital was also  running 1.5 hours late and I had arrived 30 minutes early!! No matter, it gave me time to read up on literature there and just watch and listen as to what was going on in the reception area. I was struck by the assortment of people there that had kidney problems … young, old, mothers, fathers, youngsters … it was a reminder than anyone, any age can be seriously ill and need help. I had time sitting there to think about the struggles some people have  to try and lead a normal life. It made me realise I have been very lucky in life as regards my health. Whatever I have had wrong with me has easily been treated. Not so for thousands of people. I am so glad I made this decision to donate.  Sometimes being kept waiting for an appointment has its advantages as in this case – it opened my eyes even wider.

I saw the surgeon first, very nice guy. Very friendly, smiley face and good sense of humour. I immediately felt relaxed in his company.

He made sure I knew exactly what it was I was offering to do and explained that a Doctor would be assigned to me to look after my interests.  I would go through a very thorough medical assessment.  I would also have a psychologist and psychiatric report made. The whole team needs to know that I fully understand what I will be doing. That I understand the procedure and what could go wrong etc etc.  Once I pass the medical tests and the psychiatric report, the details are then sent for approval. If I am approved as a suitable kidney donor, then I will be put on the database and once a suitable recipient is found, arrangements will be made for the transplant.  The evaluation process can be between 3 and 6 months, but they anticipate that once accepted it will be a very short time before they locate a suitable match.  

They would remove my kidney in this hospital and then safely transport it to whichever hospital the recipient is in.

The surgeon asked me about my medical history and my families. We have all been clear of major illnesses that might affect the donation.   The only down side was that I am overweight. I thought that might get mentioned!  lol ! I was weighed and although my BMI (Body Mass Index) was just within the acceptable limit, the surgeon did advise I try to lose some weight.  My current weight would not hold up the operation, but if I could lose some then that would assist the  surgery and also my recovery afterwards.

I then saw one of the transplant nurses. She asked more questions re medical history etc and then organised some  tests:

Blood pressure
Blood taken for tests (about 8 tubes used)
Heart Trace
Chest X-ray.

  It was also explained to me that during the very strict and thorough evaluation process, at any stage they could find out I am not suitable as a donor, so I also have to prepare myself for the disappointment of not being able to help someone.

My biggest worry at the moment is losing weight. I have an under active thyroid which piled the weight on a few years ago and losing it  is extremely hard – I never used to have a problem with being able to control my weight, but now it is a real battle.  

Please Pray that I pass the evaluation process with flying colours.

My next appointment is April 17th when I see the doctor … regarding what exactly not too sure, will have to wait and see.