On Thursday, I will be flying out to San Diego for the last phase of testing to see whether I can donate a kidney. I have done preliminary blood and urine testing here in Louisville, KY, but the intended recipient lives in California, so the rest of the evaluation and surgery will happen there. I will be meeting him for the first time on Thursday.
I will answer any questions, plus I am interested in hearing other people’s experiences. I am also open to ideas for questions I should ask the transplant team when I meet them on Friday.
If I don’t respond right away, it’s because I’ll be working late tomorrow and catching an early flight the next morning. I’ll catch up on breaks and on my layover in Chicago.
A mutual friend, whom I met in Georgia and who now lives in Colorado, posted on Facebook that her old friend in California needed a kidney. I had thought about donating before, but this was the first time that anyone had asked me, even if the request wasn’t directed specifically at me. I’m healthy and nobody in my family is likely to need a kidney, so I decided to look into it.
You are going to hurt a lot more than the recipient. The mutual friend has been sick for a while so will feel better right away. You will hurt for a while.
It doesn’t really matter how small the incision is, its going to be through muscle. There will be pain. Your body will freak out because an important part of it is gone.
Who is going to pay for your lost work? Who is going to clean your home? You won’t be able to do that for a while. Where are you going to be after the hospital kicks you out?
I’m really wondering why you are doing this for someone you don’t really know. I love my husband and I’d give him anything, but we would make a plan for the aftercare.
What is going to happen later in life when your only kidney is not working properly? Most people aren’t willing to undergo surgery to remove a healthy body part for a stranger, so you might die because of your kindness and generosity.
This is not a light decision, please give it some more thought.
How is your blood pressure, and what is your diet like re. potassium (nuts, green veggies in pods, bananas, others) and phosphorus (dark sodas, apparently including both colas and root beers)?
I ask because I am a stage IV CKD (aka renal failure) patient, and am really glad I have two - had I given the right to somebody, they’d be on dialysis by now (it’s shot); had I given the left, I’d be on dialysis.
Bless you for your kindness, but you will need to be careful with your remaining kidney.
Silvorange you are to be lauded for your kindness and generosity! Way to go!
A family member of mine donated theirs to another. The donor was 63 years old, and he recovered quickly and without much pain. For the recipient, this was her second kidney. The first was from someone (not known to our family) who died in a car crash. Kidneys from such donors typically do not last as long as ones from a living donor, and after 10 years began to get rejected. It failed, and she started dialysis, a brutal process.
Kidneys from living donors last longer.
Thank you on behalf of all recipients who continue normal lives due to generous people like you.
Yeah, it should be feel better for him than for me, from what I hear. At least they are doing it laparoscopically these days. I will have a bikini line incision. I had a laparoascopic surgery last year and it still sucked because of the gas-related pain.
My job combines vacation and sick days. I have been hoarding my PTO (paid time off). We have saved up some money to cover my husband’s time off, but we are hoping that the recipient’s fundraising will get enough so that we can put our money toward something else.
I won’t be able to fly home until about two weeks after surgery, so we will stay in a hotel during that time. I plan to take four to five weeks off after surgery. From what I’ve learned , people with office jobs often go back to work in three weeks. My job isn’t much more strenuous than that. I don’t expect that housework will be a big concern since there are just two of us and the two cats anyway.
While we are just now getting to where this is all getting real, it has been in the works for two years. The recipient and I were both far too overweight when I first made my decision. I didn’t even make contact with him for over a year, until I had lost enough to be evaluated (BMI under 35). He is now at an acceptable weight for surgery, and I still have to lose a few more lbs (thanks, Christmas!) to be at my BMI<30 surgery weight.
If my remaining kidney goes bad later, I will automatically jump to the top of the waiting list for a donor kidney.
I have good blood pressure. It started to creep up a little when I was much heavier, but went back down when I lost weight. I’ve been cutting back on caffeine so my EKG won’t look funny, so I think I can give up soft drinks if I have to. I have a phone consultation with the transplant center’s nutritionist tomorrow. I am hoping the diet rules won’t be too stringent. I am still working on getting my weight down, and I do best on a low carb, high protein diet. I suspect that they will tell me not to eat too much protein.
This is part of why I want to be a living donor. Transplants from living donors are more likely to be successful and last longer. Younger organs work better than older ones. There is also no guarantee that I will die in such a way that my organs will be suitable for donation.
Some of your questions have merit but, overall, I find this post a little insulting. Telling her it’s not a light decision as if she doesn’t already know that is kind of a dick move, isn’t it? She’s giving up a piece of her anatomy; I’m sure she’s put some thought into that. It just came across a little condescending to me.
That said, I would totally do this and I think it’s a wonderful gift you’re giving. I’m an organ donor but I don’t really count on ever being able to fulfill that promise because, as you said, no guarantees how you’re gonna die. Luck to you for a speedy, smooth recovery and to your recipient that it all shakes out for the best.
First of all, I would like to thank you. I lost my left kidney and half of my left lung to cancer when I was 12. I know that it’s entirely possible that I’ll need to rely on the kindness of a stranger, such as yourself, at some point in the future. In April of 2013 I was nearly put on the waiting list for a new liver. Fortunately, I had been misdiagnosed. I was told that I had cancer again when I didn’t. The tumors were not malignant but I still needed major surgery. The 2 largest ones (6-8 cm) were removed from the right and left lobes. I go back in March to discuss my options for the 4-6 remaining tumors. The November scan showed no change in their size. If they start growing again or new ones form, a transplant may be my only choice.
At the beginning of the whole liver ordeal I was given a CT scan with IV contrast that injured my remaining kidney. :smack: It took about 5 weeks for my creatinine levels to return to something like normal. About three weeks after that I picked up a bladder/kidney infection combo in the hospital that had me in bad shape for another couple of weeks. I had some blood work done at the beginning of January and I’m back down to 0.99 mg/dL which is more or less normal. Yay!
From everything I’ve read, live donors lead to better results for both kidney and liver transplants. You’re doing a really great thing for this person. Please don’t let others freak you out too badly. Most people with only one kidney live perfectly happy, healthy lives. My grandpa lost his right kidney to some shrapnel in WWII and he’ll be 96 next month. There’s even a way to avoid having scars from your part of the procedure:
From the Wiki:
In 2009 at the Johns Hopkins Medical Center, a healthy kidney was removed through the donor’s vagina. Vaginal donations promise to speed recovery and reduce scarring.[18] The first donor was chosen as she had previously had a hysterectomy.[19] The extraction was performed using natural orifice transluminal endoscopic surgery, where an endoscope is inserted through an orifice, then through an internal incision, so that there is no external scar. The recent advance of single port laparoscopy requiring only one entry point at the navel is another advance with potential for more frequent use.
From someone who has been on the waiting list for a new kidney since last May - all I can say is Thank You.
I have been very reluctant to put a message out on Facebook, but I think I may, now. I am thisclose to having to start dialysis. I had hoped to forego it. My polycystic kidney disease is moving too fast. Unfortunately, the few people who have called to see if they could donate do not qualify for one reason or another.
Again, thank you for your gift. I know the recipient is more thankful than he could ever say.
If you have people who are willing and able to donate, check and see whether you can do an exchange. There are usually other people out there in the same boat.
The problem is that they have other health issues the preclude donation to me or anyone else. The one person who fits all the criteria and is more than willing to donate is my daughter - who has a 50/50 chance of having PKD. My doc has ruled her out on that off chance and because we cannot afford to do the testing to see if she does have it (it would become known within the next 5 years naturally otherwise so my insurance won’t cover it).
Waiting for a transplant is frustrating. Whenever the phone rings and it’s an unfamiliar number - I jump. I keep my phone next to me 24/7, and wonder how people managed prior to cell phones. What you are doing is absolutely fantastic - I can only imagine what the donee is thinking. I hope it all works out for the two of you.
Depends on whether their body takes to the new kidney or not.
[QUOTE=flatlined; 17056148]
You will hurt for a while.
It doesn’t really matter how small the incision is, its going to be through muscle. There will be pain. Your body will freak out because an important part of it is gone.
Who is going to pay for your lost work? Who is going to clean your home? You won’t be able to do that for a while. Where are you going to be after the hospital kicks you out?
I’m really wondering why you are doing this for someone you don’t really know. I love my husband and I’d give him anything, but we would make a plan for the aftercare.
What is going to happen later in life when your only kidney is not working properly? Most people aren’t willing to undergo surgery to remove a healthy body part for a stranger, so you might die because of your kindness and generosity.
This is not a light decision, please give it some more thought.
[/QUOTE]
WOW! Could you use a more negative way of saying this. Ghod forbid you should need a transplant of any sort; I should hope you give them the same once over before donating to you.
Yes, there are cons to any surgery–ANY SURGERY. There are risks to all surgeries–some more than others.
Good for you. It’s even more amazing that you worked so hard to become an acceptable donor.
One of my friends donated a kidney to another friend of ours about 10 years ago.
The hospital had them up and walking the day after the surgery. The donor challenged the recipient to a race down the hall. 2 men in socks and hospital gowns hauling their IV holders down the hallway.
Double check with the recipients insurance. Our friend’s insurance covered both his recovery costs and the donor’s recover costs.
10 years later, the donor doesn’t have any side affect. The recipient? We think he inherited the donor’s love of salty foods.
No, I’m with flatlined on this one. Let it be said I think this is a very noble deed of the OP, and he is obviously a good person. However, that said, I have to wonder, as flatlined wonders, what will happen in later life if he suddenly or eventually finds that second kidney will come in handy. Donating to a relative or even close friend is one thing, but really, I have to wonder the mindset of one who decides to give away a perfectly good body part to a total stranger. I think it’s the mindset of a very young person who feels he will live forever and never fall ill.
And I would hope even those awaiting such donations would be wondering the same thing, no matter however grateful they may be to receive the organ.
Probably not, since I already know that I am a match for him. There is the possibility that my kidney could be too small for him, which we will find out after the CT scan. If that turned out to be the case I would be up for a chain.
He might be a very young person who feels he will live forever, or she might be a middle-aged nurse who understands both the risk and the need.
The hospital wants donors who are healthy, low-risk, and well-informed. Before I ever talked to the transplant coordinator, I scoured the internet for information on the donation process and firsthand accounts from donors. I didn’t find much of the latter, which is why I started this thread and a blog on Tumblr.
I compared the mortality rate for kidney donation to things I could relate to a little better, and found that it is a little more dangerous than giving birth and a little less dangerous than being born (I don’t promise that’s entirely accurate, though. I compared numbers from a couple of different websites).
So far, I have had a couple dozen blood tests run and done a 24-hour urine test. I have had long talks with the transplant coordinator. On Friday, they will do a CT scan of my kidneys, an EKG, and some other random tests that I don’t know about yet. I have separate appointments with a surgeon, a nephrologist, a nurse, and a social worker.
In short, they are going to make quite sure that I am very unlikely to have problems with surgery now or with my other kidney later, that I know what I’m doing, and that I am not crazy or being pressured to do it.
I am healthy. My family is free of diabetes and kidney issues. I don’t have kids. It is unlikely that anyone in my family will need a kidney transplant. The older I get, the less likely it is that I can help someone this way.
As I mentioned in a previous post, in the unlikely event that something does go wrong with my remaining kidney and I need a transplant, I will go to the top of the waiting list.
I am sure most of the people receiving such a prestigious gift know the consequences for them & the organ donor. I bet a lot of them are wondering, “Why would someone, who does not know me from ‘Adam’, want to donate an organ to a perfect stranger?”
I for one have to rely on a perfect stranger to offer to give me a kidney because my family are not able to. I am blessed to have two friends offer me one of theirs, in case.
My point was the harshness of flatlined’s response. I felt they were saying ‘how dumb it was to even think about giving an organ when the organ is still working awesomely in one’s own body. One would have to be mad to give it to a stranger.’ in the worst way possible.
I would have put it as a ‘Pharmacist explains new medication to a patient’. That is all. I understand one wondering why a person would give to a stranger.
