Kidney Donation

So I thought now would be the time to write about this. Most of you have read me write about Tyler Anderson, a friend's little boy who has Prune Belly Syndrome and needs a kidney. I have thought long and hard about this for a while. I have always known that I had O+ blood and knew that Tyler had the same blood type. At the beginning there were several people willing to donate to Tyler, but they were ruled out because of medical reasons. At first I thought I would not donate a kidney because what if one of my children needs one in the future and I would not be able to give them one. Even if I had both kidneys and still wasn't able to donate one I would hope that a friend would consider it. Then I realized Kendall is in that situation. They cannot find a donor in their family and obviously a living donor is better than a cadaver donor. I ran into her at the mall one day and she told me all of their possible donors were ruled out. I could not walk beside her knowing that I had O+ blood and not say anything. I could be his match, be the one to save his life. That's when I realized I wanted to do this for Tyler, for Kendall, and her family. If I would want a friend to do it for me, why would I not do it for a friend.

Anyhow, I thought about it, spoke to James about it, and decided to get tested to see if I was a possible match. A week later the results came back saying that things went well and I could continue the process if I wanted to. There was no doubt about it. Why would I get tested if I did not want to do this. So we immediately scheduled a physical for 19 May in Minneapolis, where the surgery will be at. The physical will be the best physical of my life. They will check for everything. If there is any doubt that I may have kidney problems in the future or I could have complications from the surgery they will not let me donate.

Today I received a package from the University of Minnesota-Fairview. There are lots of packets for me to read, a video for me to watch, and a schedule for that day. I will have a series of blood work done, an EKG, a chest x-ray, appointments with a social worker, the transplant nephrologist, the transplant surgeon, and the transplant coordinator. They will do tests to check the health and anatomy of my kidneys, screen for certain viruses, urine tests, and tests on my heart and blood vessels.I will also have several test done on my kidneys including a CT renal angio an urography. If I have any health problems I will find out at this appointment! Results take about a week and if everything looks good I will schedule the surgery.

The surgery will most likely be laproscopically, meaning I will have 3-4 small incision that tools will be inserted in and then a 4 inch incision that the kidney will be taken out of. There is also a slight change I will have an open procedure, meaning one large incision. They would do this if I have a lot of scar tissue or other factors that could cause complications if they do it laproscopically. I will be in the hospital for 3 to 4 days. Some patients only stay for 2 days, it just depends on my recovery time. I will want to stay one extra day in Minneapolis before flying home. The recovery time is different for everyone. Some people say that they were up and moving around like normal within 2 weeks. Others say it took a month or two before they felt almost normal. I will have restrictions like no heavy lifting, no exercising, and taking it easy for a while. Some people say they do not have a lot of energy for several months after the surgery.

The only bad part about this is that James will not be able to be there with me during surgery. He will be in Iraq by then. We first agreed that if we cannot have the surgery before he leaves we would wait till after he gets back. But because Tyler does not have kidneys that function and he is already on dialysis, he needs to have it sooner than later. I am not at all worried about the surgery, just the recovery time since I really don't know what to expect. With 2 kids at home it will be hard... but I have a lot of friends here that want to help, as well as other support groups.

I understand that this is a serious decision, but its my decision. I have thought long and hard about this and have done a lot of research. If I had any doubts I would not do this. I have had a few people that are not at all supportive of this decision, but everyone else has been great. If anyone wants to read up on this I will post a few links for you. There are great resources out there.

Living Donors Online

National Kidney Foundation

Fairview Transplant Center (where the surgery will be)

United Network of Organ Sharing

This is not set in stone because I have not had the physical yet, but I just wanted to throw this all out there for your information. Maybe it will help some feel more optimistic about it.