Cool Transplant Information

Just have been reading a ton of fantastic transplant information lately and wanted to stop by and post it.  Also, wanted to let the world know Dave and I are both still doing great with excellent Kidney health.

First The University Of Maryland Medical Center successfully transplanted the first organ delivered by Drone! I feel like that is very amazing.  They are always using new technology to make transplants better and faster.  I am so happy to have been able to donate through them.

Second Maryland's Living Donor Protection Act Passed.

Thats all for now.  I'll try and remember to update again in a week on our 5 year Transplantaversery!!!!

2nd Kidneyaversery!

Yesterday was our 2nd Kidneyiversery meaning it has been 2 years since I donated my kidney to Dave!  Wow, time has flown by and it feels like we have done so much in these past 2 years that the days of dialysis are so much farther in the past then they really are.

Both Dave and I are doing well!  At least as far as I can tell.  His most recent blood work looked amazing and I feel fine so I guess that is good.  The only weirdness from the donation that I still have is that the muscles on the left side of my back where the kidney used to be become more sore then the right.  I feel this is something I wouldn't even notice if I wasn't spending most of my free time taking circus classes (aerial silks, lyra, and German wheel).  These classes require a ton of strength in all muscles which is why I think I feel the pain there more then a normal person would.  I'm sure with more working out it will stop too.

Within these last two years Dave and I have done so many things that might not have been possible had Dave not been able to receive my Kidney.  We went on a cruise, were married (only 3 weeks ago!), went to a ton of concerts and events, hung out with tons of friends, went on multiple weekend trips to places like the beach, dragon*con, Hershey, and wherever else we wanted, and got a dog.  Our motto has been "No Rest" because we know first hand that you never know what could happen in life so you might as well do as much as you can while you are able.  We hope to continue doing tons of things and that my kidney keeps working well inside Dave!

2 years down, hopefully many more to go!

Fun Kidney Fact!

From the Donate Life Maryland Facebook today.  If you can't be a living donor this is why it is important to register as a Organ Donor!  

Kidney Love Story

So updates!
1. Six month blood work came back, things look good.  My Creatinine is 1.2 and they expect it to keep going down as time goes on.  Apparently Dave's is around the same, so we have equally functioning kidneys.

2. Dave and I are now engaged.  He asked me to marry him on Christmas and I said yes, have to keep that kidney I gave away close.  HAHA!  We are hoping to get married in May 2016 near the date of our transplant since that date means a lot to us.

 That's all for now so yay for all the good news!

Pain in back and side

For a little over a week now I have been having a very sharp stabbing pain in my left side.  It comes and goes, normally being caused by heavy breathing, how I;m sitting/laying, hiccups, etc.  On Sunday I e-mailed my coordinator, just to see if it was something I should be concerned about.  I hadn't had pain in at least a week and a half maybe 2 weeks before it started, and was feeling great.  She suggested I talk with my surgeon so we scheduled a appointment for yesterday.  

I saw the surgeon for only like 10min. maybe, he is a busy person (had just run over to see me after a liver transplant it sounded like).  After seeing where the pain was he was not concerned, said it could just be scaring on the inside and stuff, but if it gets worse or isn't gone in 2weeks or so to give him a call and discuss it further.  Maybe set up time to do a CT scan.  

So in short, sharp pain isn't bad, but its definitely not fun.  It also a jerk because it had me feeling really good, thinking about jogging and NIA before it decided to show up.   

Stupid lack of kidney....

Everything Part 3!

Okay, to pick up where I left off.  The Dr. Said I could go home but having not eaten anything since 5:30pm on wed. and it now being Friday I wanted to make sure I could handle food first.  I was unsure when the breakfast tray would be coming so I grabbed a starbucks drink from the mini fridge they had in my room and some grapes that were also in my room.
It was great to have that coffee drink there.  Yum.  I was able to handle those things well.  I became tired of waiting so I once again got up and walked down to Dave's room.  

This time we remembered to get pictures together!  I even made him walk to the wall that honors all the donors that will allow their name posted, living and deceased, to take a picture.   It wasn't a long visit but it was nice to see him. 

 I then walked back to my room where I found a delicious breakfast sandwich waiting for me.  It was nice to eat a full meal.  I then also played a game of Tokaido on the computer they supplied me.  

My room had all the perks.  But I quickly was bored so as soon as the asked if I wanted to go home I said yes!  I was feeling good with the exception of some pain, I could eat, I could move, so I felt like it would be more relaxing at home.  They said they were sending some prescriptions to the pharmacy and they would be ready in an hour or so and then shortly after the nurse came by with my discharge paperwork.  So with the help of my mom (bending over was not an option) I put on normal clothes and waited around an hour till I could head to the pharmacy.  Before I officially had the okay to go home the Social Worker I worked with stopped by and gave me a shirt, a calendar, asked if I wanted to have my name on the board (I said sure), and just made sure I was doing well.

While I was getting my stuff together to leave my surgeon stopped by and seemed glad I was going home and feeling good.  He just told me not to lift anything over 10lbs and that he would see me in 2 weeks.  It was good to see him again before I left.  I really enjoyed him as my surgeon.  

So finally I gathered all my things (by I gathered I mean my Mom and Dad Gathered and I held the stuffed dog and balloon) and told the nurse I was leaving.  She kept asking if I wanted a wheel chair, but we decided against it so I could walk over to Dave one more time.  I saw Dave, and we said a quick goodbye, us both being tired and in some pain meant we would just have to talk more later when we were both more up to it.  As I was leaving Dave's roommates wife kept telling me how awesome I was.  I just said thank you and went on my way.  It weird having people thing I did something awesome/heroic mostly because I don't see it that way, but I think that idea could be a whole post on its own, so another day!

We went down to the pharmacy where they had not even received the prescriptions yet.  I was tired and sore and the benches by the pharmacy had no backs which made it painful to sit in.  Backs of chairs were very useful in the beginning.  My mom went back up to the floor I had been on quickly to see what happened and they said they would send them down again.  It was 4 things, Percocet, Ranitadine, Senna, and Dosculate Sodium.  Mostly just percocet and then drugs to help with side effects of percocet.  We waited about 10-15min. then stood in the drop off line to see if they had made their way down yet, and they gentleman said they had them and was working on them right away, I think he could see the discomfort I was feeling.  Instead of waiting for them there we went and had lunch at the food court.  When we came back they were ready, and I was treated super nicely by the tech, and was again called a hero, ick.  haha.  But then we went home!  Where I spent the rest of the day figuring out if the percocet really helped (1 tablet every 4 hours), which it did in the middle 2 hours of taking it, and relaxing. 

 It was great to be home and my mom spent that first night with me.  It was useful having her make dinner and things even if it felt very odd being waited on.  I am a very independent person.

Okay that is actually all for today.  I do have some more to say, and I want to read through these past 3 posts and add in anything I forgot.

But current time update, Dave and I are both doing well, I am trying to walk a lot, even if I am still a but slow.  The kidney is still working inside of Dave and he keeps having to go back for blood work (which is normal).  I can not wait to be 100% healed (still some incision pain and some side pain where I think I may have slept on my left side weird, as well as not having the same stamina I had before) and have Dave healed and not having to go to UMMC multiple times a week.

Once again thanks for your support!

Everything part 2

Thursday Continued:

I woke up to someone saying my name.  I sort of remember being wheeled to the recovery room.  Once I arrived there I was very cold and could not see.  They put something on my eyes that made everything blurry.  I mentioned both things to my nurse and he wiped off my eyes so I could see and wrapped me in blankets.  After this I was fairly coherent.  My mouth was super dry and I felt just a little nauseous so he brought me some ice chips.  Not long after was one of the hours people could come visit in the recovery area, so my Mom, and Dave's mom came by.  They were surprised and happy to see me so awake and alert.  They were also happy to know I wasn't in too much pain.  Only if I tried to move did it hurt.  

This was me when they first came to visit.  I look super puffy from all the fluid and am wrapped in about 100 blankets because I was so cold.  I didn't feel that bad though which was great.  They left after their allotted visit time and within less then 2 hours I was being moved to my room.  One of the perks of donating is a special room that I think is more easily ready the the normal rooms used for the recipients. 

The room was nice and had a good view.  I was pretty alert there and they did give me some pain meds that didn't seem to do much.  The morphine that puts Dave to sleep in a few min. did nothing for me.  And due to the fact I was on my back it was hard for me to sleep, because that is not how I normally sleep.  But luckily if I didn't move it didn't hurt.  I spent a lot of time trying to figure out if I was nauseous or hungry.  This may seem like something simple to figure out but with everything that had gone on and not eating I was unsure.  

View from my room.

View from my room 2

Eventually Stephanie showed up.  I am not sure what time but it was later in the day.  She brought me a puppy stuffed animal, a balloon, and a card. It was nice to see her, and I was happy I was alert enough to talk to her a bit.  While she was there they brought me a dinner tray.  It had some chicken and rice dish on it.  Thinking I was hungry I slowly raised the bed all the way up into a sitting position ready to eat.  I put maybe 2 pieces of rice in my mouth and knew I wasn't hungry I was nauseous.  I quickly spit it out, started sipping a ginger ale and asked for some anti nausea medication.  The nurse came in and gave me some zofran using my IV.  It didn't help.  I eventually started to lower the bed back down and I guess sitting up that straight had the path way to my stomach disrupted because it felt like all the liquid I had drank rushed into my stomach, causing me to throw up.  :(  I didn't have a basin in my room and Stephanie ran out to find one so I used the cover to my dinner.  ick.  It was painful and I ended up getting it all over me.  But I am lucky to have had Stephanie there because she went into Nurse Stephanie mode, and the tech came in to check my vitals at the same time.  So they gave me rags to clean us and gave me a fresh gown.  I was grateful it only got on me and not the bed because I don't know if I could have gotten up for them to change the sheets.  After that episode I was pretty miserable.  The nausea didn't go away and I faded in and out of sleep, with someone coming into my room almost every hour for one thing or another waking me up.  

I swear I am trying to smile here.

In the morning I felt better.  My nurse came and took out the catheter I had to wear overnight.  Which although it sucked having it in, I am kind of glad it was there because I don't think I could have gotten up to use the restroom.  After that came out he pretty much said I had to get out of bed.  So with his help I stood up!  I then put on pants (which is exciting) and walked around my room a bit.  Getting up was a real turning point.  Once I was up I was up.  I instantly wanted to walk to Dave's room so the nurse who seemed unsure about the long walk led me anyway.  It was good to see him.  I was sore and didn't stay long though.  After I walked back to my room the nurse made sure I sat in the chair instead of laying down.  

I felt better then I looked, yay chair!

Eventually, a doctor walked in looked at my incision and asked if I wanted to go home.  I told him that it would depend on if I could eat anything first.  I did not want to leave before I could eat a meal.  I am assuming that because they said I could leave my blood work was good.  I should have asked about it but I forgot.  

Okay once again I am tired of writing and this is getting long so I will come back to it later with a part 3 which should be the end of it!  Thanks for reading.

Update from Hospital

Just a quick update to let everyone know we are both doing well.  The donor room has a computer with internet allowing me to update, but it won't be long because sitting in this chair is painful.  Both surgery went well yesterday and I was way more coherent then I thought I would be after it.  I had a lot of nausea yesterday thought so that was really the worst thing.  Felling better today and may go home this evening.

As far as I know my kidney is working in Dave!  He is producing urine!  Not sure on much else though, only have seen him once since and its a long walk to his room so it wore me out and I didn't stay long.  After he gets breakfast he is supposed to be walking to visit me.  :)

More updates late when I am feeling better!

Thanks for all the good thoughts and prayers!

Update

Dave is feeling a lot better, dialysis made the shortness of breath his was experiencing go away.  Unfortunately, he also had a really bad migraine yesterday due to some nitroglycerin patches they gave him to try and help him before they could give him dialysis.  This meant he didn't want to answer his phone or talk to anyone.  Because of this the coordinator at UMMC was calling me to see if I could get a hold of him.  When I called Dave he seemed very much like he didn't care about getting the blood work for the transplant, he was short with me and hung up before I finished talking.  It upset me a bit, I knew he had a migraine but I felt like I had been rearranging my schedule, and doing all these things to make the transplant happen and he couldn't even make a phone call/answer the phone.  It was frustrating.   He pretty much said it was just the headache speaking and he was feeling better when we discussed it later that day.  Luckily the coordinator called Dave's mom and allowed Dave to give the blood sample this morning.  Which he did!

With all the blood being given things seem to be going as planned.  The only real issue is that I think this bracelet I  am supposed to wear till Thursday is giving me a rash.  My arm from wrist to middle of my forearm itches and has little bumps.  Its weird though because it goes about an inch or 2 farther up my arm then the bracelet can reach.  If it doesn't get better I might just cut off the bracelet and let them know it was giving me a rash.

Okay, that is if for now, if there is any excitement between now and Thursday I will probably post again but I am hoping that everything continues to go as planned!

all the calls

Today everyone is calling to confirm details and see if I have any questions.

First was the social worker.  She called to make sure I wasn't being pressured to do this.  She also wanted to make sure I wasn't receiving any money or things like a diamond ring.  (I rolled my eyes at that one)  She also wanted to go over the risks again and let me know this isn't a cure just a treatment and it could reject.  All things I know about.  She also said my room at the hospital would have snacks, drinks, a TV and a computers, donors get the upscale rooms.  She also wanted to make sure my family was doing okay and know the people I would be around after surgery.  I told her we lived with another couple and when she asked for their names I said "Kristin and f.... Bryon."  It would have been interesting explaining Fi's name to the social worker. (for those that read this and don't know my housemates name is Bryon but we call him Fi which is his nickname from high school that stands for fucking idiot) I should see her again on Friday after the surgery but she will be seeing my mom at least on Thursday while she waits for me to get out of surgery.

Then my coordinator (well 2nd coordinator my first one is out on maternity leave, which is funny because so is Dave's original coordinator) called to just go over what I should do tomorrow.  Eat a normal breakfast and lunch and a light dinner. Nothing after midnight.  Work is doing a breakfast thing tomorrow so I will just eat a bigger breakfast then usual and a smaller lunch and I think it should all work out.  The Coordinator told me to be there at 6am on Thursday ready to go.

Its so soon now!  I am going to try and get pictures though out the day and maybe one of my kidney.  I'll put my mom in charge of these things mostly because I will be out of it.  I think pictures will be a more exciting way to share my experience here.

So yeah, I'm excited to get this over with, one more day then Transplant Day!

Blue and Green Day!

April is Donate life month and today April 11th is National blue and green day.

Although I do not have any Blue/green shirts that are work appropriate (they all have dinosaurs on them or something) I wanted to let people be aware of this day.  People do not need to be living donors to help people who need transplants, they can do it just as easily by becoming an organ donor on their licence.  This way when one dies (hopefully from old age) any usable organs and tissues can be given to someone in need, making their lives and the lives of their families better.  Just something to think about.  Its an easy thing to do and doesn't hurt you at all.

"Fact: Anyone can be a potential donor regardless of age, race, or medical history.

Fact: All major religions in the United States support organ, eye and tissue donation and see it as the final act of love and generosity toward others.

Fact: If you are sick or injured and admitted to the hospital, the number one priority is to save your life. Organ, eye and tissue donation can only be considered after you are deceased.

Fact: When you are on the waiting list for an organ, what really counts is the severity of your illness, time spent waiting, blood type, and other important medical information, not your financial status or celebrity status.

Fact: An open casket funeral is possible for organ, eye and tissue donors. Through the entire donation process the body is treated with care, respect and dignity.

Fact: There is no cost to the donor or their family for organ or tissue donation."

The above was taken from the Donate Life website.  Something as simple as checking a box when you renew you licence can save lives.

3D Printing Organs

Found a good article about the 3D printing of organs and different opinions on it.

"Basically what it allows you to do is build tissue the way you assemble something with Legos," Murphy said

 I feel the technology behind this is fascinating.  There are so many different things you can do with science these days it is amazing.  I can see some of the ethical debates about regulating organs grown through 3D printing and keeping up with the quality of organs produced.  But overall I think this technology that as it progresses will hopefully be able to offer more organs to people that need them.  To me getting people off of transplant lists having them be able to stop waiting so long for an organ, be it a organ grown in a lab or one from another person is what is important.  I know from experience now with Dave waiting for the Kidney transplant that Dialysis sucks and the waiting sucks.  Hopefully if he every needs another kidney (A long time from now I hope) science and technology will have progressed far enough to get him one right away, possibly by growing one specifically for him in a laboratory.  The Dr. at Johns Hopkins said that might be the case and I can only hope for more research into the creation of human organs.

On another note It would be really interesting to be on the teams researching this (organ legos sound awesome!), maybe I should have branched out a bit in my studies and learned more about the biology fields.

Transplant Pushed Back

So I found this out last Wed. but I also went to Reno last Wed. so I have not had time to update.  The surgeon looked over Dave's MRI and decided he could not remove the kidneys and place a new one in at the same time.  We are a little unclear on the reason why and just heard this from Dave's coordinator but Dave will meet with the surgeon tomorrow and is going to ask about it.  This means Friday he will have a bilateral nephrectomy (removal of both of his kidneys).  After about 2 months when everything is healed we can then go through with the transplant.  Dave is not happy about being cut into twice but if it is the best way to keep my kidney from rejecting then that is what will have to happen.

Also, received the results of the test they did because my Mom has lupus.  It came back negative which is a good sign.  Hopefully Dave will heal up quick and we can get him a new kidney as soon as possible (taking into account I have already paid for the warrior dash and it will have to happen after that, luckily he understands that I want to run the race before the transplant even if it can happen before it).  This would put the transplant sometime in May.

I do not know how many more updates there will be in the next 2 months with nothing happening on my part, but I will try and post updates about Dave's nephrectomy healing here and there and will definitely update when a new date is selected.  So if you just follow this blog randomly, you might want to subscribe using your e-mail at the right if you are interested in future updates (you might forget about this blog in 2 months and want a reminder in the form of an e-mail).

On a side note Reno was awesome!  Glad Dave had a small vacation before surgery.

Last minute stuff....

As I mentioned before Dave had an MRI Monday, this showed that the main big tumor on his kidney is a angiolipoma which is fine, but there are other tumors that they can not make out.  Because of this they are not sure if they will be able to take out and put in a kidney at the same time (the are definitely taking them out because they are big and such).  This would mean he has surgery sometime soon to remove the kidneys, then he heals up a bit for 3 months and we proceed with the transplant at this time.  We are waiting to hear back from the surgeon who is going to remove the kidneys to see if it can all still happen on the 7th.  I believe we all hope it can happen at the same time so Dave does not have to go through 2 separate surgeries and so he can be off of dialysis ASAP!  But I also don't want any increased risk of rejection, and I don't know if removing the kidneys at the same time would increase that risk or not?  Something to think about... But what this means is I still don't know whats going on and we are still playing the waiting game with only 10 days left till possible surgery.  Blah!

Lets Play the Waiting Game Again

So for anyone that doesn't know, I am a planner I like having my schedule planned out, knowing what time I need to be place, whats going to happen when I get there, etc.  This kidney donation is messing up my planning.  Dave is having an MRI on Monday to look more in depth at the tumor on his kidney, my coordinator will not set up a pre-op date until the results from that are in.  With the surgery on the 7th and me being in Reno from the 26th till the 3rd I would like to know if getting a preop apt right when I get back is doable.  This way I can plan my days off and hours I am using accordingly.  But without knowing these things it is really hard for me to get a sense of time management.  Plus I want to clean everything, buy food, and do all of the laundry before surgery that way I don't have to worry about things immediately afterwards, but not knowing what days before surgery I will be free I don't know how to plan!

Oh well, I know that planning isn't that important, I just like to be informed and ready well in advance and things are not happening as far in advance as I would like. 

I have 2 Kidneys!

Yesterday was my full day appointment at UMMC.  This day was full of stuff to do with very little waiting around.  At Dave's appointment I felt like we waited a lot more.  I was accompanied to the appointment by my mom, who went with me to support me, and to learn more about the surgery and health risks involved.

Our day started early, and I learned there were 2 other potential donors there as well.  We all listened to a talk given by my Donor Coordinator.  This talk explained who everyone we were meeting that day was, what hemodialysis was and how out recipients had other options beside a living donor, fact about the transplant list, the transplant procedure, surgery, risks, after surgery, and pretty much anything else you might think would have to do with donating a kidney.  They also went into detail about the single port laproscopic surgery they do for kidney removal.  I believe that the University of MD is one of three hospitals in the country that use this procedure.  It allows them to remove the kidney using a small incision in the belly button.  We saw a picture of the cut afterward, its super tiny.  My mom felt they didn't go over the risks enough but they did mention them.  The risks then mentioned were, pain, possible conversion toe Open Nephrectomy (I think they said this has never happened or only once?), infection, pneumonia, blood clots, bowel dysfunction, depression, bleeding, improper healing, hernia, future high blood pressure, future kidney failure.  The most common one is a hernia due to people lifting too much after surgery.  

After this presentation I was scheduled for a CT angiogram and a chest X-ray at a different building.  So my mom and I bundled up and walked down the street in the cold with one of the other donor families.  When we made it to the building we were seen right away even though I was early.  They had me fill out some forms then took me straight back for the X-ray.  I had never had any x-ray outside of a dental one before and I have to say they are not that exciting. As soon as that was done I was given a cup of water to drink and led to a waiting room where I was told I had to finish the water in 15min.  and that after the time was up someone would come get me for the CT scan. It was at this point I was sad I left my bag with my mom.  She had both my kindle and my 3ds so I drank my water alone with nothing to do.  When they called me back I layed down and they hooked up and IV to me for the contrast dye.  (The contrast dye they use to look at your kidneys can cause kidney damage so after I donate I should't have it but apparently before hand its okay)  The strange thing about the CT scan is when they inject the dye and saline solution into you it can make you fee like you are peeing.  It is the weirdest feeling ever! I'm not sure how it does that but it does.  The test didn't take long and I was quickly back in the waiting room where I took the banana out of my bag and ate it super fast (I was not allowed to eat before the CT scan).  

My next stop was the social worker, her office was back in the first building we were in, so we bundled back up and ended up there early.  The social worker was then free to talk to me earlier.  She talked to me about all sorts of things.  She wanted to make sure I wasn't being pressured into this, that I had support, that I wasn't being paid in anyway (Including with a ring hahaha definitely something she asked about), that I was emotional ready to do this.  We talked about my relationship with Dave, my family, some stuff in my past, and how I would feel in different situations.  Afterward she said she didn't see anything that she felt at that moment would prevent me from donating, so that is good.  I am sane enough to donate!

Then we had some time to kill before my physical (which was back in the same building as the CT scan) so we went and ate lunch at Panera.  Right before I went to check in for my physical after eating lunch I went to the bathroom, then as soon as I check in they pass me a cup to pee in.  It always works that way for me I swear.  So I drank some water and was called back to get by blood pressure read before peeing in the cup.  My blood pressure was high and my temperature was non existent(the thermometer wouldn't read).  I was stressed about the blood pressure, one of the biggest factors in determining if a person can be a donor is blood pressure and I was anxious and messed it up!  The I had and EKG and had to wait to talk to the doctor.  The doctor was nice, she went through my medical history as well as my family's health.  She then looked at my feet and hands and listened to me breath.  She then took my blood pressure manually, it was down by almost 30.  So I think it going down will work in my favor but she kept trying to get me to relax which was hard!  She also said my heart rate seemed a little fast with the EKG.  She is going to look over all my stuff before making her report on my availability to be a donor.  I wouldn't be surprised if there are some more tests ordered because of my weird blood pressure.

We left there to go back to the other building so I could meet with the surgeon.  He was running late and they wanted to take some more blood so I went and gave them one tube of blood, after which they handed me another cup to pee in!  This was less then an hour after the previously mentioned cup.  Luckily I managed to make it work (had been told to drink a lot to flush my kidneys of the CT contrast dye).   I wish they were better at coordinating when I had to do it though, it can be hard to pee on command after just going, lol.  

After that we were taken into a room where we met one of the UMMC transplant surgeons.  He seemed nice and used the word awesome a lot!  Mostly telling me I was awesome for doing this.  He mentioned how he has never had any issues performing the surgery.  He also mentioned he was on my side and would not perform the surgery if he felt it was unsafe for him to do so or if he thought it would effect my health.  My mom talked to him a bit and I realized that what she is most worried about is the unknown, which is something I can not help her with.  I can show her all the statistics about how rare complications are, and how healthy donors are, but she will still be worried about my future (I may explain more about this later, possibly in a different post tomorrow).  But after all the talking was done he showed me the pictures from my CT scan that morning.  They were really cool!  I do have 2 Kidneys so one is free to be donated.  They will probably take the left one because it is the easier one to remove and attach because the vein connecting it is longer and it is not blocked by my liver.  

Overall, I still feel good about donating.  This appointment hasn't really changed my thoughts on it and now all I can do is wait.  They said it would probably be 2 weeks for all the results and then they have a meeting and look at all my heath information and make up there mind about me being a donor.  I wish it was faster, having finished most of the testing (they could request more if they wanted to look more in depth about anything) I just want to know the results NOW!  

Too Much Research?

So I think I have developed an addiction to reading Kidney Blogs now (most of which I have linked off to the right).  I read at least 3 donor blogs in their entirety, 1 recipient blog, and 1 blog that deals with both sides of the story!  I am just fascinated reading how this decision has effected other peoples lives and what they went through.  I should probably stop though because reading them makes me anxious and excited at the same time.  They make me eager to get t his process really started.  I can't wait to finish the tests and find out if I can actually do this.  I think that even though I have read about the pain and how hard it is to get back to normal after giving up your kidney, reading everyone's story has really confirmed for me that this is what I want to do.

I have noticed a few things though between the donor and recipient blogs.  It seems there are more donor blogs then recipient ones.  I think this is because for donors this is an elective surgery and they are eager to get information.  When they don't find all of the information they want they start a blog so that the information they didn't find is now available for other potential donors.  This is different then recipients because normally for the recipient getting a transplant is their only option, because of this they accept it without doing as much research, prompting less blogging (at least this is the case for Dave and I, I don't think he has ever entered the words Kidney Transplant into google).  Or if they are researching there are a lot of websites that talk about the process for the recipient and it seems there are less for the donor which might also be why there is this unevenness in blogs.  I have also noticed the donors seem to feel worse of the surgery despite having the smaller incision.  After thinking about it this makes a lot of sense though assuming the donated kidney is accepted by the recipient with minimal complications.  The recipient is going from almost no kidney function to one full kidney functioning meaning they have more energy because their blood is being filtered easier then it was before the transplant.  For the donor they go from having 2 healthy kidneys to 1 kidney so they are going to be more tired.  Fun reading.

For the most part it seems the worst part of being the donor is wanting to go back to doing everything you are used to too soon.  I know that will probably be a problem for me, I like to be way too independent.  The fatigue is definitely probably the second worst because it seems you are tired all the time and for some people this may last 2 weeks and for others a lot longer so I don't know if there is a way to prepare because I don't know how it will effect me.

I also realized that if I give my kidney to Dave how will we ever do laundry?  Lifting a heavy laundry basket and carrying it down 2 flights of stairs is a definite no I'm assuming for both donor and recipient for awhile.  haha all the clothes move to the basement?

Possibilities

This weekend driving to the Hershey Bears game with my parents my mom asked me if I had thought about how I would feel if I donate my kidney and it rejects, and I have.   This has prompted me to write down the possible scenarios and how I feel about them.

1. I'm Unable to Donate- This is a real possibility and probably my biggest anxiety right now.  I am the type of person who when they decide to do something they go at it with their all, and this is something where no matter how much I want to donate my body and health might not allow that.  I feel healthy but how do I know I even have 2 kidneys? So if I am unable to donate I know I will be sad and probably a bit upset but I know that it is something I do not have control over so I will just have to go with the flow and hope it all works out and post stuff all over the internet to get Dave a kidney
2. I Donate, Kidney Works- This would be the ideal solution.  This would make me very happy!  knowing that I have the possibility of making Dave's life better (and maybe saving him from the fistula he loves to talk about) is a great thing.  It makes me smile just thinking about it.  The only negative here would be if we broke up afterwards, but I do not see that happening any time soon.  Also, if we did break up for some unforeseen reason I think that I would be okay with him having my kidney.  I believe things happen for a reason so if he receives my kidney and we break up then at least I was able to help someone in need.
3. I Donate, Kidney Works for a Limited Time- By a limited time I mean a few years.  The average living donor kidney can last 20+ years.  This being the case if I give Dave my Kidney and in 7-8 years or less he needs a new one I would be sad then because my kidney will not have lasted as long as I would hope for him.  I feel that overall I would just once again realize there is nothing I could do to fix this and be happy he at least had those few years off of dialysis.  
4. I Donate, Kidney Rejects Right Away- This would be horrible, not only would it be sad it didn't work, it would also suck that both Dave and I had to be cut into to figure that out.  In this scenario Dave is not only still on dialysis but he and I would have just both had a pointless surgery.  I think I would be angry for awhile, in the end though I feel that its something I can come to terms with and move on from.  

So the overall Idea I have with all the outcomes is what happens is going to happen and if I don't try for fear of it not working or having negative side effects to my health then I think I would be letting myself down.  I do not know what is going to happen but I do have a lot of facts and have read a lot of stories and I feel it is better for me to try then to not try at all knowing that there are a lot of successful living kidney donations that happen.  I have read more positive feedback then negative on how people feel after the donation, no matter what the outcome.  Plus I feel Dave and I both have a great support system that includes lots of family and friends to be there if things go good or bad.

EDIT: This conversation came up on the way to the bears game where I was picked out of 9,555 people to win a subway gift card, maybe luck is on our side?

Holy kidney Batman, that was Fast.

So I did all the blood work and urine testing yesterday and most of the results are already back!  Talk about FAST!  So far everything looks good.  :)  My kidneys are working fine, my cholesterol is fine.  The only 2 things were some white blood cells, I'm nor sure why they were there but they are not concerned about it and my blood glucose was high for having fasted for the blood work.  But after doing some googling it turns out levothyroxine (the medication I take for my Hypothyroid) can cause an increased glucose level, and I took that tablet before getting blood work done yesterday.

So next step is an all day appointment at UMMC.  This can be any Thursday but after talking to my mom (I want her to go with me so she can ask all the questions she wants) we are thinking the 16th.  This is very soon, everything is going so fast which is exciting but also nerve racking.   I want to give Dave my kidney I want everything to work out, and the sooner the better its just kind of hard to process everything so fast.   I think that I am going to make sure to write down any questions I come up with between now and the 16th so I remember to ask them.  I think keeping track of all my thoughts will make me less anxious about it all.

Okay, so that is all.  I will keep everyone updated and possibly write all my thoughts and questions here too, great place to keep track of them.

EDIT: Thursday is set up for Jan. 23rd.

Check and Check

I have officially completed my responsibility of the next step, which was the 24hour urine collection followed by blood work.

The 24 hour urine collection wasn't that fun.  More annoying that anything but it did give me an excuse to stay in and have Video Game day.  11 hours of Skyrim played this weekend because I didn't want to tote around my urine jug. ick.  But I finished that at  6am this morning and am glad to be done with it.

Having finished that this morning I left early for work in search of the labcorp that opened at 6:45am hoping to get there when it opened.  But I drove by it the first time without realizing it (I think all labcorps have bad signage) making me get there at 7am.  Walking in after calling work to mention I'd be late I found a packed waiting room, and this isn't even the part of the office that does all the employee drug screens.  So I had to wait 45min to be seen.  But then I gave my blood and was told I would have to give another urine sample.  I found this ironic because I had given them a whole container and been told not to eat or drink anything that morning because of the blood work.... I don't know where they expect it to come from???  But I gave it to them and left with the tech there wishing me good luck as I walked out the door.

They told me that UMMC should have the results in 3 days but to give them another day or two to look at it, so maybe by the end of this week I'll have all the results.  UMMC has been doing things fast so hopefully everything turns out okay and its on to the next step.    Progress.

Kidney in 2014, is the goal of this year.