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!
