My new direction

I started on the path to be a kidney donor this week. My first appointment at University of Washington Medical Center was yesterday morning.

I feel that this is a path that the universe has opened up for me. And the funny thing is, something happened yesterday morning to confirm it. As we got to the reception desk at the Transplant Unit there were two women in front of us. When they turned around my husband and I were shocked to see that it was a woman he knows from a nearby town. He has known her for over 30 years and she was at the Transplant Unit to be a kidney donor as well! I don't really believe in coincidences and this was too much to believe!

Back to the appointment... it lasted about 3 hours. I will be what is called a Non-Directed, Altruistic Donor - meaning that I have no one in particular I want to donate my kidney to. What I didn't know before the appt. was that I could choose where my kidney goes. I can choose to have it stay in the Puget Sound area and go to someone on the University of Washington Medical Center transplant list. Or I can donate it to someone on the UNOS (United Network for Organ Sharing) transplant list, which is nationwide.

And the other choice I have is to have it go to a child (under 18) or an adult. My initial preference is to have my kidney go to someone in my local area. Other than that I think it should go to whoever is the best match and the most in need, whether that is a child or an adult.

As an altruistic donor I do not choose WHO it goes to, I do not get to meet my recipient. They have rules in place that we cannot have contact unless the recipient and I both agree, after a certain amount of time has passed. I am ok with that because my aim in doing this is not to be thanked by someone, but rather to help them. Of course I will be curious about how it goes long term - but that is not my long term aim.

So my tests yesterday included a chest x-ray, an EKG, a urinalysis screening and a blood draw. I met with the Nephrologist for about 20-30 minutes, a Social Worker who will be my transplant advocate and a coordinator who explained a lot of the ins and outs of the procedure. I met with the Social Worker for about 45 minutes who asked me a lot of questions about my motivation for donation; my mental health; personal info, etc.

I also had a TB test which I have to have "read" tomorrow. I also have to participate in a 2 - 24 hour urine retrieval tests. I can't work out for one week, then have to start collecting every drop of my urine for a 24 hour period. They gave me 2 one gallon containers to collect my urine for these test, which I have to refrigerate. What fun!

In 2 weeks I meet with the Transplant Psychiatrist - another routine part of the process. I suppose he'll ask me about my motivation for donating. They want to ensure that no one is pressuring me.

I have absolutely NO doubts about this decision. In fact if I could I'd go under the knife tomorrow. They did tell me that the process takes about 3 months - so we're looking at the end of August most likely.

I only hope that there are no underlying issues to prevent me from donating.

More to follow...