From Being an Care Taker to Kidney Donor (Any Input would be great)

[smcd23]

3 Days for the workup? That's it? Man, I had to do the 24 hour urine twice (once to show I was okay and then once near the end to make sure everything was still okay). Then I had to have like a million bottles of blood, a 3D CT scan, a renal ultrasound and a nuclear scan of some sort where they injected radioactive material into me and had me lay on a table and watched the radioactive material (I am not sure if it's really radioactive, but they gave me some card that said I could set off a radiation detector for up to 3 days) go through my kidneys to make sure that they both did 1/2 the work, or close to it. The whole thing took like a half dozen trips to the hospital.

I am really happy for you though, and I hope the process goes smoothly from here on out.

[krismimo]

So I went through the three days of testing, the 24 hour urine test, the EKG ,the ultrasound with the infused radioactive "Warm" dye. I had the evaluation from the social worker, the Kidney doctor, and the psychologist. This past Friday I finished all the testing. Today I got a call I'm healthy and they asked when I was ready to do the operation they could do it as early as July!!! I was overwhelmed. But in a good way. I said I'm shooting for August, I have help, I have support from work and home. I spoke to the hubby about it he is happy but also overwhelmed. They are going to give him my left Kidney. The next thing I have to do is speak to the surgeon and if I have any questions that is the time to ask him, oh and I to do a chest exam. The exam is set up for the same day as my appointment with the surgeon. So pretty much my husband isi going to get my kidney by the end of the summer...of this year.. WoW

[okarol]

  YAY! Great news!
I am sure you have done plenty of research but if you want to visit a forum similar to IHD check out Living Donors Online http://www.livingdonorsonline.org/ldosmf - you can also get a donor "buddy" who is someone who has donated in the past and can be a mentor, if you'd like. There are also links, like what recovery is like and what to bring to the hospital.
  Best wishes to you both!
Living Donors ROCK! 

[krismimo]

THANK YOU SO much I will check out the link I'm trying my best to deal with the intial shock of what this all really means his life has been on hold for 6 years and mine for 4 and now we.. can be a little more normal? WOW.