Kidney Donation...the good, the hard, and the best thing ever!

Okay, so this post doesn't really fit in any order of things, but I am doing it to link to the National Kidney Living Donor Site. I tried to make it as short as possible without leaving out too much. I searched and searched for as much information as I could find about living donation from a actually donor, but didn't find much. Hopefully, someone can find this info useful!

   So about 5 years ago my mom got really sick and we didn't really know what was going on. She stayed in and out of the hospital all the time. It almost seemed to norm for her to be in the hospital, sick or at a doctors appointment. After a TON of doctors and different procedures we found out she had end-stage kidney disease and needed a transplant but in the meantime would be doing dialysis 3 days a week for almost 4 hours each session.

   Without hesitation I offered to donate, she didn't even have to ask. Although the chances of us matching were very slim. I was adopted at a few weeks old, and blood relatives are usually the best match. My mom also has 3 living sisters that she would hope would match. In May of 2009 I went through the first screening which is over the phone. They ask you very basic questions that you would answer during a physical. If you are on any medications, have high blood pressure, or a diabetic they end the questions and you are no longer able to proceed. This knocked my dad, and 2 of my aunts off the list and my mom's BFF.

    The next step was blood work. I flew down to Miami (this is where the closest transplant center was to my parents in West Palm) and had about 12 tubes drawn and a urine sample. My mom also did the same. They were testing my blood type, making sure I was disease free and also did a crossmatch. A crossmatch is very important in donation. It determines if the recipient will reject the donors organ. Once we got the results back from that I was told I was a match and able to go on to the next step (there are a bunch of steps). Well, mom got sick again, really sick and was not cleared for surgery and we didn't know when she would be cleared again. So we would wait and she continued dialysis.

   In September, I found out I was pregnant with Gracie. It was a very difficult pregnancy and honestly didn't think I would make it out of my 1st trimester, but God had other plans! Although, I wanted to help my mom as soon as I could she was glad about another grand baby, especially a girl. She didn't want me to put my life on hold, I knew that as soon as I had the baby I would start the process back up. I delivered Savannah Grace on May 11, 2010. I had to wait 3 months before they would reactivate my donor file. 

    Since I had a baby and all the hormone changes I had to start to process all over again! This time they sent me a special kit to have my blood drawn in a lab in Valdosta and I overnighted (yup you can overnight blood) 12 tubes of blood back to them in Miami. It took about 2 weeks and I finally got the results and was cleared to move on. I flew down to MIA in August 2010 and had to have a full physical (pap smear, breast exam, EVERYTHING), another urine test, another crossmatch, 6-7 more tubes of blood, a physiological exam, had to sign a ton of paperwork saying I was not being forced to do this and that I was not being paid to donate and a lot of other stuff (about 50 pages).  After all this I still had a ways to go.

    I had my FINAL set of steps in September. It would take a couple of days so we all went down, it was also Preston's 2nd birthday so he celebrated like a big boy Miami style! I had to pick up this brown jug from the lab to collect all my urine for 24 hours, kinda gross huh? The gross part is that it had to stay cold for the whole time so it stayed in our mini fridge in the hotel. So the next day I collected all my urine and kept it cold, I was not allowed to eat or drink after midnight which was extremely hard because I was breast feeding Gracie. The following morning I woke up EXTREMELY parched and kind of nervous that we were so close to the end. My mom, dad and I (Rob stayed at the hotel with the kids) went to the hospital. It was a long day to say the least. I had another physical, urine sample, 25 tubes of blood drawn, EKG, CT- Scan, meeting with the surgeon, meeting with the case worker, mouth swab, nose swab and I think that's all. It's amazing how quickly I listed all that stuff but I was there from 6 AM until about 3 PM, no FOOD or water! I was in a mood to say the least. 

     I received my CONGRATULATIONS call a week later. My mom didn't know because they are very strict on keeping donor and recipients separate so the donor doesn't feel pressure to donate, you have up until the put you under to change your mind no questions asked. The transplant was scheduled for November 3, 2010. Mom wanted it as close to her break as possible since she teaches and didn't want to miss a crazy amount of days. November 1, 2010 we drove down to Miami and Rob's mom flew down from TN. She was going to help Rob while I was in the hospital and come back home with us to help for a few weeks.

 The day before surgery my mom and I could only have liquids. We also had to do a bowel prep by drinking this really gross stuff that gives awful tummy cramps, but they have to make sure your colon in pretty cleaned out. We were given another crossmatch, just incase we weren't compatible anymore. Although its rare we were told that sometimes it does change and they get that far and cant have the surgery. We weren't allowed to eat or drink after midnight the day before. We also had to shower with special soap and could not put any lotions or perfumes on, not even deodorant. I didn't sleep much that night, I was busy getting everything laid out for the kids(I had outfits in ziplock bags for each day with all matching pieces). I also pumped 100 ounces of breast milk which we froze and brought down in a cooler. I was determined to not give her formula. 

   The morning of the surgery my parents, husband, MIL, kids and I went to the hospital. We checked in and my mom and I were taken to another area to get prepped while everyone else waited in a special room. We changed into the gowns, I was given a urine test to check for pregnancy and we were given another crossmatch. We were also given valium to relax us. My mom and I were in beds next to each other in the prep area. We had mini TV's to watch as we waited. Kim was our nurse and she was really good. She put in our small IV, we would both have another put in before the procedure but we would be asleep at that point. My surgeon's assistant came by and drew about a 7.5 inch line on my side and initialed it, this is where they would be cutting. I had to have the old fashioned right open flank incision instead of the laparoscopic because my left kidney is bigger and they wanted to leave me the bigger one. The anesthesiologist's nurse came by and told be what she would be doing and the rest of my surgery team came by as well. Rob and my dad came back and prayed with me and over me before they took me back. The last thing I remember is asking if my hair was a mess because I had to take my ponytail holder out and my hair had been in a bun all night so I knew it was a mess. They would take mom back after the safely removed my kidney. It took about 6 hours for me and 9 for my mom. Part of my lungs were nicked so the had to pump them back up. It's pretty common and was something they told me could happen.

   I woke up to see a nurse and Rob and I think my dad and MIL. I'm a bit blurry on the exact details. Rob fed me ice and I asked over and over again how are the kids and how is mom. My dad said I asked "is mom okay?" about 10 times in a row. I had a PCA in which allowed me to give myself pain meds and I received oral meds and pain meds in my IV and I will say that it was still a great deal of pain. The area they cut is numbed but you still feel the pain. There is a ton that I could go on about my hospital stay and day by day, but this post is already so long so I will do the summary.

   I stayed in the hospital until November 6, 2010. I slept a lot. I was special compression stocking on so I would not get blood clots, I was given a shot one a day in my arm to prevent clots, I was also given benadryl for the itching(all the drugs in my system made me itch), no solids just clear liquids the first two days and softs the rest of the time, which was jello, pudding, tea and juice. The catheter was taken out after 2 days. I had to use the bathroom on my own which was hard, it took about 10 minutes to get out of the bed and I still had all the IV's and stuff in. I also had to do laps around the nurses station which was hard. I called my mom a lot who was in a special wing recovering and I called the kids as much as I could. My iPhone, iPod and Bose headphones were stolen out of my bag during the stay but that's a whole other story. I had to pump and dump(so sad) my milk the whole time I was there because of all the meds. Once released we stayed one more day in Miami and then headed home. 

   The first week was really hard. I didn't have a ton of energy and still in a lot of pain. I didn't take my pain meds for more than a couple days, because I wanted to start back breast feeding. Rob was given leave for 30 days to stay home, which helped a lot. I was able to lift Gracie, but not Preston since he was over 15 pounds. It took a while to get to feeling better, but I am almost there. The scar is pretty numb but itches from the inside, weird to explain. It is still sore in the area if I push on it as well. There is a scar that will fade more, but it doesn't bother me at all. My mom is doing great and has had no rejection. I had my 2 week labs and everything was great. I will have labs again in May as well. Although it was probably the most painful things I have ever done, worst than natural labor and worst than back labor (I had both), I would do it again without hesitation! 

Here are a couple of pics one right after and one now.