Telling everyone and getting them caught up
I’m using this post as the introduction to my journey for my Facebook friends. The quick summary is that I have decided to become an altruistic (a.k.a anonymous or non-directed) living kidney donor. What does that mean? It means that I am willing and preparing to donate a kidney to anyone who needs it. I’ve been blogging about it here since I started the process (back on December 14) and you are more than welcome to go back to that first post and get caught up (by clicking here). Or you can read this short summary and follow along from here on out.
In terms of what I’ve done so far, besides filling out a ton of paperwork, I’ve had:
- two full blood work-ups (for typing and matching, plus standard checks)
- two 24 hour urine collections and work-ups (testing kidney function)
- a chest X-ray
- an EKG
- a TB skin test
- an interview and multiple conversations with my donor coordinator
- an interview with a nephrologist (kidney specialist)
- an interview with a medical social worker
- an interview with a dietician
And here are the things I still have to complete before being matched and, hopefully, donating:
- wear a blood pressure monitor for 24 hours (scheduled to pick up Thursday 3/7)
- have a CT scan (to examine the anatomy of my kidneys)
- meet with a transplant surgeon (and review CT scan)
- meet with my donor advocate
- meet with a psychiatrist
If you are asking “Why?”, I’ve answered that already.
Filed under: Living Donor - @ March 2, 2013 2:43 pm