GUESS WHO'S GONNA BE A KIDNEY DONOR!?!?!
The kidney transplant coordinator called this morning with the results of my CT scan and to ask a few questions that the hurried kidney doctor neglected to ask.
First of all, I guess the CT scan looked good. The coordinator didn't get into specifics, but I'm assuming I have the appropriate number of kidneys and the usual vein configuration. She said everything looked "normal" and "wonderful".
In her rush, the kidney doctor forgot to ask whether or not my mom was living and healthy, whether or not I had siblings (and if they were healthy), and if any of my family had high blood pressure.
I'm never very good about family history questions. I said there was probably a good chance one or more of my grandparents had high blood pressure... that my mom didn't as far as I knew... and that my brothers were still quite young and had not shown any signs of high blood pressure.
I confirmed that the kidney doctor had given me orders for another creatinine clearance test, that I would be doing the urine collection on Thursday since I was off work that day, and that I would be dropping that off Friday morning. I will also be doing the other smaller urine collection at the office to make up for the "contaminated" sample that I gave on Friday.
The coordinator reminded me that I still needed to have a Pap Smear done before the transplant... and advised that I allow at least a week for the results to come back.
Then she was like, "Okay, when do you want to schedule the transplant for?"
And I was like... "Uhhh...."
She offered a number of dates, "October 11th, 18th, 25th..."
They all seemed sooo soon. I wasn't imagining that it could happen so soon and I was by no means prepared to schedule the transplant.
I said something like, "Well, I don't know what's going on with my dad..."
And she laughed at me. She told me that I was the "main player" and that I was the one who should decide when I wanted to do this.
One of my best friends is getting married in Texas on October 21st... so I picked the 25th as the transplant date. The coordinator seemed anxious to lock in a date and that will give my dad time to get his affairs in order.
Crazy.
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5 comments:
Wow! That's great and scary at the same time. They seem to drag the testing out for so long, then BOOM! Let's schedule surgery! GULP! That's great though, that you're healthy and can donate. Will your employer be okay with you missing work? Do you have vacation days accrued or will you use short term disbility? Hope all continues to go smoothly from here on out!
Karol
www.xanga.com/i_korn
Karol-
I am currently self-employed as an artist and have recently started a part time job at a packing/shipping store to help supplement my income.
In anticipation of the kidney donation, I purposely limited my part-time job search to ones that I knew I would be able to leave without a second thought. I wasn't looking for a career, just something to get me by until the surgery.
I haven't discussed the matter of time off with my part-time employer yet. Either I take the time off and he lets me come back and work after I recover... or he has to hire somebody else and I find another piddly part-time job later. I doesn't matter that much to me either way.
Being young, a year removed from graduate school, and unable to find a real job has made it quite easy to negotiate the time off for tests, the procedure, and potential recovery time.
Plus, it helps to have a solid base of friends and family that you can count on to get you through it all. I don't really feel as though I need to worry about anything.
I think it also helps that I'm donating to my dad. Hopefully my family wouldn't leave me high and dry.
Do you have any answers yet re payment of medications? amf
Awesome news!
We have a lot to be thankful for ...
Thats awesome. If you need anything don't hesitate to ask.
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