My round of testing at the hospital was scheduled for Tuesday, February 12th. Testing would include a urinalysis, blood testing, tissue typing, an EKG, chest xray, CT scan, interview with a psychologist, physical with the surgeon, and a meeting and physical with my advocate, a doctor who is not part of the transplant team. All this was to determine if I was healthy enough to donate, and to make sure that they would not be doing harm to me in order to help Teddy.
I was not really worried about the testing - I knew that I was healthy, both physically and psychologically, and I have a healthy family history. My only concern was the CT scan would show some abnormality. My coordinator told me that sometimes they find that people only have one kidney, or a deformed kidney, or kidneys that are attached, or other issues that allow the person so still live a healthy life but would not allow them to be a donor.
Beginning Monday morning (at 5:30am, since that's what time I'd have to get up Tuesday), I had to collect my urine for 24 hours. THAT was quite the experience, especially with running kids to and from school and errands and a meeting that night!
Our boys spent the night with my mom, as we had to be on the road by 6am Tuesday.
I had to fast beginning at 8pm Monday night, with only water allowed. I made my husband eat his breakfast where I couldn't see/smell it. We drove to the hospital, which was about a two hour trip, and parked and found our clinic with no problems.
We checked in, and barely sat down in the lobby before we were called back. (The whole day, I think I sat in a lobby for maybe five minutes total. That was great!) They started right away with the blood draw, which was about ten tubes. When they took the five tubes at the initial testing I felt like it took forever, but it felt like this draw took even less time. They took my big jug-o-pee, and then I could eat a snack. I had just a short time to eat, because then I had to start fasting again for the CT scan.
As I ate my boiled eggs and almonds, my coordinator did my education session. She went over all the testing, how and when the team would determine if I was a good candidate, what to expect from the week before surgery, the surgery itself, immediate recovery, and long-term recovery.
After that meeting, I had to provide another urine sample, and then I met with the psychologist. My husband had been with me the whole time so far, and we assumed he would have to sit in the waiting room for this, but she invited him in. It was a fairly short meeting, just asking about my mental health history, what made me think about donating, and what kind of support I would have after surgery. (Our families all live close, and I have an amazing community of women and families, so I have never been worried about having help during recovery!)
Next I returned to the original clinic and met with the surgeon. (Actually, I have already forgotten what order some of this happened, but whatever.) He was nice, but not much personality. He explained the surgery (another post, another day), asked about my medical history and my family's history, and did a basic physical exam. Answered my questions about recovery and long-term issues.
Then I went to get a chest x-ray; again, I waited only a minute and was out of that clinic within five minutes. Next was the EKG in a different clinic.
All our testing had gone so quickly that we were ahead of schedule; my next appointment was with my advocate, and this was not a walk-in appointment, so we had almost two hours to kill. We went to the mall, where I wandered around while my husband ate some lunch.
By the time we were headed to my next appointment, I was really getting hungry. I normally eat every three hours or so, and this was difficult! I may have been a little crabby...
My meeting with my advocate was great. She is an internist with the hospital, but is not a part of the transplant team. Her job is to do her own assessment to make sure that donating will not put me at physical, psychological, or financial harm. We spent a long time talking about my family history, my own health, my job (she had never heard of a doula, so I was happy to educate!), etc. We also talked a lot about the recovery (again, a post for another day) and how I will handle not being active for that period of time.
She had also received the results of almost all my tests already; all the blood work came back great (interesting to note, I am not immune to Hep B, even though I have been vaccinated for it, which is pretty common), chest xray and ekg were great, urinalysis was great.
The last appointment was my CT scan. I got right into the clinic, and they started an IV. They gave me about 16 ounces of water to drink, and then I had to drink about 8 ounces 45 minutes later. So my husband and I sat in the internal waiting room while that time passed. I had a CT scan after a car accident in 2001, so I knew what to expect. The dye they inject you with during the scan makes you feel really warm all over, and it also feels like you have peed your pants. Very weird. Anyway, if they hadn't been on the intercom, "Take a deep breath in, hold it......you can breathe now." I would have fallen asleep during the scan.
After the scan, we were done! I immediately grabbed my snacks when we got to the car and started scarfing them down; my mood got better right away, I think my husband actually said I was "giddy".
We ate dinner near the hospital and then headed back home; I slept the whole way home, I'm not a very good road-trip buddy.
Next was just to wait to hear from the team. They were meeting the following Monday (February 18th) to discuss all the test results to determine if I was a good candidate. My coordinator told me she'd call me that day to let me know what they said.
The hospital has this great online chart system, so I was able to go online and see all my test results immediately. The next day I checked it, and my CT exam came back normal and even the notes from the psychologist were available; she approved me. So I was just expecting to hear the official "yes" on Monday!
I was not really worried about the testing - I knew that I was healthy, both physically and psychologically, and I have a healthy family history. My only concern was the CT scan would show some abnormality. My coordinator told me that sometimes they find that people only have one kidney, or a deformed kidney, or kidneys that are attached, or other issues that allow the person so still live a healthy life but would not allow them to be a donor.
Beginning Monday morning (at 5:30am, since that's what time I'd have to get up Tuesday), I had to collect my urine for 24 hours. THAT was quite the experience, especially with running kids to and from school and errands and a meeting that night!
Our boys spent the night with my mom, as we had to be on the road by 6am Tuesday.
I had to fast beginning at 8pm Monday night, with only water allowed. I made my husband eat his breakfast where I couldn't see/smell it. We drove to the hospital, which was about a two hour trip, and parked and found our clinic with no problems.
We checked in, and barely sat down in the lobby before we were called back. (The whole day, I think I sat in a lobby for maybe five minutes total. That was great!) They started right away with the blood draw, which was about ten tubes. When they took the five tubes at the initial testing I felt like it took forever, but it felt like this draw took even less time. They took my big jug-o-pee, and then I could eat a snack. I had just a short time to eat, because then I had to start fasting again for the CT scan.
As I ate my boiled eggs and almonds, my coordinator did my education session. She went over all the testing, how and when the team would determine if I was a good candidate, what to expect from the week before surgery, the surgery itself, immediate recovery, and long-term recovery.
After that meeting, I had to provide another urine sample, and then I met with the psychologist. My husband had been with me the whole time so far, and we assumed he would have to sit in the waiting room for this, but she invited him in. It was a fairly short meeting, just asking about my mental health history, what made me think about donating, and what kind of support I would have after surgery. (Our families all live close, and I have an amazing community of women and families, so I have never been worried about having help during recovery!)
Next I returned to the original clinic and met with the surgeon. (Actually, I have already forgotten what order some of this happened, but whatever.) He was nice, but not much personality. He explained the surgery (another post, another day), asked about my medical history and my family's history, and did a basic physical exam. Answered my questions about recovery and long-term issues.
Then I went to get a chest x-ray; again, I waited only a minute and was out of that clinic within five minutes. Next was the EKG in a different clinic.
All our testing had gone so quickly that we were ahead of schedule; my next appointment was with my advocate, and this was not a walk-in appointment, so we had almost two hours to kill. We went to the mall, where I wandered around while my husband ate some lunch.
By the time we were headed to my next appointment, I was really getting hungry. I normally eat every three hours or so, and this was difficult! I may have been a little crabby...
My meeting with my advocate was great. She is an internist with the hospital, but is not a part of the transplant team. Her job is to do her own assessment to make sure that donating will not put me at physical, psychological, or financial harm. We spent a long time talking about my family history, my own health, my job (she had never heard of a doula, so I was happy to educate!), etc. We also talked a lot about the recovery (again, a post for another day) and how I will handle not being active for that period of time.
She had also received the results of almost all my tests already; all the blood work came back great (interesting to note, I am not immune to Hep B, even though I have been vaccinated for it, which is pretty common), chest xray and ekg were great, urinalysis was great.
The last appointment was my CT scan. I got right into the clinic, and they started an IV. They gave me about 16 ounces of water to drink, and then I had to drink about 8 ounces 45 minutes later. So my husband and I sat in the internal waiting room while that time passed. I had a CT scan after a car accident in 2001, so I knew what to expect. The dye they inject you with during the scan makes you feel really warm all over, and it also feels like you have peed your pants. Very weird. Anyway, if they hadn't been on the intercom, "Take a deep breath in, hold it......you can breathe now." I would have fallen asleep during the scan.
After the scan, we were done! I immediately grabbed my snacks when we got to the car and started scarfing them down; my mood got better right away, I think my husband actually said I was "giddy".
We ate dinner near the hospital and then headed back home; I slept the whole way home, I'm not a very good road-trip buddy.
Next was just to wait to hear from the team. They were meeting the following Monday (February 18th) to discuss all the test results to determine if I was a good candidate. My coordinator told me she'd call me that day to let me know what they said.
The hospital has this great online chart system, so I was able to go online and see all my test results immediately. The next day I checked it, and my CT exam came back normal and even the notes from the psychologist were available; she approved me. So I was just expecting to hear the official "yes" on Monday!
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