Two days until donation

[Chopsticks]

Hi, everyone!  I wish I found this forum sooner.  There's a lot of great information in here. 

In two days, I will be donating a kidney to my wife, who suffers from IgA nephropathy.  We are doing the transplant early to avoid dialysis, which is great.  I am excited to give her a fresh, new start.  I also find myself ping-ponging back and forth between being quite anxious about the surgery and recovery and also strangely excited for it.  I usually get a lot of anxiety even from a trip to the dentist's office, so this procedure is certainly going to put my medical courage to the test.  I have a lot of faith in our transplant center, and it's a calculated risk I'm willing to take to hopefully give us a better, healthier life together.

I just wanted to introduce myself since I'll probably be back soon for advice or moral support.  Wish us luck!

[sherri]

Chopsticks,

Good luck with your surgery. I donated to my brother also with IgA nephropathy in 2007. We did it prior to him needing dialysis as well. We were an excellent match which bodes well for him. He is doing well with his anti rejection medications and has not had any complications as of yet.

Glad you found the forum. Look for all the "little" tips on here. Where are you donating? Hope you have a good support system to help you and your wife recuperate. You will each be a patient. She probably will be feeling much better than before surgery, and you will of course be feeling much worse. A lot of kidney patients don't even realize how poorly they were feeling prior to their new kidney since they just got used to the tiredness. Donors were feeling perfectly fine so they tend to be pretty shocked when they need time to recuperate from the nephrectomy. The surgeries are very different  from taking a kidney out to putting one in so recuperation varies. there have been a few husband and wife teams on this forum; very different than sibling relationships. I always find the psycho social issues to be fascinating. What a wonderful gift; hope this brings a healthier life for you as a couple.

Best of luck to both of you. Keep us posted on your surgeries.

Sherri

[Chopsticks]

Thanks, Sherri!  The transplant will take place at Penn Medicine in Philadelphia.  Everyone seems great there so far.  Our support system is great -- four great parents who will be rotating care duties during our recovery.  I am prepared for the notion of feeling pretty lousy after surgery, but I'm sure you can never be completely prepared for what it will be like.  Hopefully that will just be background noise when I see my wife feel better than she has felt in over a decade!

[Fr Pat]

     Best wishes and prayers for you both! I donated 14 years ago and am doing fine.
     If you have not already seen them, the National Kidney Foundation has collected a couple of pages of "helpful hints" from past kidney donors: www.kidney.org/transplantation/livingdonors/infotips.cfm
                     Fr. Pat

[entity777]

Hi Chopsticks,
I had surgery about 13 days ago and donated to my wife just as you will. I am surprised at how quickly both of us are recovering.
The first few days post surgery were difficult but after that, things got a lot easier and for the most part I have been feeling very good. We are now walking about 4-5 miles a day only 13 days after the surgery!
I do notice some fatigue (sleepiness) from time to time. I am a 51 year old male in OK shape - I am not out of shape but not anywhere near iron man or Navy Seal fitness either.
I think the only big change post surgery will be that I need to cut back on salt and meat, and that will take a little discipline, but I should be doing that anyway at my age.

Pre-surgery I just kept in mind that this meant the world to my wife and kept in mind that if hundreds of thousands of other people could donate, so could I. I kept in mind the statistics on donors living full and long lives post surgery. I know someone who is 79 years old who donated when he was 53 and he is still going strong.

Good luck to you and your wife. You will soon become a member of the "REAL MAN" club! :-)

[Chopsticks]

Fr. Pat: Thanks for the well wishes and prayers, and thanks for that list of tips.  I hadn't seen that, so many thanks.

Entity: Wow, very recent!  That sounds like an incredible recovery for both of you.  I will try to keep those encouraging pre-surgery tips in mind.  You're exactly right about the "real man" club!  It's not for the faint of heart, and I'm getting pretty darn scared in the final hours before the big day.  I got this!!!

[Fr Pat]

Dear Chopsticks,
     Looking ahead, start planning now. The "Transplant Games of America" will take place in Cleveland in June, with transplant recipients, living donors and donor families celebrating the "Gift of Life" through athletic events (strenuous or easy, they even have a donor/recipient ballroom dancing competition!) More info (and find your State or local Team) at www.transplantgamesofamerica.org
    Fr. Pat

[Chopsticks]

Update: Our surgery took place on Tuesday, and everything went smoothly.  My wife's creatinine level went from 4.7 to 0.9 overnight, which is amazing.  We are both home now and recovering.  The recovery process has been a bit of a roller coaster, but we're hanging in there.  Today has been a pretty painful one for me.  Kidney donation certainly isn't for everyone, but I'm proud to have stepped up to a big challenge to do something amazing.

[Fr Pat]

Dear "Chopsticks",
      Hi. I hope and pray that you are both recovering well. Get up and around as much as possible, as it really helps. Even a very very short walk is a benefit.
      Also, if you want to do some at-home shopping go to the "Home" page of this site and click "Living Donation Forum". Then scroll down to page two of the postings and find "donation related gifts". Past donors and recipients have sent in sources of all sorts of shirts, hats, jewelry, pins, plush kidneys, stickers and just about anything you can think of. ("Urine Love!" T-shirt?) So, buy each other a present if you feel like it. The pair of "I Gave the gift of life" and "I received the gift of life" lapel pins from the National Kidney Foundation are (I think) especially nice. No, I don't get a commission on sales! Just wanted to let you know what's available.
    Fr. Pat

[elephant]

Hooray!  I'm thrilled to hear you are both doing well.  I think my recipient recovered faster than I did, the donor surgery is tough. 
Love, elephant

[KristaRM]

YEA!  I'm so happy your surgeries went well and your wife is doing so amazing already.  Sending lots of healing thoughts your way!