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APV:
Our transplant day is confirmed!  I will be donating a kidney to my dear husband on June 10th at UCSF.   The process was long, but went relatively smooth.  Both my coordinator and my husband's coordinator have been outstanding through the whole process. Did anyone here have their transplant/donation at UCSF ( University of California San Francisco, Medical center)?  Anything in particular we should know about this particular facility?   Questions we should ask at our pre-op appointment?  Thanks for your time.

PhilHoover:
Congratulations!

Welcome to the club, and THANK YOU for your generosity.

As a living donor (18 months ago), I would strongly encourage you to "educate" yourself on all the little "details".

As your living donor coordinator as many questions as you will have.  He/she/they should be willing to answer all of them, or at least help you find an answer to them.

Do as much reading YOURSELF as you possibly have the time to pursue.

And let us know if you have any questions.  There is a wealth of experience in this forum.  I am but one.

Phil Hoover
Chicago

treehugger:
I donated and my husband received at kidney at UCSF, in December 2009! My surgery was on a Thursday evening and my kidney was flown overnight to a stranger in PA. My husband's surgery was early Friday morning and his donor (another stranger) was in the next OR.

A close friend of mine also donated a kidney at UCSF last October and she had the same surgeon I did. We visited her and it was kinda fun to return to 9 Long as visitors instead of patients. I even got to see my favorite nurse again.

We both had great care there on Ward 9 Long. Wonderful nurses, assistants, doctors. Other than reading and learning all you can from this website, there's nothing in particular that you need to know for UCSF. It's a great facility, so just ask lots of questions and listen to the answers. I felt really prepared going into my donation, and it turns out I was.

The biggest thing my family wishes they had known before-hand? That there's a nice, quiet sunroom in the southeast corner of 9 Long. A great place for visitors to hang out and get some rest. For some reason they never saw it and my dad spent a lot of time in the busy lobby waiting room. My father-in-law and I ended up finding the sunroon when my husband had to go back in the hospital for 9 days a week after he got home the first time. Oh, and make sure to ask for the T-shirt they give you when you walk a mile in the halls of the ward after surgery (12 laps). My husband and I each earned one and we are proud to wear them. :) Oh, and please let your visitors know that there's free 2-hour weekday and all-day weekend parking on the street below the Parnassus parking garage (parking was our biggest expense).

My final piece of advice from one wife donor to another: this whole process will probably be a lot harder on your husband than on you. I was so prepared for what would happen to me, that I don't feel like I did enough research on the recipient's experience. The 4.5 month rough road post-surgery took me by surprise and was hard on both of us. But, since then, everything has been truly great, health-wise.

Good luck and please feel free to ask me specific questions.

Kara

Fr Pat:
Dear "APV",
     I think it would be good to ask what surgical method of removing the kidney for donation they want to use, and why. (Open cut, laparoscopic, hand-assisted laparoscopic, etc.)
     Read (and bring a copy) of the topic on this forum warning against using a certain type of hemo-o-lock clamp to seal the cut blood vessels.
     Tell them you have also read that sometimes the flow of hormones from the adrenal gland near the removed kidney is restricted because of how they arrange the cut blood vessels, and ask if they have considered this. (I know that these are detailed questions, but it can be good to let them know that you are alert, as it may help them to be even more alert.)
     Get very clear instructions as to what to do and whom to contact if you think you have any surgical complications in the months after donation surgery. Likewise clear instructions on when they will have your 3 post-op check-ups over the next two years, and whether they will contact you to set up those appointments.
     Finally, you might want to read the list of "helpful hints" the National Kidney Foundation collected from past donors:
www.kidney.org/transplantation/livingdonors/infotips.cfm
           Best wishes, and please keep us informed!
                Fr. Pat

APV:
Thank you all for your kind words and advice.  I will make sure I ask all the questions you suggested on top of some I have of my own.  I really appreciate having this forum to talk to people who share a common experience.  We have started a count down to our surgery date.  :)

Angelica

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