Happy
Hi, again........congratulations on donating, you are doing a wonderful thing.
The process - no it's not easy, and for good reason, they want to make sure your'e a decent match, physically healthy & psychologically prepared & doing it for the "right" reason(s).
A few responses to some of your concerns
1) I can not believe how slow the transplant coordinator is to respond to my inquiries. Even for basic questions such as "What time should I arrive?" takes a couple of days to hear a response. Perhaps they are very busy, but it makes me feel like I'm not a priority.
Peter - I had a somewhat similar experience. I think most places could use a more coordinators - its got to be a tough job, my hospital (Columbia Presbyterian in NYC) does hundreds of Kidney transplants a year, so the coordinators are dealing with a large volume of people, they care about you, they are just a little overwhelmed at times.
2) The information I received from the hospital was deceiving. As I've come to find out, this is not a minor surgery and major lifestyle changes accompany it. After reading through the documents for the third time, there are mentions of the complications but it is hidden away. Also, the huge statistic on the front page that living donors live longer than the general population makes me wonder if they take me for a fool.
Peter - there's a LOT of info and of course it's major surgery. I was 42 when I donated went in for surgery thursday am, was home sunday am. For most people I think there are no major if any lifestyle changes at all. Living Donor do statistically live longer than the general population. I questioned my surgeon on this (the awesome Dr. Lloyd Ratner - one of the developers of the laparoscopic neprectomy) he said the reason is because - 1st you have to be pretty healthy in the first place to donate, 2nd living donors are really pushed to have yearly physicals - these 2 factors alone put us ahead of the general population in terms of being healthy to begin with and checking up on our health post surgery.
3) I've finished all the required Lab and Imaging tests (except for the CT) and still have not met for psychological/emotional testing. I am 28 years old so (at least I hope...) I have a long time to live with the adjustments.
Peter - I found the psych evaluations very......pressing (and I was a "simple donation" - in good mental health donating to a father that I had a great relationship with) - maybe it was just that New York psychiatrists are a pushy demanding bunch.
4) There has been no financial guidance so far. If it wasn't for this forum, I would have no idea to even keep that in mind! I was under the impression that the recipient would cover all expenses in the event of complications but that is not true.
Peter - not sure - my Dad's (recipient) insurance covered everything and the hospital did all the follow up testing and my first yearly follow up physical, even though I am fully insured.
Good luck you will be fine!!!!!!
Peter