I'm donating my kidney to a friend April 11,2013 :)

[GuitarGirl4Gsus]

Hi..I'm dyslexic so ya might see some weird words. Spell correction usually tweaks them ok. I'm a almost 44 yr old very active guitarist. I play in a Christain rock band called Covenant and also on my church worship team. I also run a daycare in my home. I also do before and after school care. One of my Tweens father has battled polysistic kidneys most of his life. It runs in his whole family. It resulted in him being on dialsis. He works a hard job, serves on our town rescue squad as well. Also a fire department before things got worse. It was announced at our church he needed a transplant soon. 17 of us tried, only two of us made it all teh way though. I turned out to be a better match. My friend had his kidneys removed Jan 11th weighing in at a combined 25lbs. Just yesterday, we got our transplant date, scheduled at UVA, April 11th.  He's so excited about his new life. I feel blessed to be used to help give it too him. My question is recovery. I've been doing Jillian Michaels core work outs sinse Dec. I'm also a light runner, 5k. Not more than that. Play ball, road skate. So I'm in above average health. Our band is booked in April several times. I've insisted to our band leader, who is also my worship team leader at church that I can pull it off, even though I'll have to rock out from a stool. Cuz my Les Paul weighs more than I'll be allowed to hold. Those of you who have donated before, is this unrealistic? We were scheduled in Kentucky,new live in Va. I knew that couldn't happen, day after

[sloaner1982]

If you are having surgery on April 11th, it is not a good idea at all to try and play anytime after that date during the month of April. You need to let your body heal, and trying to do to much to soon may cause you to have a set back in your recovery.

[Fr Pat]

Dear "GuitarGirl",
      I donated almost 11 years ago, and since then have read the experiences of many other kidney donors. There is a GREAT deal of variety in the healing time after donation. Some donors bounce right back. Others have serious fatigue problems for weeks or months. Some (few) have medical complications that require a return to the hospital. Some have suffered incisional hernias from lifting too much too soon. You can tell the band members what you HOPE to do and MIGHT be able to do, but you can't realy give any guarantees. Everyone heals differently. You'll have to listen to your body and adapt accordingly. You are doing a fine thing in donating, but make sure you take care of YOURSELF well afterwards as well.
     My own thought: a Christian rock band that has to explain that they won't be playing their best that night because a member is recovering from donating a kidney to someone will probably give better testimony through that fact than they would even through the greatest music.
     best wishes,
         Fr. Pat

[GuitarGirl4Gsus]

Thanks for y'all's replays, even though its not what I wanted to hear. I run a daycare in my home Mon -Fri 4am - 5am. I did hire a  dry qualified lady from church. I'll keep her on until I know Im fully capable of keeping my littles safe by myself. I realize that's atleast 3 weeks. As far as both music ministries, I really thought I could pull them off and not miss a beat except teh first Sunday. I figured Id be walking teh first day, certainly I can sit on a stool. I know it's way more than that. Church we have two services 8:30am and 10:30am. We have to be there and hour early to practice. That's 2 half hours of playing combined. So maybe I'll tell my friend and leader not to put me on schedule, which is probably her plan anyway, seh just doesn't want to get me riled up before seh needs to. As far as teh band, there's a youth event two weeks after my surgery. I really really need to pull that off. It's about 10 songs, and Id be on a stool. Teh travel is only a few hours, well up and back. I wouldn't help with set up or tear down. We have Ohio teh following month, but I should be in full swing by then. I live in Virginia. I wish there was a guitar player on here who'd comment, then again, they would probably say teh same thing. Ugh! My church team is covered, my son and I take turns on electric, but my band is so diffenert than Praise and Worship. No one can duplicate my parts. Hey, our 3rd CD might be done by then, maybe we can "band sinc". I certainly don't want to let anyone down. This has to work out some how, so far everything has come together in amazing ways. I also refuse to lift anything above what they say. Last thing I want is another hospital stay bottom line, priority is teh one whos getting my kidney. All my little issues are petty compaired to all he and his wife have been though. His whole family, his father and one sister have already died from this disease and his other sister had a transplant several years ago. Now it's his turn I know everything will work out ok, I don't know how, I just know it will. Tanks again for your posts although I'm still struggling with excepting my up an coming limitations.

[Fr Pat]

Dear "GuitarGirl",
     I forgot to mention another point to keep in mind. For the surgery, of course, you'll be totally knocked out by the anesthesia (plus the pre-anesthesia sleppy-drugs). Then you'll be getting powerful pain-killers (and some donors have had bad reactions to one or another pain-killer). Some donors get off prescription pain-meds quite quickly and switch to just Tylenol, but others need the prescription pain meds for a longer time.
Even if you are fortunate enough to be able to get off the prescription meds quickly, the after-effects of the anesthesia/meds don't disappear right away. (Which is why it is recommended NOT to drive for a couple of weeks, as reaction-response time can be slowed.) Again, some donors have had more trouble with this than others.
     So keep in mind that even if you are feeling well soon after the surgery, your musical skills MIGHT not be back up to your usual level for a while. I'm not a musician, but perhaps other donor-musicians on board here might chime in? In my own case I noted during the first couple of weeks after surgery that I sometimes had trouble finding the right words, and had to make an extra effort to speak (and preach) well. I started worrying that I might have had a small stroke or something during surgery. But at the check-up the doctor told me this was normal as the left-over anesthesia wore off, and that it might be 8 weeks after surgery before it normalized (and that's what did happen.)
     So it is POSSIBLE that even if you feel up to travelling and sitting on a stage with a guitar your fingers MIGHT not be moving as quickly and skillfully as they normally do for a while.
      This is not to try to scare you, but the great thing about reading the posts here is that a potential donor can be more aware of ALL the big and small POSSIBLE after-effects, and be prepared in case they come up. (For example, nobody told me about post-op bloating, so when it cam time to be discharged from the hospital I could not get my feet into my shoes! The helpful nurse spent about 5 minutes on her knees stuffing them in so I would not have to brave the snow in slippers. Same problem with clothing/underwear to go home in.)
     So, HOPE for the best, but be prepared.
              best wishes,
                 Fr. Pat

[GuitarGirl4Gsus]

Wow,your post are pretty awesome. Thursday, my friend who is getting my kidney drove for teh first time sinse jan 11. He drove just down teh road to pick up his daughter who gets off teh bus at my daycare. He looked amazing! We talked about all teh cool things he wants to do when he has my kidney. Teh rescue squad posts to him on FB about how they miss him and can't wait until he's back in action soon. His face is so lit up. He tells me how he has to be quarantined afterwards for atleast a whole month. His daughter looks at me and says, " oh my,you will go nuts!" Seh knows how hyper I am. I looked at her and said, " not me, I don't have to be quarantined, your daddy does!" . He's an active one too and his wife tells me one of teh hardest parts for her husband is having to just  sit and sleep in a recliner. I do get nervouse wondering how will all this work out. How will I cover all my bases and do things I think only I can do? I'm pretty sure teh Lord is going to show me that teh battle belongs to him. He put this together and he has plans to make it all work out for his glorey. It might not be my way, or teh way I want it to be, but his plans always rock way better anyway. What's so cool is that teh second person who made it all teh way though is on my worship team also. We didnt know as we both went through all teh tests. It's wasn't until teh transplant was scheduled that it came out. Sinse aug, both of us had been secretly trying. We are exactly alike.weve  kidded eachother for yrs that we have to be related. Our spouces say teh same thing. We both are hyper,can't sit still, dyslexic ,ADHD,forget stuff, love to worship and can play and sing for hours. Then to find out it was him. We are even more alike than we ever imagined. I knew there was still one other teh whole time. Which helped because I was so scared of being eliminated. It started with over 20 ppl and only two remained. Ever test was gut wrenching for me,except knowing there's still one more,don't worry. Cool thing is that if something happened to me,they can still use him. It came down to our blood mix, mine didnt fight with teh receipiants like his did. Sorry, Im a rambler and subjects change frequently. I call is Assorted Thinking Abilities My whole point which probably got lost in my rambling. I am focused on me, checking down my list of responsibility. Wheels in my head mapping out plans of how I'm going to do this and that as if teh world will fall apart if I don't. In teh back of my mind, I know teh priority here. That's an awesome man,husband,father,friend,servant of people is going to live. He's not going to loose his job, his squad job. His precious daughter is going to remain his princess and be walked down teh aisle by her daddy many yrs from now. I may be frantic,worried,scared of letting my friends down,my ministry down. If I look at teh big picture, that can't happen. We've already won it's just a crazy battle in my head, but I know beyond my panic that its a win win situation here.

[CK]

I was walking that day, out by noon the next and could have gone back to work in 2 weeks, though I stayed out for another to help my recipient (who also had kidneys that weighed 25 lbs total due to PKD removed). It went better than I had imagined it would. I was certainly stiff and not quite myself, but I didn't have a lot of fatigue or any other complications (other than dizziness from removing the scopolamine patch too soon). My recipient also went back to work after 3 weeks and has had no troubles in the entire year since I donated. We were better than textbook cases, but of course, we didn't know it would be that way going in.

That being said, I wouldn't plan to be going the next week and have no hitch in your stride. It is major surgery and you don't know how you will react to the various factors.

[GuitarGirl4Gsus]

Thanks for your post CK .... I really really liked it alot and pray my situations turn out like yours   i only have 8 half weeks to wait. I want so badly for my recipient to be on his way to recovery and a normal life. He's battling fluid and teh dyalisis does t seem to remove it. He's walking as much as he can. Getting his staples out last week has helped, all 77 of them. I'm doing Jillian Michaels core workout 5 days a week to make sure I'm in best shape possible. Teh doctor told me Im in above average shape, and so is My receipiant as far as people on his condition go. He's already planning to do p90x when he's recovered from our transplant. His wife is pretty excited for him and all teh plans he's making for his new life. Time seems to be ticking by soooo slowly. I want this for him and his family now. Patience when waiting is t one of my strengths  

[CK]

It really is amazing to watch. My recipient (who is also my boyfriend  had the double nephrectomy and transplant at the same time. He really recovered quickly and at his year check-up they remarked with wonder that he hasn't had any kind of rejection episode whatsoever.  Except for the handful of meds he takes twice a day, it's easy to forget that he has a transplant.

I credit the strong kidney. He credits himself. 

Neither of us were in fantastic shape, we are both late 40's and reasonably healthy for our ages, but nothing close to athletic or fit. I'm not sure that has a lot to do with it, honestly, but I don't know. Seems to have more to do with pain tolerance, IMO.

[GuitarGirl4Gsus]

Wow what an awesome storey my recipient is one of my daycare bus riders dad as well as apart of my church family. His wife and I were good friends before he came along. I watched her date moron after moron. Then seh met an awesome guy and has had an awesome life. They have one amazing daughter together. I even named my new guitar I got last weekend after her, becuase my new Ovation matched her pretty red hair. I am so happy I get to be used to give her husband his life back and protect thing family from being torn apart. I'm blessed with an awesome marriage now also. My husband is very supportive of me donating, even though he himself only has one functioning kidney from birth. We are also same blood type. My daughters who are teens have already chimed in, "don't worry mom, should he ever need a kidney he has us!" I so can't wait until Im sharing an awesome storey like y'all's..