Tiny Kidney

[bergstromtori]

My recipient it doing great, but his albumin is 70% of what they want.  It gets better every day and all of his other levels are right on point.  My recipient (John) is 6'1" and the transplant team asked him the other day if I was little.   He told them that I was maybe 5'4".  I thanked him for thinking I was taller than I am.  I am 5'1" and sometimes 5'2" on a good day, after yoga.    The doctors said that since I am so much smaller than him it will take a little while for the kidney to grow, which it should be able to do since I am under 40.  By a little while they said one to two years. 

Has anyone else had this experience?  As strange as it seems, I feel like a failure on this front.  Come on little kidney grow already!

[WilliamLFreeman]

bergstromtori,

Shorter people have, an average, smaller kidneys than taller people.  And, younger people [40 is younger] have kidneys with more reserve than older people [I am 70, was 68 when I donated].  So, your kidney was not "tiny," but probably was smaller that if you have been 6'1.  BUT, your age is helping overcome that.

I won't tell you not to "feel like a failure on this front" -- your feelings are your feelings, and we seldom can control our feelings.  BUT, realistically, neither you nor your former, now your recipient's, kidney are failures.  YOU took a risk that most people do not, to help another person.  THAT KIDNEY, even if not as "perfect" as may be desired by the docs, is about 5 times more effective than dialysis -- and is also better than a deceased donor's kidney.  The recipient is lucky indeed to have your kidney -- and I make a LARGE bet is not thinking his new/used kidney is a "failure" at all.

 

Bill

[Fr Pat]

Dear "bergstromtori",
      If I may be poetic rather than scientific for a moment, your VERY large heart more than makes up for any smallness of the kidney you gave. Many people with very large kidneys do not quite have the heart to think of sharing one with someone else.
     Fr. Pat

[bergstromtori]

Thank you for your kind words.   Both of you made me smile.

[lawphi]

I am a little confused on how a small kidney would affect his albumin, unless he has large amounts of protein in his urine.  Albumin measures protein from your diet and is often lost during dialysis or surgery.  It can take months for albumin to increase to a target level.

His low albumin may not be related to your kidney at all.  A small kidney is better than dialysis any day.