Donor Weight

[yalynda]

Hello All,
Prequel:
I am a 51 yr old female, 5 foot 4, 205 pounds down 15 pounds via diet and exercise. I've always leaned toward heavy and my age along with 2 kids,quitting smoking and a sit down job has turned me into the short fat woman I am. Its not hard solid fat, it pretty soft more from lack of exercise than eating.

My sister needs my kidney, not a problem. She is a transplant nurse many years and I know the drill of what I'm getting into.

Here is the thing. We started at her transplant center with no problems, all my tests were amazing, kidney function of an 18 year old etc. My weight at the time of 225 was a problem. I lost the 15 so far and they did not think because of my overall great health that the transplant would be a problem even with a 35 BMI.

Since then my sister got very sick and moved on to total kidney failure. Well because of that she lost her job, and is broke from all the medical bills. In any case her new financial position made the transplant get moved to a new location, Cedar Sinai in LA.
A lovely place-not-...Well they wont even take my information until i get to 30 BMI. Basically they said don't call us until you are there. They wont test or send me any paperwork for the preliminary stuff. Nothing. Acutally pretty damn rude about it. I am just a number as is my sister. Its very frustrating because i am at a plateau in my weight loss and my menopause is causing hormonal issues, I had a cryo-abalation and  even with an hour a day on the treadmill and good diet my weight wont budge. I am healthier than ever!

The real issue I have. I know all about the risks percentages for the obese but one center was fine with it especially after seeing my overall health is great. Cedars however is holding up my sisters gift. Its crap and i think the stress is probably not helping the weight loss either.

 Relocating hospitals is not really an easy option. It will cause more problems for the post care.

Advice???

[elephant]

Dear yalynda,

I am sorry you and your sister are struggling.

Do keep in mind that the transplant center is charged with protecting YOUR health. 
They do not want you to donate a kidney and then face kidney disease yourself in the future. 

Being overweight is known to be a risk factor for diabetes and subsequent kidney disease.  Even when you get your weight down to a good level, you'll need to have a plan for keeping it down in the future.   

In addition, surgery is more complicated when we have additional abdominal fat.

As a donor, I understand how easy it is to focus on "passing" the donor evaluation.  But the donor evaluation is not an exam you "pass" or "fail"!

Have you met with a certified nutritionist to discuss weight loss strategies?  Sometimes a "good diet" for one person may not work well for another.   I know that when I eliminate all sugars and refined carbohydrates from my diet I lose weight.  And gain when I let them creep back in.   

Love, elephant

[Fr Pat]

     I'm sorry to hear of your difficulties. I myself did not have that problem in order to donate, but over the years a number of potential donors have mentioned that joining "Weight Watchers" helped them to lose the necessary weight. As "Elephant" wisely noted above, everybody is different. So perhaps the experience the folks there have gained from helping many different people find their best weight-control program might be useful for you? Plus you could compare notes there with other folks and perhaps find other adjustments or refinements you could introduce into your current program?
   best wishes,
      Fr. Pat