One Week To Go!

Wow, I can't believe we're on the one week countdown. How exciting is that? Oh, and did I mention I have the best friends EVER?! It's so true. Last night Kami and Alair came over to watch Dexter and crochet with me. They surprised me with a perfect present, Comfy Pajamas! And the sweetest little card that I'm totally taking with me to the hospital. See, perfection. I sure do love yous guys!!!

Yesterday I came across the blog of guy named Tom Simon who donated his kidney to a stranger. I really liked a lot of what he had to say about the process and his decision. Also, he has a great post on there called Ask the Kidney Donor, that answers a lot of common questions. It also clears up a lot of common misconceptions. Check it out at http://www.kidneychronicles.com/. I admire his kind a lot because it was extremely selfless of him to donate to someone he didn't know. Here are some interesting tidbits from his site:

What made you decide to donate a kidney?


There are currently about 70,000 people in the United States on the kidney transplant waiting list. However, there are only about 13,000 kidneys available for transplant each year. About half of these come from cadavers, and the other half come from "living donors" such as me.


Okay, that's very sad, but why you?
The quick answer is that I am donating because I have a spare kidney, and there are people out there who will die or, at the very least, suffer on dialysis unless they receive a transplant. I think that saving a life would be a very powerful experience.


Are there long term negative effects of living with one kidney?


In short, no. There is no scientific evidence in 50 years of living kidney donations that there are any ill effects to living with one kidney. Within five weeks of donation, the remaining kidney swells in size and increases its filtering power (the "glomerular filtration rate") to match the power of two kidneys. In short, I'll have a single super-kidney instead of two simply adequate kidneys.

What if something happens to your remaining kidney?


My family has no history of kidney disease. When kidney disease occurs, it nearly always strikes both kidneys at the same time. It's not like one kidney fails and you find yourself knocking on wood, thankful that you've got a spare. If I should develop kidney disease, I will need treatment or a transplant – just like I'd need if I had two kidneys.
 
Why not just sign your driver's license?


Living donors have better kidneys than dead ones. The likelihood of a successful donation is increased greatly by a living donation. That said, anyone who signs their drivers license is okay with me.
 
Tom quotes a friend of his who he came to know through the donation process. Her name is Virginia Postrel and she wrote and article called "Here's Looking at You Kidney; How and why I became an organ donor -- and how I kept people from talking me out of it."
 
Here are my faves from her article:
 
Usually when someone is seriously ill, all you can do is lend moral support and maybe cook some meals or run a few errands. Nothing you do will make that person well. But if you donate a kidney, you can (with the help of a team of medical specialists) cure her. Who wouldn't want to do it? I had no idea what a strange thought that was.


An hour on the Internet told me what I needed to know. All a donor and a recipient have to have in common is a compatible blood type; anti-rejection drugs take care of the rest. For the donor, the operation isn't especially risky or particularly difficult to recover from. Laparoscopic techniques have replaced the old side-splitting gashes with a few tiny holes and an incision two- to three-inches long, just big enough to slide out the kidney. The donor usually spends a couple of days in the hospital and, other than athletic exertions I'd shun anyway, can resume normal activities within a week or two. The main dangers are those of any major surgery: general anesthesia, bleeding, infection. They're serious risks, but people go through equally tough operations every day for purely cosmetic reasons.


Last, here is my very favorite quote from any site. This is a quote that was reposted on Tom's site, but that Virginia wrote:

"...donating a kidney is not an especially risky procedure or unthinkable sacrifice. That doesn't mean everyone should run out and give someone a kidney--any more than everyone should take a job in law enforcement. But we need to start thinking of kidney donors as normal people taking reasonable risks for great benefits, not as crazy or heroic."

That last sentance is the kicker. (that's why I bolded it) She perfectly puts into words what I feel whenever someone tells me I'm amazing for what I'm doing. I am no better of a person than I was 6 months ago before the process started. I'm the same normal person, taking a very reasonable risk for someone I love's life.