Anyone familiar with kidney donation?

[cmo]

If you or someone you know has donated or received a kidney transplant, I'd be curious to know more about the whole experience. Kidney.org has an informative section about this on their website, but I'm also interested in hearing from anyone who has gone through it. I'm considering submitting to the test to see if I am a match for someone, and as you might guess, I'm a little nervous about it.

Thanks!

Chris

[icunurse]

A co-worker donated to her daughter. Once she was determined to be a good match, she went through extensive testing to determine if both kidneys were healthy. She said her recovery of the surgery was easier than her daughter's. She had testing for a few weeks after (to make sure her remaining kidney picked up the pace like it should). I believe that she also had to do some psychological meetings to determine her reasons for wanting to donate, if she "really" wanted to, what she would feel if the donation failed (which it unfortunately did), etc.

[brittone2]

A very close friend of the family received one from her dad in her teens, and her mom when she was in her 20s. She eventually had rejection issues w/ both (although she somewhat abused those kidneys as she was going through major teen/early adult rebellion after dealing with some tremendous health issues as a child and young adult).

She was on the list again for a kidney for years and not doing well. She was dating someone at the time and they were both about to undergo the donation procedure, but a donor kidney was found literally days/weeks before her partner was going to donate. She's doing well with that kidney currently.

PM me and I can see if I can find out any additional info. This family has been dealing w/ kidney donation, etc. for about 15+ years now.

[Sillygirl]

No personal experience with donation, but professional experience - I am a nephrologist. When you are evaluated by the transplant team as a donor, you are given an entirely separate medical team from the recipient. They don't work in the same office or even in the same department, usually. That is done to protect your interest as a donor. You initially start with a few simple blood tests - most places do only ABO compatible donation - and if those hurdles are cleared, you have a comprehensive physical exam. The surgeon who will transplant the kidney doesn't even come near you to avoid any conflict of interest.

If at any time during the evaluation, right up until the point you go under anesthesia for the surgery, you change your mind, all you have to do is say "I've changed my mind." The intended recipient will be told the transplant was stopped due to medical necessity. Your information will be kept completely confidential.

The donation surgery is usually done laproscopically (through small incisions) these days which has made the recovery period much shorter. Most people leave the hospital in two days. You will be restricted from lifting objects heavier than ten pounds for a few weeks. Your remaining kidney over time will enlarge a little and take over the filtering function.

Kidney donation is never done emergently, since dialysis exists to take over many of they jobs the kidney does. When you look at survival, transplant patients do better than dialysis patients after you follow them for the first few years. The difference in quality of life is dramatic. For young women with kidney failure, a transplant is usually the only realistic shot at a healthy pregnancy. Being freed from dialysis, whether it's done at home or in a center, makes a huge difference in someone's quality of life.

[wendmatt]

Dhs nephew received a kidney from a good friend of the family 10 years ago. His moms was not a match and he had one from his father (BIL) and it rejected it. Huge disappontment in the house as he had been sick since he was a baby. The friend was found to be a match and donated a kidney and he is able to lead a mormal life (for the most part apart from all the meds etc and the fact that at 18 he has a sense of mortality that most 18 yr olds do not have). It's been life changing for them, I've never heard of someone donating one just to be kind to a stranger, but I think it would be a wonderful thing to do.