Tuesday 20 June 2017

Independent assessment

It's a requirement to meet with an independent assessor from the Human Tissue Authority before donating an organ.  This meeting takes place after all the tests have been done to make sure you're fit to donate, and is done by a person who doesn't work for the hospital (the lady who did mine was a retired nurse).

You can read more about it here, but essentially their role is to make sure you're not being paid, threatened or coerced into donating.  She explained that it's not usually a problem for altruistic donors, as I self-referred and also I don't know the recipient.  It's more tricky where a child is giving to a parent, or a wife/husband is giving to their spouse because they might feel pressured into it and I guess there could be a lot of guilt tripping going on.

We chatted about this - I told her that someone had suggested to me recently that I could get 25 grand if I flogged my kidney in America, and how appalled I was at this thought, and how I'd rather not give my kidney at all than sell it for hard cash.  The whole point is to help someone in need - not just someone who could afford it! She asked me how my family felt about me donating, and lots of follow up questions about who would look after me after the op and practical arrangements.  She also questioned my knowledge about the risks, about the op itself and the recovery - presumably to check that the hospital had given me adequate info to make an informed decision. She also asked me about whether I knew if I could withdraw consent at any time, and checked my expectations about hearing from the recipient afterwards (basically I have none).
 
I signed some paperwork and showed her my ID and that was about it.  She was super-friendly and nice so it was quite fun really.

Monday 12 June 2017

Meeting the surgeon

I thought I'd post a quick update on the kidney situation :)

The next step was meeting the surgeon who will be doing my operation.  This meeting was just after I finished my degree and took around 45 minutes.  I had my weight and blood pressure taken first, then went in to the surgeon's office.  We looked at the results of all my tests and discussed what they meant.  The surgeon confirmed that I was a suitable candidate and explained that my left kidney was the favourite to be removed.  It's the one that has the simple cyst on it (which is harmless) so that will be gone, and it also has only one artery (some people have two) which makes the procedure easier for him.  My left kidney is providing 49% of my kidney function and my right one 51% so I keep the better one, though there's not much in it! 

He also performed an examination of my abdomen so I got poked and prodded a bit.  He talked me through the operation again and explained the risks, especially post-surgery.  And that was basically it.  The next time I meet him will be the day of the operation!

We discussed that too and I am going to be in the July matching run, with the op likely to be in the first two weeks of September.