I recently ran a marathon where I passed a man that had a kidney donor tattoo on the back of his leg. Obviously, this led to a conversation and a quick hug before I carried on. He told me his goal is influence at least 1 person to donate in his life and that the tattoo was a great conversational started. Curious if other people have tattoos for the same reason? I'm debating it.
My uncle, a physician, has CKD. He is 71. I am 54. I appear to be the only person in my family who is stepping up to be a living donor. I am a parent, a competitive distance runner, and I selfishly care about my health and athletic performance. I don’t want to do this but I do because I love my uncle. His daughter is 41 and hopes to have kids one day so doesn’t want to be a donor. My uncle is super knowledgeable as a physician so if I decide while going through screening that I don’t want to go forward, I feel like he will find out why—I don’t want to do it-so I really feel that I have to do this to save his life, and no one else is stepping up.
What were your must haves during your stay? Anything you wish you had brought? I figure I’ll pack a sun dress to wear home since putting on pants might be uncomfortable. Do you wear a hospital gown during the entire stay?
I am currently being screened as a donor for an acquaintance. I feel very prepared, well prepped about the risks, and reading people's stories here has been helpful.
A lot of people seem to have long, difficult recoveries, like still struggling 12 months out. Are these outliers, or is it common to still feel bad for that long? I'd donate either way, but I'd love to hear if anyone considers their recovery as being relatively "easy".
To be short, I have a relative who was on dialysis and received a kidney transplant and had it in for a while, I am not sure exactly how long. Later , he moved away from his home state and this is where it gets cloudy, but I know he stopped taking his medicines for about 4 years not sure why but he recently had a stroke and he isn't doing very well at all as you can imagine. He is going to be taken to a transplant hospital to have the donated kidney removed and put back on a list and back on dialysis, but will obviously be put at the bottom so the hospital is supposed to give a list of "private" donor websites to review and hopefully be able to find a donor meeting his criteria, that they will be sending, if the hospital doesn't first.
I just wanted any advice that you possibly have for me so I can help my relative . I don't know much about any of this process and just would like to be pointed in the correct direction. Thank you!
Hey folks! I’m currently in the evaluation process for an altruistic kidney donation, and I’ve had the privilege of speaking with some kidney donors I know well, but they both donated well into their 60’s, so I feel like their recovery experience was different from mine. I’m 18 (probably will be 19 by the time I have my surgery), and I would love to hear the experience of a donor in their teens or 20’s. Thanks so much in advance!
Im not sure why I gave them my number. I guess I just thought it would be ok. But their calling me and texting me on a regular basis to see where I'm at with it. I understand completely, this is life and death and their on dialysis. Its just... this isn't a friend or family member...its an acquaintance. Never asking, how I am. Just "where are we at" "what's happening" "anything new" I've been going through a lot to be able to get myself to a place where I can go through the testing. Had to lose weight which took forever and wasn't easy. Have a lot of personal crap going on thats gotten me quite down in the dumps... like, pretty low. And this is just really getting me even lower. Financially I'm struggling, barely scraping by, I have a kid with health issues and a job that demands more and more and more from me. I want to help this person and their spouse. The spouse requires a lot of care and if anything happens to them there will be no one to care for the spouse. I really dont mean to sound selfish. Im typing this and it sounds incredibly selfish. Im just.... so overwhelmed and feel so...pressured.
Hello,
There is a high possibility I will be getting a kidney transplant in the near future due to my mom being a living donor. Has anyone had experience with a transplant recovery? I’m also nervous about the large scar and how it will affect my other chronic illnesses (rheumatoid arthritis and Hashimoto’s).
Hey everyone. I'm a 100% p and t veteran looking to donate a kidney.
I have a couple of questions...
Will my rating be affected at all if I do? None of what I'm rated for has to do with my kidneys. It's for PTSD, tinnitus, rhinitis, sinusitis, and IBS.
If I have complications from the surgery down the line, will the VA cover it?
I've tried looking for answers online, but I'm seeing mixed results. Thank you for your time and answers.
Hi All,
I donated on April 9th and was wondering almost 4 weeks after if being tired is normal. I was a paired donation, for my girlfriend because we were not a match. We live together and she has more energy than I do. Just wondering if this is normal. Thanks.
9 months out from donation to my husband. My GFR was 47 In Jan. I was told that was normal at 6 months and it will get even better as my one kidney gets stronger.
Been really tired past few weeks, so went and had some labs done. MY GFR DROPPED TO 35 in four months. I drink easily 2 liters of water a day, always have a water bottle with me, and have to pee ALL THE TIME..literally every hour. Transplant team said get to 3 liters a day and we will test again in a few weeks.
I did that today and pissed my pants twice today. I am a lil scared.
It's been 21 years since I (43M) donated to my cousin (45F), who is still thriving and had a son a few years ago. Never felt healthier! It's amazing what the body can do.
I’m 47 f and I currently take estrogen and progesterone. I have to stop one month before donating and one month after. If you did this can you please share your experience and any advice?
Hi friends!
I was a non-directed donor on 2/27. I work for a medial school, and they wrote a piece on my donation process. It got picked up by a local news station and they want to interview me next week for a “hometown heroes” segment.
Has anyone experienced this kind of media interest in your story? I have a lot of feelings about it - like obviously I didn’t do it for this reason (I actually hardly talk about it at all) but I understand the importance of anecdotes/positive stories. It makes me so nervous though! I certainly don’t feel like a “hometown hero” lol.
I am 3 1/2 weeks postop from a kidney nephrectomy. The first week I was super bloated but otherwise feeling really good. I was even able to do a lot of walking. Week two and most of week three I felt fantastic! I was walking 3 miles a day and by the end of week three, back to my pre-surgery pace. However, I feel like the end of last week (week three) I hit a wall. I am exhausted, almost all of the time and feeling light nausea. I’m trying to decide if this is normal, if I pushed too hard, or if my iron could be extremely low. I was diagnosed with low iron a year before surgery that I was treating with supplements. Levels were within range and stable prior to surgery. However, I couldn’t take my iron supplements leading up to surgery and then immediately after. So with the surgery, blood loss, and lack of supplements, maybe that’s all that it is?
Anyone experienced this? Any tips on how to battle the nausea? Or advice on how long it lasted if it happened to you?
I have not taken any narcotics since being discharged from the hospital, so that is not it. My BMs are back to normal so it’s not constipation. No fever. No signs of infection.
Hi all! I’ve posted here before, and my surgery is coming up in 17 days🎉. I’m 20F and had a question for those who have donated a kidney. What was your experience with pregnancy afterward?
I understand that pregnancy is usually considered safe/normal after donation, but I’d really appreciate hearing personal experiences. It would help reassure my family as well.
For context, I don’t plan on getting pregnant until my 30s, but I’d like to be informed ahead of time. Thank you!
Hi everyone, really glad I found yall cause I’m panicking slightly.
I’m in the process of being screened to donate for a family member. We live across the USA so I’ve been doing my tests through Quest.
Most of my bloodwork has been good. My first urinalysis the donor team thought I might of been dehydrated since I didn’t return the normal amount of liquid - which was true, I was caring for my gf who had an injury and wasn’t as good about drinking water as I normally am.
All that to say, I’m redoing my urinalysis. I was planning on starting that today and finishing Monday. My goal was to void into the toilet today at 5am and then collect the remaining until 5am tomorrow when I leave for work.
I overslept by 2 hours. I’m a contractor for food focused marketing agency, I can’t easily bring my collection kit with me and store it in a fridge since we have food that people consume and ironically limited storage in the fridges.
Normally I pee at 5am and don’t pee again until after 8 or 9 when I’ve been at work for a bit.
If I technically start today at 7am with a non collected void and then finish at 5am tomorrow will that lead not count as a 24-hour sample?
I really don’t want to wait another week as I feel like I’m already behind with my labs (had travel for work that delayed my starting).
The donor team is off on the weekends so I don’t expect a response to my message through the portal.
Thank you so so much.