How I Became a Kidney Donor - Part 2

On Monday, Feb 20, first thing, I called up the transplant committee. They oversee the donors and recipients for all organ donations. They, of course, knew all of us very well and when I called and explained our situation they were very understanding. I told them that I had cleared my schedule for the rest of the week and I was willing to do whatever it took to get through the process quickly, because it is a process.

The first thing they did was schedule my blood test. I had to be fasting and had eaten half a piece of toast at 6 AM, so I had to wait 8 hrs after that, but it did work out luckily. I knew that James and I had the same blood type, but they also had to check everything about me to make sure I was healthy enough. Then they scheduled me to come in on Tuesday and to meet with everyone. You sit in a little room and person after person come in from their perspective backgrounds, ie, finance, social work, nutrician. They each tell you what to expect with becoming a donor. The truth is, as they like to point out, there is all risk and no reward for the donor, except that you are saving a life.

For me that is not to true because I get to have my wonderful husband back. I don't have to watch him suffer anymore. My children get to have their father back and hopefully someday soon we will get to move on with our lives together. That's all I have ever asked for, so getting to be the person that makes that happen is actually an honor.

After everyone there cleared me to move forward I spent the afternoon going back and forth between James' hospital room and the tests downstairs. I had to have an EKG, a chest X-RAY and a spiral CT SCAN. James pushed himself to get out of the hospital and he was discharged by Tuesday night.