More Tests....Then....

My next set of tests to be performed were what is called "tissue typing" or "cross matching." They sent me a lab slip to bring to my local Kaiser, which is where I got the blood drawn. (I've never gave so much blood in my life....)

Basically, these tests are done to make sure our tissues and cells won't fight each other. Being brother and sister we did this alot when we were younger....LOL I'm no doctor or anything but in a nutshell, these tests are done to make sure my sisters body won't fight off my kidney and or reject it if and when I was to donate. I got the results in a week or so and all was well in this area. I was cleared to move forward...

[Again, more feeling inside that this is going to happen. I am going to donate my kidney to my sister...]

Once cleared of the tissue typing, I had to collect urine and bowel movements (pretty sick method) for them to analyze as well. They sent me all the required tools and collection utensils I would need for these tests. Off all the tests, this was probably the one where my sister's ear's must have been ringing. LOL I hated doing them. I didn't mind collecting my urine for 24 hours but collecting the other movement...for three days! UGH!!! I couldn't wait for that part to be over. I had to set up another appointment for them to do EKG's and some other stuff so I planned it to be around the time when I was ready to turn in my "stuff." I had to go to Kaiser in SF for this part. This is where the transplant team resides and a series of other tests were to follow...

My wife and I (Thanks for coming along for all the trips. You are truly the best!) made the trip to the city. I remember we were almost late cause of all the lookie loo's during the morning rush. We had to go the lab first to drop off my "stuff." Boy was I ready to get rid of that. After I dropped off my "stuff" and gave more blood, I was scheduled to see one of the doctor's (nephrologist). She examined me and explained the procedure. We talked about a few things and she kept examining me. After I saw her I was scheduled for an EKG test (which I passed with flying colors). Then I had to do a chest xray. They did a breathing tests on me as well. Forgot what it was called though but it was pretty hard. I had to blow in to this device as hard as I could for as long as I could. Basically try to get rid of any and all air in my chest. Sounds easy but the amount of times and length of exhaling gets to you after awhile. My stomach was so sore after this. Felt like I did a thousand crunches....

Next thing was to meet the social worker. She pretty much examines to see if you are psychologically ready to go through a surgery like this and to make sure you are comfortable with your decision. She was a really nice lady...

All of these tests took place in one day. It was rough but well worth it. I had a glucose screening that I had left to do so I scheduled that when I was ready to fast again and sit for 3 hours with nothing but that sugar water they give you prior to the tests.

After all of this, I found out a few weeks later that I passed everything. This was really good news! The only thing left for me to do was to take a CT scan (angiogram) of my kidneys. This is done to verify I have that I indeed have two good kidneys and which one they would be taking....

[Again, I had this feeling inside that this is going to happen. I am going to donate my kidney to my sister...]

Unfortunately, we never got to this part. For those who are aware of Kaiser and their Kidney Transplant Department, the department was shutdown due to somesort of negligience on their part. Long story short, Kaiser used to outsource their kidney transplant patients to UCSF. They figured they would get smart and hire the right staff to do it internally within Kaiser. They did and were somewhat successful in it. But during the 'merge' of doing it all internally, patient records and other stuff were mishandled or something. The end result was Kaiser had lost their department. They now outsorce to UCSF again or whomever depending on the region where you are at.

This kind of sucked for both me and my sister considering we were so close. We had to see if and when we would be sent to UCSF and what would need to be done to continue this journey....not very good news for her.