Anyone here ever donate an organ? Looking for feedback.

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edro

Lifer
Apr 5, 2002
24,326
68
91
How much does a kidney weigh?
At least you will have an instant weight loss. :)

I have always wondered if you would get a kind of cavity in your side from where the kidney was taken out. I know that bodily fluids and organs will fill the space, but it seems like a little bit of an indention would appear.

I can't really think of a more gratifying action than donating an organ to a family member. Good job!
 

akshatp

Diamond Member
Oct 15, 1999
8,349
0
76
How much does a kidney weigh?
At least you will have an instant weight loss. :)

I have always wondered if you would get a kind of cavity in your side from where the kidney was taken out. I know that bodily fluids and organs will fill the space, but it seems like a little bit of an indention would appear.

I can't really think of a more gratifying action than donating an organ to a family member. Good job!

Heh I dont think the few ounces will make any difference on the scale :) And from the way the procedure was explained to me, the kidney is actually only about 5cm at its widest point, so its very small. I dont think there will be any "air pockets" left over.

Donating a kidney to save a family member is almost something most people would do automatically, I would think. The real heroes are people who arbitrarily donate kidneys, livers, etc to complete random strangers without looking for anything but a thank you in return. I have talked to a few over the last couple of months, and I am nothing short of amazed at their courage. Most of them say if they could give another ten, they would. Kudos to them.
 

preCRT

Platinum Member
Apr 12, 2000
2,340
123
106
You are saving a life. There is nothing anyone can do in life that is greater than that.


Best wishes for successful surgeries and complete recoveries for both of you.
 

Kreon

Golden Member
Oct 22, 2006
1,329
0
0
Good for you OP. Giving a part of yourself is the hardest, most noble thing to give.
 

akshatp

Diamond Member
Oct 15, 1999
8,349
0
76
Update

Since the surgery was postponed and we had an "extra" weekend, me and the wife went to the poconos for our "last wknd of the summer", so I apologize for not posting earlier. While we were there, we got a call from my bro-in-law letting us know that Tuesdays surgery has also been postponed.

The problem still is that my sister is not responding to the plasmapheresis as they expected, and she still has antibodies against me in her blood, which would make it hard for her body to accept the new kidney., This is an unforeseen obstacle, and the nephrologist at Columbia said that it is rare for the pheresis not to work within the first 4-5 treatments.

We are meeting with her personal nephrologist today to see what her options are; they dont want to keep doing the pheresis treatments, because it is risky and also the chance of it working goes exponentially down with each treatment.

At this point they don't know if she will be able to use my kidney at all, and we are all kind of in limbo until we find out more from the doctors. Ill keep you all updated as I find out.

Its been an emotional roller coaster for me and my wife, and I truly appreciate all of the kind words and well wishes from all of you.
 

alkemyst

No Lifer
Feb 13, 2001
83,769
19
81

Cliffs...brother donates part of his liver to his brother who has a disease that keeps him out of running for the liver lottery.

The donator runs into complications and dies.

Sad on many levels. Hopefully the living brother can deal with this.

Not many know that you can donate part of your liver and it will grow back to it's full size in both patients.

For the most part our bodies have redundant systems, losing a liver is a serious one, but with this regeneration process it makes it a really interesting organ.
 

Terzo

Platinum Member
Dec 13, 2005
2,589
27
91
Bumping in hopes of an update from OP. Surgery should have been performed by now, aye?