Starting the donor search

Although we're still waiting to meet with the cardiologist, they have given us the go ahead to start our donor search! Matt has now lost about 24 pounds and is feeling great (watch out ladies, he's all mine!!). He's been working out with a trainer a few days a week, and sticking to a pretty strict diet. He has to eat a low potassium, low sodium diet until the transplant. I didn't think it was going to be too difficult until I realized that potassium is basically in all your healthy foods. Fruits, vegetables, wholegrain pastas and breads, beans and nuts are all very high in potassium. So you can imagine how hard it is to eliminate all those foods from your diet and still lose weight! And then no salt on top of it all....bascially, dinner at our house lately tastes like cardboard! Regardless, he has been sticking to it, and it's working.....and luckily, he will be able to eat normal again post transplant.

So, there are 2 different ways to receive a new kidney. There are deceased donors and there are living donors. They are pretty self-explanatory, but there are some major differences between the two. When a deceased donor kidney is transplanted, it doesn't always work right away. Many times, the recipient needs to go on dialysis until the kidney starts working. With a living donor, the transplant is more successful, tends to last longer, and should work immediately. They also have more time with living donors, to thoroughly test the kidney to make sure it is a perfect match. With deceased donors, the time between the death and the transplant may weaken the kidney. So with good reason, our goal is to find a living donor.

Here is a link to the National Kidney Foundation Q&A site for people who are interested in donating: http://www.kidney.org/transplantation/livingdonors/infoQA.cfm
The information on this website is very generic and gives a basic overview of the process.

However, if you would like more detailed information, we encourage you to call the transplant team at Mass General. They prefer potential donors contact them directly, rather than have us relay information for confidentiality purposes. Being an organ donor is a huge decision and should not be taken lightly. The transplant team is not only there for Matt, and our family, but also for potential donors and their families. You can call them just to get information, it doesn't mean you are signing up for anything. You can also change your mind at ANY point during the process. Everything is confidential. We do not know anything until the time that the donor decides to tell us they would like to donate. (The website I provided says differently, but Mass General told us that it is completely up to the donor when they would like to inform us of their decision. We won't even know if someone makes a phone call.)

If you or someone you know is interested in more information about getting tested please contact Frank Korn at Mass General. He is a transplant coordinator who deals only with donors. His number is 617-643-6513.

The testing process can be lengthy. It can take several months for all the testing to be completed and they will only test 1 or 2 people at a time. When all is said and done, you will have had a very thorough exam and hopefully find that you have a clean bill of health.

If anyone has any other questions that I might be able to help with, feel free to email me anytime, mrsbonica26@gmail.com

Thanks for reading!