Guest Post by Jason Garcia - Week 4
After a month of being in the process of looking to donate a kidney, I’d have to say the most important thing is to be patient. Everyone has been amazing thus far and things have moved as they should, but there’s nothing like that feeling of wanting to help now. Since the great relief of last week’s revelation that my glucose levels aren’t off and that I’m not pre-diabetic, I was able to visit Stanford to have my kidneys looked at more closely.
It’s actually the first time I’ve been to Stanford. Their name is on the insurance provider for this, and not a third-party clinic for my testing. If you haven’t been there before, you’re in for a treat. First off, the scheduling was easy and I got the exact time I was hoping for. This test is an ultrasound designed to confirm that I, (A) have two kidneys, and (B) they’re healthy enough to run things on their own.
I remember attending at least one ultrasound with my wife when we were pregnant with each of our daughters. It was a little odd trying to connect to the image on the screen when it’s tough to know what you’re even looking at. I recall having to force a smile, because you’re supposed to say they look cute and all, but I wasn’t feeling it, since it looked more like a Rorschach blotch than a human baby.
I’ve got to say, you know you’re somewhere special when there’s valet parking. I arrived a little early to the surprise of someone parking my car for me! I checked myself in and only waited fifteen minutes before being called in. I had to wear the standard patient garb with the open back, but I only had to loosen my pants and not go full birthday suit which I appreciated. It was funny being on this end of the ultrasound where Melanie was during our visits to the hospital.
The image specialist squirted the warm gel on my lower abdomen, and started pressing a wand that looked like a store checkout handheld scanner below my belly button. I didn’t have to fast for this test, but I did have to drink three glasses of water an hour before. It felt like she zeroed in on my bladder, because I was feeling the pressure begin to make me clench. She actually was looking for my bladder and said it looked good, and the water was designed to expand it to see inside. She then mercifully suggested I go to the bathroom, because the kidneys didn’t require a full bladder to examine.
The day before the exam, I was able to sit down and read a great comic book on chronic kidney disease with my nine year old daughter that explained the kidney’s function extremely well. Niem had given it to me and I thought it would be a good way to get her to understand what he’s going through and why I’m looking into being a donor. It was amazing and really did a great job explaining it in a way that she could understand and connect to. Medikids, which is written by doctors, is a must if you have children, and you want to find an easy way to talk to them about CKD.
Once I came back from the most relieving relieving I’ve ever had, we looked into my kidneys. I had to prop myself at an angle while laying down, so she could wave the wand at an angle, since they’re in the back of your mid-section. At first, I thought I was pregnant, because I thought I saw a face, but it turned out to be my liver. We confirmed I had two kidneys and that they looked healthy. Unlike the previous tests, the results are immediate and I can walk away satisfied knowing I passed. In total, I’m there no more than forty minutes and I walk over to the valet and I’m in my car heading over to Philz coffee to meet Niem for dinner at Coconuts Caribbean.
I update him on the great news of the health of my kidneys. I then share with him that I’ve learned from Rachel about the order of the testing that’s remaining. This is after first giving blood to find out my blood type and overall health, which revealed possible elevated glucose levels. Then giving blood twice in the Fasting Blood Glucose test which revealed they were normal and belongs in the category of the asterisk you see at the bottom in case you were wondering.
1. Psychosocial phone screening
2. Histocompatibility
3. Donor Evaluation (meet with MD, SW and RN, and routine labs/urine including 24 hour urine collection, CXR, EKG)
4. Psychiatry Consultation
5. MR Abdomen
6. Surgical Evaluation
*However, if any of the above is abnormal, further testing or evaluation may be necessary prior to proceeding with the next step.
As you can see, there are still a few steps to go. As Niem and I look at the list, we see that they’re of course designed to make sure that all of the factors that can be controlled are looked into deeply. This is not brain surgery, but it is organ surgery, so I need to feel reassured that the pace of the process is by design. Everything must be evaluated, checked in on and tested twice if need be because surgery is an involved thing.
I look forward to Rachel’s phone call next week on the next step.