At last, I have had the first interview plus had a load of blood samples taken. It seemed to me that things were going a bit slowly so it was good to spend a couple of hours at my local hospital's transplant centre and get things started properly. It's also quite a funny feeling going for a hospital appointment when you are not actually unwell at all; then you get treated very well, as though you are valuable and an important person - is this now a mark of the NHS for all patients or are donors given special treatment? It was when I saw a stamp on my documents saying "Potential Live Donor" that I realised that perhaps a live donor is indeed valuable not just to the recipient but to the NHS, due to the fact that the donation will save the NHS thousands in the coming years.
I had thought that the slow start was due to me living some way from London, and thus unable to easily attend the same hospital, but it seems that the recipient, my younger brother, has also only just started the actual transplant process. The good news he has is that his kidney function (eGFR) has actually gone up from 17 to 19, so things are looking a little less critical for now. He spent most of last year stable in the mid 20s. I understand that at 15 they want to be actually organising the transplant so it can get done before the need for dialysis which starts when it gets down to 10. If the recipient avoids dialysis then apparently it reduces the possibility of rejection and improves the chances of everything staying healthy for longer, just as having a transplant from a living donor (LD) is more beneficial than a cadaveric donation (i.e. a dead person).
So, now the recipient and both potential donors have all had the blood samples taken for tissue typing and cross-matching. This will get done in the next two weeks and then a decision needs to be made about the donor as they want to go ahead with just one at a time. If just one of us is suitable then there's no real decision as we are both already willing and committed. If we are both suitable, I think that it's down to us to decide who should be Number 1, and I have no idea how we will make that decision apart from prayer. I think I've been told that it's unlikely for both donor brothers to not be suitable at this stage, but if that was the case then Tim is back to square one looking for other potential donors (of which there is already at least one of the right blood group, although not a blood relative).
One question which was asked yesterday was how I felt about the idea. This is very hard to put into words, but I have no worries and no concerns. Why would I not offer? Personally, it seems to me that if I can, I will; no question. I imagine that Nick, the other potential LD, has the same feelings as
myself about it, which basically is that "of course I'll do it for my
brother - I would hope he'd do it for me" etc. By law payment is not allowed and of course one wouldn't charge a brother anyway, but I don't even think that any thanks would be needed to be
said as I will know how he feels afterwards. I know that I already feel very emotional about what this would mean for Tim - in fact, calling him to offer a kidney was a curiously hard phone call to make - I could hardly get the words out because of the emotional feeling. To me it is almost a foregone conclusion - it's down to me and I have no hesitation in volunteering. I do feel quite disinterested and detached from the issues which people mention; I think that having effectively made the decision already means that I just want to keep going down this road one step at a time, as far as I can, and I would not be happy in myself if I chickened out for any selfish reason. Why would I not want my brother to be healthy?
Showing posts with label blood group. Show all posts
Showing posts with label blood group. Show all posts
Thursday 3 May 2012
Saturday 31 March 2012
The Situation Moves on
The current crisis came to a head when my brother went for a routine check-up a few weeks ago. Six weeks after the previous one, his kidney function (eGFR) was found to have fallen by a further 3% to only 18%. It seems that a transplant is usually desirable when it reaches 10%, so he hasn't got far to go if it carries on deteriorating at that rate.
The first requirement for a donor is to be of the right blood group. My brother is O Pos and I knew anyway that I am O Pos as well, as it was embossed on the HM Forces ID card for 16 years (and hopefully is correct!). My wife has also volunteered and she knows she is O Pos, being a long-standing blood donor. The other didn't know and had to find out; it turns out that just one other potential donor is also O Pos, but various other siblings have been ruled out, so at present there are three of us on the list. NB I found out later that the Rhesus Negative/Positive bit is irrelevant to kidney transplants.
The next step is matching tissue types. This can be done at any hospital which would save me a 60 mile each way trip, so I'll see what happens after I have spoken to the transplant nurse on Monday
There is a lot about this process which I don't know, but I found the Kidney Research UK website to be very helpful.
The first requirement for a donor is to be of the right blood group. My brother is O Pos and I knew anyway that I am O Pos as well, as it was embossed on the HM Forces ID card for 16 years (and hopefully is correct!). My wife has also volunteered and she knows she is O Pos, being a long-standing blood donor. The other didn't know and had to find out; it turns out that just one other potential donor is also O Pos, but various other siblings have been ruled out, so at present there are three of us on the list. NB I found out later that the Rhesus Negative/Positive bit is irrelevant to kidney transplants.
The next step is matching tissue types. This can be done at any hospital which would save me a 60 mile each way trip, so I'll see what happens after I have spoken to the transplant nurse on Monday
There is a lot about this process which I don't know, but I found the Kidney Research UK website to be very helpful.
Monday 26 March 2012
My Brother
My name is Matthew. For me, this journey started several years ago; my brother Tim mentioned casually that he had some problem with his kidneys and might need a transplant in the distant future if it continued to deteriorate. He is seven years younger than me and so was probably about 47 at the time, which seems a bit early in life to be having such problems. The thought then flitted across my mind that perhaps I should offer one of mine, but I heard no more about it and the problem seemed to have disappeared.
Then in February 2012 my mother asked if I had "heard about Tim". It transpired that his kidneys had indeed deteriorated and were now approaching the stage at which a transplant would be required. I called him and we chatted about his condition. He said something about waiting for a (dead) donor and I at once said that he could have one of mine. He laughed and said that I was about sixth on the list (we come from a large family). Some weeks later I received an e-mail sent by his wife to those of us who had made the offer. Basically the deterioration now was so much that the hospital had asked him to actively find a live donor, or rather two. The first question is blood group; Tim's is Type O and the hospital will take the first two volunteers who are compatible and see if either is a match in tissue type as well; if neither is, then they will work down the list!
Having once been in the armed forces I knew my blood group as it was embossed on my ID card. Personally I have that feeling in my bones that I will be the donor. You might know the feeling as well; it's a feeling of certainty which I have had just a few times in the past. Once was when I entered a competition (for me, a rare event) and was not at all surprised when I won; another time was when I wrote a letter to a national newspaper and just felt I knew that it would be published (it was).
Thus we got to a rather odd situation where five siblings had offered a kidney; we were asked to sort out between ourselves who would contact the hospital. At this stage in the proceedings only one of the others seems to know their blood group so we are waiting for some answers. In the meantime my own wife Jane has also volunteered as she also knows her blood group is compatible, being a long-time blood donor.
Then in February 2012 my mother asked if I had "heard about Tim". It transpired that his kidneys had indeed deteriorated and were now approaching the stage at which a transplant would be required. I called him and we chatted about his condition. He said something about waiting for a (dead) donor and I at once said that he could have one of mine. He laughed and said that I was about sixth on the list (we come from a large family). Some weeks later I received an e-mail sent by his wife to those of us who had made the offer. Basically the deterioration now was so much that the hospital had asked him to actively find a live donor, or rather two. The first question is blood group; Tim's is Type O and the hospital will take the first two volunteers who are compatible and see if either is a match in tissue type as well; if neither is, then they will work down the list!
Having once been in the armed forces I knew my blood group as it was embossed on my ID card. Personally I have that feeling in my bones that I will be the donor. You might know the feeling as well; it's a feeling of certainty which I have had just a few times in the past. Once was when I entered a competition (for me, a rare event) and was not at all surprised when I won; another time was when I wrote a letter to a national newspaper and just felt I knew that it would be published (it was).
Thus we got to a rather odd situation where five siblings had offered a kidney; we were asked to sort out between ourselves who would contact the hospital. At this stage in the proceedings only one of the others seems to know their blood group so we are waiting for some answers. In the meantime my own wife Jane has also volunteered as she also knows her blood group is compatible, being a long-time blood donor.
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