This morning in the post I received a couple of letters from the department of nuclear medicine at my local hospital, The Royal Sussex County. I’ve to call them to make appointments, first for my NM Glomerular Filtration Rate (GFR) Cr51 EDTA and my Renogram MAG3 examinations, which is all jolly exciting. Especially as only yesterday I was almost bemoaning the length everything was taking! From what I understand the GFR is likely to take around four and a bit hours and is all to assess how well my kidneys actually do work. A small amount of a radioactive isotope is injected into a vein in my arm and then at regular intervals throughout the four hours they’ll take a sample of blood from my other arm which is then tested to see how much of the radioactive material (that‘s the Cr51 EDTA bit I think!), if any, is still there in my blood.
The other one, the renogram MAG3 starts off in a similar fashion, in that a radioactive isotope (the MAG3 bit) is injected into one of my veins, probably in the arm or the back of the hand then they give me a jolly good scan. Apparently I’ll probably be on the table or couch as they call it, for about twenty-five minutes, although sometimes they take delayed images of the kidneys, so I might have a second scan, either way it will all take about an hour from start to finish, so not too long at all. This test evaluates the functioning of my kidneys as well as providing images of my kidneys inner bits and bobs so the doctors can make sure they are healthy and normal and both work fine enabling me function properly when one is snipped out!
Rear view of the Royal Sussex |
The counselling session went better than expected, I felt so at ease and the counsellor was lovely, allowing me to waffle on and on for ages. Together we explored my reasons for opting for altruistic donation, how ready I am for all the possible difficulties that might arise as a result of donation, such as infections, illnesses or even the very very remote one of death. None of which I am overly worried about, the estimated odds of death during or as a result of the operation are 1 in 3000, the same odds of getting struck by lightening and oh so much better than the odds of dying in a car crash, which is a crazy 1 in 200! We also went over possible anti-climactic feelings I might experience after the operation has been completed, which apparently are quite common and normal, however I think I'm prepared for that possibility by throwing myself in to helping raise awareness of altruistic organ donation as much as I conceivably can in any way I can. Our session lasted over an hour and I'm sure we covered every single thing we needed to and loads more besides and I'm pretty sure I've passed this mental evaluation. I also learnt more about what life is like on dialysis and the differences after a successful transplant which made me more positive, if that were possible, about what I'm doing, to me this is not an amazing thing to do, it’s just the right thing to do!
Cycling on the way home after today's counselling session I stopped and took a few photos of a slight rough sea and clear yet cold sky. I missed the sunset but I think I managed to capture the beauty of the twilight time!
2 comments:
You're not odd at all Jay...
For me it was a challenge, as soon as testing was mentioned, I just wanted to pass them all. They do amazing work in hospital which I think we can better appreciate because we don't have to be there and I took pictures of as much of it as they would let me.
I also have to say, you altruistic donors are really special. I was motivated by knowing my recipient (a former co-worked). I took her to my counselling sessions even though she wasn’t suppose to have been there so they could ensure I was not being cohorst.
Thanks for sharing and long may your good health continue...
Raph, thanks so much for coming over to comment, I really do appreciate it. Yes most I agree most of the staff do a wonderful amazing job there (exception might be some of the receptionists!)
Oh taking photos, I hadn't thought of that, but what a great idea, I'll see if I can do that from now on, be great to put on here and look back at from time to time.
As for being really special, thank you that's really nice of you to say, although I don't think of myself as any more special than any of us who choose to donate part of our body to others, regardless of whether we know the recipient or not.
Thanks again for your lovely comment and good wishes.
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