First, some very good news--Mom had blood work 4/1 and there wasn't any worsening of her BUN/creatinine, so there shouldn't be a need for dialysis before surgery.
Nathan and I spent Thursday 4/3 at the hospital for more donor evaluation testing. It was a very long day, and started early in the morning.
The first order of the day was a CT-angio. This is a special scan to evaluate the number of arteries and veins connected to each kidney. Usually there is one of each, but some people have more. Mine are normal with one each. The technician thought he saw a stone on the scan, which brought on an awful sense of dread. I had a kidney stone in 2003 and if I had additional stones on the CT I would likely be excluded from donating.
Next was an appointment with a social worker for an hour, followed by more blood and urine tests. Nathan and I (and two other potential donors) met with a nurse educator. She told us some more details about the surgery process. Then I went to a different building for a chest x-ray. Since I was at this hospital for medical school and residency (8 years in all) I knew how to get a copy of my CT scan. I used Nathan's MacBook to go view my scans--no stone that I could see. Finally at about 5 pm we met with my surgeon, and he agreed, no stone.
However, he was concerned about my history of a kidney stone. He ordered two 24-hour urine collections to make sure there are no metabolic reasons I would form more stones in the future. Having a kidney stone could be more dangerous in a patient with only one kidney, if it wasn't treated expeditiously. I'm working 6p-8a nights all week, so it looks like I'm going to be carrying a big jug of urine to the hospital...
Sarah
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