One year ago today I donated my left kidney to my daughter Taylor. Life changing for our family to say the least.
Taylor suffers from a genetic disease called Nephronthesis and was diagnosed with no real symptoms besides tiredness and a high Creatinine level when she was 11. At that time she had about 60% of a regular 11 year olds kidney function. We would watch it drop to about 15% or so by the time we went through the transplant last year when she was 15.
The run up to transplant was fairly slow. We thought the transplant would be in about a year after the diagnosis but those little kidneys held on somewhat for almost 4 years instead.
Not that the four years were uneventful, almost every month Taylor would end up in the hospital with dehydration from her kidneys doing a terrible job of regulating her water level. We also went through a lot of stress as a family with changing medications, missing lots of school and home schooling, as well as lots of doctors and specialists appointments.
Taylor’s Nephrectomy and Transplant Prep
Because of the type of kidney disease that Taylor was suffering from we had a very major surgery that Taylor had to go through a few weeks before the kidney transplant. That surgery is called a Nephrectomy and is a surgery to remove her two crappy kidneys and to get her prepared for dialysis.
It may seem a bit radical to take out a persons kidneys and in fact usually in the event that a person needs a kidney transplant the new kidney would just be added to the mix, in Taylor’s case though her two kidneys would make the healing process from a transplant much more difficult as she could not retain water.
So back in May of 2015 Taylor had her two kidneys removed and started dialysis. This was really difficult for us to adjust to, as you can imagine, but Taylor knew why and we were just marching forward.
The surgery was a great success, we got trained on how to work the dialysis equipment and then we went how with Taylor continuing homeschooling and doing dialysis overnight for 10 hours or so a day at home.
There is a lot of healing that has to go on after having your kidneys pulled and so we just waited for Taylor to heal well and to get a date for the transplant. This healing is expected to take 5 weeks, we ended up waiting about 10 weeks I think and then Taylor was more than ready for the transplant surgery, I think really she was ready the week after her Nephrectomy.
My Getting Ready for Kidney Donation
As for my getting ready for transplant, the doctors said don’t worry about it but of course I did. The fact is that there is not much you can do for your kidney to be a better donor, your life up to that point dictates it all.
My own health on the other hand was very important to me. I tried to make sure to get my diet, overall health and muscle as good as possible knowing that I would be a bit of a couch potato for a while after surgery.
I was of course very anxious to get the transplant done and was tested fairly quickly and then again a year ago last Spring to make sure that I was a great match as well as a healthy kidney donor.
Our poor son Jaiden ended up missing out on some stuff and of course not getting as much attention as a little boy should get. We have always tried to keep lots of attention on him but it can be difficult. I can assure you though that this was top of mind to us and now he is as well adjusted as any crazy, hormonal, 12 year old boy can be.
Kidney Transplant Day
I remember so clearly that morning a year ago today waking up excited in the Alberta Childrens Hospital knowing that I could finally really help my daughter for the better. I think Taylor and I were both very excited compared to my poor wife Michelle and my son Jaiden being just nervous and scared.
We both slept through our surgeries
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