The Short Walk

Papers and vials for the lab

Walking across the street to the clinic

 












It's testing day!  Today I had an appointment set to get my physical, EKG and chest x-ray.  My papers and blood vials had arrived in the mail earlier this week, so I packed everything up and headed across the street to my doctor's office.

Waiting room

Temp Taking

 











Once I got there my doctor's office informed me that there might be an issue with my getting the tests taken at their clinic.  The issue seemed to be with the billing and the fact that my doctor's office would not participate in third party billing.  Hmmmm.... their solution was to instead bill me and have me try to get reimbursed by the Colorado Hospital.  Clearly this was not going to work, especially since the billing instructions ask the testing clinic to cover 30% as a goodwill discount since this is a donation process.  I was asked to go sit in the waiting room while they tried to sort everything out.

Finally the nurse came to get me and told me they would go ahead with the physical since that was being billed to my own insurance, and they would keep me posted about the rest of the testing.


Blood Pressure



Reagan keeping me company



 

My physical consisted of getting my medical history and the following: allergies, height, weight, temp, blood pressure, heart and lungs check, ears, nose, throat check, and a check on my abdomen to make sure there were not any lumps or bumps.  I had already had my pap done two months prior, so it was not necessary to get that done again.

Once we were through with that we got a call from the billing department letting us know that I would need to go to the hospital for the rest of the testing, as my doctor's office would not do the necessary third party billing.  Frustrating?  A little.  But the good news was that once I sat down with the appointments gal, she was able to get me in tomorrow morning for the remainder of my tests. 

Getting my physical

Papers for the lab

 

So the line up for tomorrow:

- EKG

- Chest X-ray

- Abdominal Angiogram

- Dozens of blood tests

Bright and early.... 6:45 am appointment to get it all taken care of.  Then I will also be collecting another pee jug for my second 24 hour collection.  Good times!

More tomorrow....

And the Verdict Is.....

Anatomy of our innards

Success!  I received word from Colorado that according to my first round of labs that my kidneys are functioning normally.  Whew!  What a relief.  I guess I had never considered up until this point that there was a possibility that my kidneys might not be functioning normally.  What a kick in the pants that would have been, huh?  But thankfully it appears that all is well.

So anyway, I digress....  My secure message from the University of Colorado Hospital (sent via email), told me that I would have several more labs to do, an informational CD to watch and a social worker consult.  The next series of labs would be a bit more involved than what I had just participated in.  Here is what is on the agenda:

§  Laboratory Tests

        Albumin                         Creatinine                      CBC w/differential

            Alk Phos                       Glucose                         PT/PTT

            ALT(SGPT)                    LDH                              HIV

            AST(SGOT)                   Magnesium                   Hep B Surface Ag

            BUN                             Phosphorus                  Hep C Antibody

            Bilirubin-total                 Potassium                    EBV

            Calcium                        Protein-total                  Urinalysis

            Cholesterol                   Sodium                         Urine C&S

            CO2                              Uric Acid                       CMV IgG/IgM

            Hgb A1c

           

24 Hr urine for creatinine clearance and protein (2nd collection)

HLA/Crossmatch 

§  Health Maintenance Testing

           

1.  Pap smear for all females (within past year or repeat)

§  Consults

1.     History and Physical by Primary Care Physician

2.     Evaluation by Transplant Social Worker 

§  Other

1. Chest x-ray

2. EKG

        3. CT abdominal Angiogram -Clinical Question: Anatomy for Laparoscopic Kidney Donation.  Please include size of kidneys and dictate on bilateral vessels of kidneys.

Sounds like fun, right?!  So my physical is scheduled for Thursday of next week.  That will include the chest x-ray and the EKG.  The rest of my labs will be done at the hospital once I receive my many, many vials in the mail!  I am looking forward to watching the informational DVD that is being sent to me.  I have a feeling there are things that I have not even thought to wonder about. 

So until then, it is life as usual.  For a bit of fun, I attended a Brewer's game tonight with my friend Julie.  How cute are we?

Girls in a glove

Down the Hatch

Glucose beverage... um, yum?

Hanging in the waiting room.

Glucose test day.  Dum da dum!  I have been dreading this part of the testing.  I am a big fat baby about eating or drinking things that are disagreeable to me.  I am a VERY healthy eater, and I never ever drink sugary drinks, so I was very worried that I would end up gagging and not be able to choke the drink down.

After fasting since 8 pm last night, I arrived at the hospital at 9 am to get a fasting blood draw.  One little needle stick, a vial of blood and I was sent back out to the waiting room.  I hung out there for about fifteen minutes while my vial of blood was tested and then they brought me the dreaded bottle.  I was instructed to drink it quickly, in five minutes or less.  I unscrewed the cap, smelled it, took a tentative sip... and realized that I had psyched myself out for nothing.  Flat orange soda is what it tasted like.  No big deal at all.  Would I drink it on a daily basis?  Absolutely not.  But I can handle it for this test. 

So I slugged the drink down and then was instructed to come back in two hours for the next blood draw.  Within about ten minutes I started to feel pretty sick to my stomach.  The glucose drink certainly did not agree with me.  I went home and laid down for an hour and a half and tried to ignore the growing nausea.  After two hours I headed back to the lab and had my next blood draw done.  And that was it!  All in all a pretty darn easy set of labs.  Now I just have to wait for the results to come back from Colorado to determine what the next step is.  Will I pass?  I sure hope so!

Vial of my blood.

Visit to the Lab



Paperwork for the lab





Driving to the hospital



Today was the start of my labs process, the first steps in testing for kidney donation.  I printed out the forms that Vonnie from the University of Colorado Hospital had emailed me and drove over to the Fort Atkinson hospital to pick up my lab supplies. 



The first couple of tests in the kidney donation process include:

• 24 hour Urine for Creatinine Clearance and Protein (this includes a serum Creatinine for calculation)
• Oral Glucose Tolerance Test (Fasting Glucose and 2 hour glucose)
• Height
• Weight
• Blood Pressure

Fort Atkinson hospital

Entering the lab

I was picking up my "pee" jug today... a big jug that I would collect my urine in for 24 hours.  The contents of the jug will be analyzed in a Creatinine Clearance and Protein test.

The creatinine clearance test compares the level of creatinine in urine with the creatinine level in the blood. (Creatinine is a breakdown product of creatine, which is an important part of muscle.) The test helps provide information on kidney function.

Pee jug

My supplies

Got pee?

So this is what I am working with.... I will spare you photos of the collection process!  Anyway, this lab will be done this week and then next week I will be doing the glucose test.  Reallllllyy looking forward to that one!  If any of you have ever had a baby you have had to drink that nasty bottle of glucose gunk.  That is what I get to do for this test too.  I will certainly need lots of crossed fingers and prayers for that one!  More info soon! Love and hope.... ~LL





My Social Media Discovery

For anyone who doubts the power of social networking, let me be the first to tell you that you can accomplish ANYTHING if you network about it enough. 

What Started It All

On May 11th I was browsing through my news feed and saw a post by someone in La Crosse that I am friends with on FB.  Now, I do not actually know a lot of the people I am friends with on FB.  I use the site for marketing purposes for my agency and music clients, and more than likely added this person in La Crosse back when I had a show there for Ty Brown (star of The Bachelorette and Nashville country singer). 

The post said: "White chocolate mocha topped with whipped cream.  Thanks Starbucks."  Not super attention getting, right?  But the post underneath it was.  A woman named Roxanne Hamilton Guberud had posted a response, "Ann, you have over 800 friends... I am going to post this personal request... for all of you who spent money on expensive coffee this morning (and those who did not)... please consider donating to a good friend awaiting a kidney donor .  He needs a living donor and also funds."

My interest was piqued.  Who was this person who needed help?  And how bad was the problem?  I went to Roxanne's FB page and scrolled through her posts until I found a link to a news article.  Article  The article talked about a man named Michael Pastur who was originally from La Crosse, Wisconsin but now lived in Colorado.  The article described the rocky road that Michael has been on.  In the past 2 1/2 years he has been treated for two blood cancers, received a stem cell transplant, survived a heart attack and lost his kidney function.  He has kidney dialysis three days a week and was being placed on an active kidney transplant list.

Could I help? 

Quite possibly.  I wrote back to Roxanne asking for more information and to find out what blood type Michael needed.  It turned out that Michael could be matched with either type O or type B blood.  My blood type is B+ so I knew that I could be put into the running to be considered as a donor. To me it was a no brainer.  This man needs help.  I might be able to help him, so why not try?  I have always believed in being a donor and have donated platelets for over a decade now.  I also helped two families have babies by being an egg donor five years ago.  I knew a bit about kidney donation because my sister had looked into it a few months ago, and I knew that with  my ultra healthy lifestyle I would be an ideal donor. 

So what next?

I asked Roxanne to give me the information for the next steps.  She provided me with the donor team's information at the University of Denver Hospital and told me to get in touch with them, and also provided steps in the process that I could expect to go through.  So I placed the call to the team in Colorado and had them send me all of the paperwork to begin the screening process.  The forms were what you would expect: basic info, health questionnaire, family history, etc.  No surprises, nothing difficult.  I completed the forms, scanned them into my computer and sent them back to the donor team.  I received a call back letting me know that they were going over my information and would be in touch with me soon.  My blood type and health history all were perfect, but they needed to look at some other factors. 

The Verdict

I received a phone call from Colorado.  I was told that unfortunately I was too small to be a match for Michael.  What?  I have a healthy kidney here... what's the problem?  Apparently for kidney transplants to be successful the size of the organ needs to be a close match.  I am a small woman, short and thin, while Michael is a tall muscular man.  The size difference in our kidneys would have been a bad match and his body probably would have rejected it. Great.  So now what?

The Alternative

Well, now that my size has failed me, what were my other options to help Michael?  I hated for this to be the end of the road.  So I was presented with option number two, which is a Paired donation.  A paired donation is a sort of "pay it forward" kidney trade where one willing donor that does not match their own recipient gives to an unknown recipient who in turn has a willing donor who will match up with the first donor's recipient.  Everyone wins!  Okay, this sounds like a great option too.  Maybe even better... save two lives instead of one, right?  Yes.  I'm in.

So I gave Colorado the go ahead and they sent me my lab orders.  Next week I begin the actual physical process of all of this and do the labs to determine if I am approved as a donor.  I am experiencing a number of emotions right now, but mostly I feel hopeful anticipation that I will be able to complete this successfully and help save Michael's life.  How cool would that be?  So follow me in the next few weeks and I will do my best to chronicle this entire event, what I experience, how I feel, pictures, comments, the whole nine yards.  I want this to be a very interactive experience for everyone following me so that maybe someday YOU will consider being a donor too!

Love and hope....

~LL