Living Donor: It's a huge responsibility

Anyone else feel overwhelmed with the preparations? My recipient and I are going into the paired pool to test the waters for a CMV neg donor for her. We did the testing at the end of November and had a little delay due to a repeat 24 hr bp test. We got the news on December 28th that we are approved. There are so many moving parts that I don't even know how to beging to prepare to step away from my business, home and fur babies.

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I was at Mayo for testing 3 weeks ago but so much has happened in such a short time that it seems like 3 years ago. I went by myself and after getting my test schedule, I'm glad I did, I would have felt bad for my husband hurrying up and waiting. It was also nice to go back to my hotel and rest, read and watch bad tv without worrying about if he was enjoying the trip. Before I left I cleaned the house and stocked the freezer for the family and for a few days of meals when I got home. We made the decision as a family for me to donate but I didn't want something that I was taking on to put my family too much off their routine while I was gone.
The testing process at Mayo was amazing and exhausting. I had 23 appointments & tests in 2 days and am still surprised that I (and the Mayo team) was able to accomplish so much in such a short time. I had 1 receptionist that was rushed and not outgoing and that was the worst of it. I would not have even noticed her manner at home, it was only compared to how outgoing, friendly and professional I found my team to be, that I noticed it.
For the surgery, my husband will be with me and 1 of my sons will stay at our house with the dogs. We have a website, "Nextdoor" that we use and found a college student that will also stay at our house so the dogs get some extra love and our son doesn't feel pressured to be home all the time. The beauty of this student is that he has 3 room mates and is happily staying for free to have a quieter place to live for a few weeks, some home cooked meals that I will stock for him and access to a free washer and dryer. I am leaving for surgery in 8 days and I have already started getting ready to go. I am both a planner and a procrastinator so I made a huge list of everything I want to get done before I leave, then broke it down into daily tasks. It works on paper but if I get to most of it, I'll be happy -I don't really need to clean the furnace filter before I go but yes, it's on the list.
I don't know if that helped anyone but it made me feel good to put it all in writing. Thanks for letting me post what should be in my journal, online!

Jump to this post

I was at Mayo for testing 3 weeks ago but so much has happened in such a short time that it seems like 3 years ago. I went by myself and after getting my test schedule, I'm glad I did, I would have felt bad for my husband hurrying up and waiting. It was also nice to go back to my hotel and rest, read and watch bad tv without worrying about if he was enjoying the trip. Before I left I cleaned the house and stocked the freezer for the family and for a few days of meals when I got home. We made the decision as a family for me to donate but I didn't want something that I was taking on to put my family too much off their routine while I was gone.
The testing process at Mayo was amazing and exhausting. I had 23 appointments & tests in 2 days and am still surprised that I (and the Mayo team) was able to accomplish so much in such a short time. I had 1 receptionist that was rushed and not outgoing and that was the worst of it. I would not have even noticed her manner at home, it was only compared to how outgoing, friendly and professional I found my team to be, that I noticed it.
For the surgery, my husband will be with me and 1 of my sons will stay at our house with the dogs. We have a website, "Nextdoor" that we use and found a college student that will also stay at our house so the dogs get some extra love and our son doesn't feel pressured to be home all the time. The beauty of this student is that he has 3 room mates and is happily staying for free to have a quieter place to live for a few weeks, some home cooked meals that I will stock for him and access to a free washer and dryer. I am leaving for surgery in 8 days and I have already started getting ready to go. I am both a planner and a procrastinator so I made a huge list of everything I want to get done before I leave, then broke it down into daily tasks. It works on paper but if I get to most of it, I'll be happy -I don't really need to clean the furnace filter before I go but yes, it's on the list.
I don't know if that helped anyone but it made me feel good to put it all in writing. Thanks for letting me post what should be in my journal, online!

Jump to this post

I was at Mayo for testing 3 weeks ago but so much has happened in such a short time that it seems like 3 years ago. I went by myself and after getting my test schedule, I'm glad I did, I would have felt bad for my husband hurrying up and waiting. It was also nice to go back to my hotel and rest, read and watch bad tv without worrying about if he was enjoying the trip. Before I left I cleaned the house and stocked the freezer for the family and for a few days of meals when I got home. We made the decision as a family for me to donate but I didn't want something that I was taking on to put my family too much off their routine while I was gone.
The testing process at Mayo was amazing and exhausting. I had 23 appointments & tests in 2 days and am still surprised that I (and the Mayo team) was able to accomplish so much in such a short time. I had 1 receptionist that was rushed and not outgoing and that was the worst of it. I would not have even noticed her manner at home, it was only compared to how outgoing, friendly and professional I found my team to be, that I noticed it.
For the surgery, my husband will be with me and 1 of my sons will stay at our house with the dogs. We have a website, "Nextdoor" that we use and found a college student that will also stay at our house so the dogs get some extra love and our son doesn't feel pressured to be home all the time. The beauty of this student is that he has 3 room mates and is happily staying for free to have a quieter place to live for a few weeks, some home cooked meals that I will stock for him and access to a free washer and dryer. I am leaving for surgery in 8 days and I have already started getting ready to go. I am both a planner and a procrastinator so I made a huge list of everything I want to get done before I leave, then broke it down into daily tasks. It works on paper but if I get to most of it, I'll be happy -I don't really need to clean the furnace filter before I go but yes, it's on the list.
I don't know if that helped anyone but it made me feel good to put it all in writing. Thanks for letting me post what should be in my journal, online!

Jump to this post

I was at Mayo for testing 3 weeks ago but so much has happened in such a short time that it seems like 3 years ago. I went by myself and after getting my test schedule, I'm glad I did, I would have felt bad for my husband hurrying up and waiting. It was also nice to go back to my hotel and rest, read and watch bad tv without worrying about if he was enjoying the trip. Before I left I cleaned the house and stocked the freezer for the family and for a few days of meals when I got home. We made the decision as a family for me to donate but I didn't want something that I was taking on to put my family too much off their routine while I was gone.
The testing process at Mayo was amazing and exhausting. I had 23 appointments & tests in 2 days and am still surprised that I (and the Mayo team) was able to accomplish so much in such a short time. I had 1 receptionist that was rushed and not outgoing and that was the worst of it. I would not have even noticed her manner at home, it was only compared to how outgoing, friendly and professional I found my team to be, that I noticed it.
For the surgery, my husband will be with me and 1 of my sons will stay at our house with the dogs. We have a website, "Nextdoor" that we use and found a college student that will also stay at our house so the dogs get some extra love and our son doesn't feel pressured to be home all the time. The beauty of this student is that he has 3 room mates and is happily staying for free to have a quieter place to live for a few weeks, some home cooked meals that I will stock for him and access to a free washer and dryer. I am leaving for surgery in 8 days and I have already started getting ready to go. I am both a planner and a procrastinator so I made a huge list of everything I want to get done before I leave, then broke it down into daily tasks. It works on paper but if I get to most of it, I'll be happy -I don't really need to clean the furnace filter before I go but yes, it's on the list.
I don't know if that helped anyone but it made me feel good to put it all in writing. Thanks for letting me post what should be in my journal, online!

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Six plus, years ago I received the gift of life, a liver transplant !
If it weren’t for my most generous donor and Mayo I’d not be here today, thank GOD !
In October I had my annual 6yr liver check up ( 21 appointments ). Not all of them were relating to my new liver, in fact everything regarding my transplant is going GREAT. I have a few other issues that the folks at Mayo are monitoring, treating, healing, and doing what ever miracle workers do.
Every year my wife and I look forward to our visit to Rochester and make a mini-vacation of it. For me life is going great and I pray that anyone afflicted with this disease will hang in there, follow the medical teams advice, and have the same results .
GOD BLESS !

Jump to this post

I was at Mayo for testing 3 weeks ago but so much has happened in such a short time that it seems like 3 years ago. I went by myself and after getting my test schedule, I'm glad I did, I would have felt bad for my husband hurrying up and waiting. It was also nice to go back to my hotel and rest, read and watch bad tv without worrying about if he was enjoying the trip. Before I left I cleaned the house and stocked the freezer for the family and for a few days of meals when I got home. We made the decision as a family for me to donate but I didn't want something that I was taking on to put my family too much off their routine while I was gone.
The testing process at Mayo was amazing and exhausting. I had 23 appointments & tests in 2 days and am still surprised that I (and the Mayo team) was able to accomplish so much in such a short time. I had 1 receptionist that was rushed and not outgoing and that was the worst of it. I would not have even noticed her manner at home, it was only compared to how outgoing, friendly and professional I found my team to be, that I noticed it.
For the surgery, my husband will be with me and 1 of my sons will stay at our house with the dogs. We have a website, "Nextdoor" that we use and found a college student that will also stay at our house so the dogs get some extra love and our son doesn't feel pressured to be home all the time. The beauty of this student is that he has 3 room mates and is happily staying for free to have a quieter place to live for a few weeks, some home cooked meals that I will stock for him and access to a free washer and dryer. I am leaving for surgery in 8 days and I have already started getting ready to go. I am both a planner and a procrastinator so I made a huge list of everything I want to get done before I leave, then broke it down into daily tasks. It works on paper but if I get to most of it, I'll be happy -I don't really need to clean the furnace filter before I go but yes, it's on the list.
I don't know if that helped anyone but it made me feel good to put it all in writing. Thanks for letting me post what should be in my journal, online!

Jump to this post