Thursday 15 November 2018

Kidney donation, part 10

The story rumbles on...a bit like Brexit.

It's been over 6 weeks since my last visit to Manchester Royal Infirmary. The day after that last trip I had a 24 hour blood pressure monitor fitted at my GP surgery and the results were fine. It seems, like many others, I suffer from "white coat syndrome" meaning I react, without even realising it, to my blood pressure being taken by a health professional. Oh well.

The six week wait was the normal queue for a CT scanner. They're clearly in constant demand. So today I had a CT scan of my abdomen along with an X ray of the same. During the scan I was injected with a fluid dye, via a canula, to show up the blood vessels which serve my kidneys. This will enable the transplant surgeons to make a final decision as to which kidney to use.

After these two procedures I went in search of my transplant co-ordinator, Janet. I managed to find her for a five minute chat where she was able to tell me the nephrologist, Dr.P., has now referred me to the transplant surgeons. We're now in the final stages of this long journey. Next up will be a meeting with the surgeons for a final run through with me before fixing a date for the operation. Janet still thinks we're on track for this to happen in January. 

Once the date is fixed, Jamie and I will both meet the independent assessor to make the necessary legal checks ensuring no payment is being made for the donation. There's no hold up here though, because this meeting will only be set up once we have a date for the operation.

I was pleased to be able to phone my friend Jamie this afternoon with these positive updates.

The waiting continues but I feel we're getting close to a conclusion now. It can't come too soon. Jamie has had a number of dialysis sessions where he's suffered from a serious drop in his blood pressure. Not good.

On a more positive note, it was great to meet up with Jamie a couple of weeks ago when he came up to Manchester for the day. We had a most enjoyable visit to the Imperial war Museum North. Not the best quality photo, but it's the spirit of it that matters.


Thanks for reading. Please keep you fingers crossed for us. I hope you enjoy this pic of me, prepped for my scan today. Smile!


To read the whole story go to my kidney donation page which you can access on the left side of this blog.

4 comments:

  1. It's just gob-smackingly amazing what you're doing . . . all the very best to both of you, and to Chrissie, and to the pups :)

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  2. This is amazing Geoff. Unsure about the natty robe though?

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    Replies
    1. Thanks Dawn. And don't worry. I'll only be wearing it on special occasions 😉

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