Logistics (including a trip to Boston)

One of Harvard's gates. "Enter to grow in wisdom"

Downtown Boston

Rene pointing out which kidney she wants. :)

Rene's partner, Nancy, Rene, and me.

Rene and I at the bed and breakfast I stayed in while visiting Boston.

Once the decision was made, it was time to put thought to action. Here's how we did it:

-Rene receives care at Massachusetts General Hospital (Harvard's teaching hospital) in Boston. Once I decided I wanted to see if I would be a suitable donor for her, she gave me the name and contact information of MGH's donor coordinator. I called him to express my interest in donating a kidney to Rene, and he explained the nuts and the bolts of the process to me.

-After contacting Mass General, the first step was to see if I was actually a "match." Rene and I already knew we had the same blood type, but we also had to have a similar blood antigen profile in order to go forward. MGH sent a blood typing kit in the mail to me at my residence in Chicago. I took the kit to a nearby walk-in clinic, had them draw blood to fill the tubes provided, and then the kit was sent back to MGH to be tested (for those of you wondering, I did not and will not have to cover the costs for any of these procedures). I'm not sure how long we waited, maybe a week, but eventually the donor coordinator called me and gave me the good news that I was, indeed, a match for Rene! Since I was in charge of my own medical information, I was the one to call Rene and give her the good news. It was one of those beautiful "Are you sitting down?" conversations. :)

-Next up: visiting Boston for more in-depth testing. In the late fall of 2009, I flew out to Boston for two days of tests and meetings at MGH. Rene and her partner, Nancy, picked me up from the airport and we actually got to meet in person for the first time. Rene said she wanted to turn me around after hugging me and point out which kidney she wanted, but didn't want to scare me away. I would have welcomed the gesture. :) Rene and Nancy were gracious enough to put me up in a beautifully quaint bed and breakfast in Cambridge-- which was an easy walk to the T (Boston's subway system) that would bring me straight to MGH's absolutely enormous hospital campus. My first round of meetings and tests started on an early Thursday morning. Rene waited with me in each of the waiting rooms, and we were able to get to know one another more fully. I met with my donor advocate (whose job, as the name implies, would be to advocate for me, and only me, in the process), the donor coordinator (who explained the process in more detail), a social worker, and a nephrologist (kidney doctor). I also had a physical exam, lots of blood drawn, and an EKG. After a long day, Rene, Nancy, and I all met up with friends of theirs for dinner. One of the best parts of the dinner was that the people we met were a couple--one member of which had donated her kidney to the other. Therefore, Rene and I were able to get great input from people who had gone through the process.

The next day in Boston I met with a psychiatrist who would need to determine whether or not I was emotionally healthy enough to donate an organ and to make sure I was doing it for altruistic reasons. I also had an IV contrast scan done, which was quite the experience. I was given an injection of contrast dye--the best way I can describe the sensation this gave me was that it sent a warm rush through me--kind of like taking 5 shots of whiskey at once...or what I would imagine that to be like, anyway. The tech also warned me that it would make me feel like I was, quite literally, peeing my pants--but not to worry--I wouldn't be. I was kind of like "yeah, yeah" to that...but then as soon as he gave me the injection I started freaking out: "Oh my god, I'm peeing my pants. Shit! I'm really peeing my pants!" Luckily, he was right, I did not actually do the deed. Freaky, though. Anyhow, they sent me through a CT scanner, which took a scan of my abdominal organs, and kidneys to be exact. Later that day I met with the doctor who would become my surgeon, should everything work out, and got to see 3D images of my kidneys. Pretty cool! Everything checked out with my little kidney beans and the surgeon determined he would use my left kidney for the procedure.

-After my trip to Boston, Rene and I had to endure more waiting around. Every member of the donor team that I met with would get together to conference about whether or not I would make a suitable donor. While waiting, there were some other tests done in Chicago, a chest-xray and a couple of 24 hour urine catches. Um, if you've never done one of these, don't be jealous. It involves collecting all of your urine for a day. Maybe it's much easier for guys? Anyhow, after about a month, I received a phone call informing me that I was good to go! The surgery was on!

-Rene and I decided to schedule the surgery for June 22nd. I will fly up to Boston about a week before that date to have last minute tests and meetings with doctors. My wonderful mom, dad, and little brother Ryan will be flying up just before the surgery and staying a week with me. Amazingly enough, the majority of my surgery will be done laparoscopically and I'll only spend a couple of days in the hospital. After that, it's a week more in Boston for me to re-coup and get the go-ahead to fly back home.

And there you have it in a nutshell!