OT - kidney donation/transplant advice.

[David Kirk]

I have a friend (no really - it's not me) who likes reading the forum and seeing what folks here have to say and he asked that I pose a question for him.

He's a cyclist and an active and busy guy and his brother needs a kidney. It turns out he is a match and can donate a kidney and is inclined to do so and just wants to know if anyone here has gone through a similar thing. How did it go for the person that did the donation and how did it affect your general health and energy? Recovery time? Lingering issues? Soreness?

He wants to go into this with his eyes wide open and have a deep understanding of how it works as a donating active guy and cyclist.

Anyone have some wisdom?

Thanks in advance.

dave

[SPOKE]

Alcohol consumption should be avoided after the donation. This is from a friend that gave a kidney to his son.
Hope all goes well for your friend Dave.

[rwsaunders]

Dave....send a PM to RPM here on the Forum.

[Keith A]

Dave, I would imagine that your friend has already done some searching on the Internet, but I searched for "after effects of donating kindey" and found a bunch of useful information including this article...
http://health.msn.com/health-topics/urinary-health/study-donating-kidney-not-harmful

[eddief]

but a famous donation happened for the comedian George Lopez when his wife donated one to him. Then sometime after the successful transplant they got divorced. She probably got her due in the settlement. Maybe she actually "sold" it to him rather than donating.

Good luck to your friend.

[Peter P.]

Greg LeMond had only one kidney. It didn't seem to affect his cycling...

I dated a woman who lost both kidneys and was on her 3rd donor kidney. I watched her perform peritoneal dialysis 3-4 times a day, between donor kidneys. Having a real, working kidney is a gift.

[rpm]

Dave, I don't have direct experience with kidney donation, but I do have a liver transplant and know lots of kidney transplant recipients and donors. My sense is that the removal of a kidney is fairly routine abdominal surgery, and the recovery time is comparable to other operations like a hernia repair or a C-section. With my own sugary with a much larger cut and many other issues, I was walking around within two weeks and riding my bike within four, and pretty well healed within eight.

The thing is that matching kidneys is rather complicated because a good match requires matching on several factors. It's not easy to find an optimal match, and if your friend doesn't donate, his brother might have to wait sometime until another donor can be found.

Recovery from the kidney removal per se is not that big a deal. I wonder if your friend isn't really more worried about the risks of having to spend the rest of his life with only one kidney. One is all you need, but of course there's no hundred percent guarantee that he won't have kidney disease somewhere down the line.

Dialysis, though, is a tough road to go down. I wouldn't wish it on anybody, except that the alternative is worse. If he can spare his brother any more of that, then he should do it if he possibly can.

[rupnok]

Dave, I have done many donor nephrectomies and followed many recipients and in my experience the donor was usually in the hospital for 3-4 days and generally did very well. The majority of tranplant nephrectomies are done laparoscopically which improves the post operative course tremendously from the days of large incisions to do the same thing and has increased the number of people willing to donate. Sure afterwards you have to live a little healthier to protect you remaining kidney but i see that as a good thing. That being said, I have seen a few who did not do so well even a fatality afterwards. Any surgery regardless of how simple or how healthy you are can have negative outcomes. All that being said, if I found out I was a match for someone close to me I wouldnt hesitate for a second to donate. A transplant can change the life of the recipient in an amazing way. Dialysis sucks and definitely shortens your lifespan.

Too many people in the US either specifically don't want to donate for a variety of reasons or simply don't tell their family of their wishes to be a donor and thus create a part of our shortage of organs. To everyone reading, please choose to be a donor and let your family know.

[David Kirk]

Thank you all for your input - it has been very helpful.

Stay well,

dave

[beungood]

Had a good buddy I trained in MArtial Arts with who donated a kidney to his mother. Many years later he contracted a kidney disease and passed away. He did say he was still glad he donated the kidney inspite of getting sick. He was one hell of a good man.