Kidney Patient Guide

I am half way through the test to see if my kidneys and general health are ok to give my husband a kidney, we are going to have this done by key-hole surgery and I would be interested to know if any one has had this kind of kidney op. we are going to have this op at Leicester general as no one near our home do the op by key-hole.

Terry...

Howdy from the Deep Southern U. S. I have had my sons kidney for ten months. Once you get approved to give your husband the kidney...then you have to be approved for the laproscopic (keyhole) surgery. They can only remove your right kidney via a laproscope. So it has to be qualified rather than the left kidney. What they will be looking for is your right kidney to only have one artery feeding blood to it. It is not unusual for a kidney to have several arteries feeding it. So it will be just by luck if you have a one artery right kidney.
If you qualify..and then they figure out that they can do keyhole surgery...you will be on your way to giving your husband a new life. Laproscopic surgery will provide you a slightly shorter recovery time. It is not truly keyhole as they do have to get a hand in you to remove the kidney. You will be left with two small scars on your left abdomen and about a three inch scar belly button down.
Best of luck in ya'lls journey through transplant. It will change both of your lives for the better.

Ronnie Magnolia Springs, AL

Hi Terry,

Just a little addition to Ronnie's post. Some facilities are now removing a kidney from a donor by modified open incision. I am not sure of the details of just what is involved but you may be able to find some info by doing a google search.

When I had my transplant, my donor had laproscopic surgery but just two weeks before, a lady donated a kidney to her husband and had the modified procedure. She had a much smaller and less invasive incision. Consequently her recovery was much faster than the usual open procedure. Might be worth asking about if laproscopic does not work out.

Terry:
You may want to know that the statistics for a kidney donor
having renal failure AFTER donating a kidney is almost
identical to the chances of a non donor having renal failure
(regardless of cause)
The difference is 1/1000 of 1%.
See the University of Washington (Seattle) for pertainent info.
So, being a donor does NOT put you at greater risk to your
future health.

Terry,

You might want to visit www.livingdonorsonline.org - it's a wonderful sight with lots of up-to-date, dependable information on living donation. It also has several features you might find very helpful such as a discussion board and have a look at the "buddy system".

All the best to you both.