Crossmatch and pee stash

This weekend I had to do me pee experiment which wasn't as bad as I had expected it to be. The only tricky part was going to the movies and needing to use the toilet. I came up with the brilliant idea of buying a drink and using the bottle because I did not want to start all over again by missing some of my urine. After the movie I made my way to Clicks and bought a vitamin water to use the bottle and Marc and I chugged the bottle down as quickly as we could. This turned out to not be a bad idea and I could carry on testing till Sunday morning instead of having to start all over again.

After finishing my 24 hours I took the bottle back to Pathcare to have more blood drawn, I was glad that it was only 2 normal 5ml vials this time instead of the huge vials. This leaves no more blood to be drawn and only the nephrologist and the psychiatrist testing. There is another test I have to do when they shoot the dye in your veins and see the outlines of the kidneys and how the vein work is inside the kidney. This is the absolute last test before we have the actual transplant which we are really hoping to have done in March.

We however did get the most important result back that our tissue typing was negative which is awesome so we can move forward to the next steps. Tissue type is involved in the process of getting rid of viruses from the body and HLA are proteins that are located on the surface of the white blood cells and other tissues in the body. This means Tam wouldn't need as strong anti-rejection drugs as she might have had to use for the first transplant.

Before that however I need to get the last 5 - 7kgs off my arse so the docs will be able to operate on me. All the testing is exciting like it's an adventure Tam and I are going on together for a huge reward at the end of it all. Even with the stress of losing the weight and making the healthiest choices so I can be able to recover after the op I know I'm doing the right thing.

Have a good, healthy weekend peeps
xxx

Ultrasounds and Dressing Gowns

On Tuesday I had an appointment I was dreading for a while, I had to have X-rays and an ultrasound done to see my organs and make sure they all healthy. The reason I was so nervous for these tests for some reason was I was scared something would be wrong and this would be the time I would find out "Oh you have abnormally tiny kidneys that cannot be used for a transplant" or "Gosh your heart is not strong enough to withstand major surgery". To make this worse it was nil per mouth, and a hungry Karmen is normally a grumpy Karmen. 

The standard issue square gown! 

Eventually the day came and off we went to Constantiaberg Mediclinic to have our tests done. Tams appointment was first so as I sat on my own in the waiting room my nerves and hunger were getting to me. At last a nice lady names Jess called me and gave me a gown, with the instruction of take your clothes off and put this on but leave your undies on, to my relief. Once I was all dressed up Jess came and ushered me into a dark room with lots of buttons, she told me to lye on my back and pull my top up till my bra. I felt a tiny bit self conscious at this point as my stomach isn't really something I like to show off to strangers. 

I was then left alone with my thoughts, nerves and grumbling belly till the lady who does the ultrasound came to see me. Her name was Jane and told me that she is going to put jelly on my stomach to see inside. The jelly was a little bit cold and felt strange and the ultrasound paddle thing actually hurts, it could just have hurt because my left kidney was play hide-and-go-seek. 

After the ultrasound was finished and the jelly was all removed I was ushered into the x-ray room. I have never had an x-ray done before so I had no idea what to expect. To my absolute horror Karen, the x-ray lady, told me that bras interfere and have to be removed, so off came the bra. Karen then told me to stand with my chest and shoulders against the board thing and breath in and out.I then had to stand with my side to the board and grab the railing above my head, feeling like a monkey I did as I was told. 

Delightfully I could now get dressed into my normal clothes and wait for my picture CD of my organs. After a few moments Karen called me again and I had to change back into the square gettup and head down a passage for more x-rays. luckily this time i could keep my bra on, YAY for little pleasures of no free exposed boobs. This x-ray was just of my abdomen and I could lye down on the white bed. Karen told me to breath in and out and then I was done. I could finally get back into my own clothes for good and wait for the CD. 

Next was blood tests. This was the second lot of blood and it was a big 1. Off I went to Pathcare to have the blood drawn and still feeling grumpy cause I could still not eat. Small panic did hit as I realised 1 of the tests were for cholesterol and I already have an issue with those critters. after waiting a few minutes and being called into the little booth the girl so kindly asks me "where is your urine sample?" I was then given a huge 5l can and told I will have to put all my urine in this can for 24 hours. Huh did i hear you correctly? 24 hours in 1 can? But yes that is correct, just lovely. So after an embarrassing run in with another guy in the wrong blood room and the shame of having to pee in a can I had my blood drawn, 6 vials of precious red liquids gone, 1 of which was a huge as those spermy shooter bottles.  

I had agreed that I would do the urine sample over the weekend so I don't have to lug the huge bottle to work and back everyday. All this has actually shown me that even though I'm not in the best shape I am still healthy in the way of not having any issues with organs or blood disorders. Bigups to that. 

After all the horror I finally got to work and could not wait to see what my insides look like, so in I popped the CD to take a journey to the unknown. Turns out my kidneys are 12cms and the left is smaller than the right and everything else on the doctors report says that I am a healthy horse! Good stuff! 

Here's to peeing in a bottle and losing more blood 

xxx