5 Year Kidneyversary

Yesterday I received an unexpected call from my brother in law.  

“Hey Linda, can you tell me a little bit about kidney donation?”

“Sure, that’s funny, tomorrow is the 5 year anniversary of my donation.”  

He wanted information about matching, recovery time, medication and how difficult it was on me and the recipient.  A man in need of a kidney, he was seeking facts for himself and his potential donors, his sister and nephew.  I thought oh, I can tell him to read my blog.  The only problem with that suggestion is I’ve never posted basic questions and answers about this life-giving surgery until now.

Q: Who is this person you donated to? Are you related?
A: She is my cousin’s wife.  We didn’t have to be related to match.

Q: How do they know if you’re a match?
A: There are 3 main blood tests; blood typing, tissue typing and cross-matching.  Tissue testing is done for antigens and cross matching mixes the recipient’s blood and cells from the donor to see if the recipient doesn’t have antibodies that want to kill the donor’s cells.  I’m O-positive, a universal donor, so my blood is compatible with all blood types.

Q: What other kinds of tests did you have to take?
A: Besides bloodwork, there was a 24 hour urine collection, chest x-ray, EKG, abdominal/pelvic x-ray and numerous psychological evaluations.  I was even part of a research study about a donor’s perceptions of risks and benefits.

Q: How long did all the testing take?
A: I don’t have all of the details written down on my calendar (like Brett Cavanaugh) but I heard about the need for a kidney at the end of February 2015.  I’m not sure how long I mulled around with idea, but by April 3, a Good Friday indeed, we got word that we matched.  In May, I flew to Philadelphia to go through most of the tests I mentioned and the surgery was on July 21st, 2015. 

Q: How many days were you in the hospital?
A: Surgery was early Tuesday morning and on Saturday I was checking into the Transplant House, Penn Medicine’s guest house, where I joined my boyfriend, my cousin and the recipient who got out a day earlier than me.  We lovingly called it, “the halfway house.”  I was there for 1 night before staying at my cousin’s house for about 10 days before I flew home.  My first and only time flying first class.

Q: How long were you out of work?
A: 1 month. Luckily, I had sick time to cover it and of course I took FMLA.

Q: Do you have to take any medicine?
A: Nope! But the recipient has to take anti-rejection medicine.

Q: Are you restricted from any food/alcohol/caffeine/medications?
A: The only thing I need to be careful of is non-steroidals (NSAIDS) Motrin, Advil etc.  Also, the transplant team does not recommend any herbal supplements due to the lack of safety data.  Otherwise, I am free to to eat, drink and be merry.

Q: Was it painful and how long before you returned to normal activities?
A: There are 2 types of surgeries: laparoscopic and open.  Most surgeries are laparoscopic, which involves a few incisions and a camera.  This method is less painful, the surgery time is 2-3 hours and people recover quicker.  However due to my renal anatomy (too many veins/arteries) I had to have an open more invasive nephrectomy (kidney removal).  The surgery lasted about 4 hours.  It was a bit more painful but all in all I recovered pretty quickly.  I went to a “concert in the park” 10 days after I came home and I started back with my lunchtime walks when I returned to work.  Running didn’t feel good for a long time because of the bouncing and the idea of a hula hoop still makes me say, “ouch.” 

Q: Who pays for the donor’s surgery?
A: All the costs including testing, evaluation and surgery are paid for by the recipient’s health insurance.  I received some help for travel expenses from “Living donor assistance” and there was a Gofundme page set up to offset the sick leave and other expenses.

Q: Why do we have 2 kidneys?
A: So we can share our spare!  A transplanted kidney can do 40-85% of the work of 2 working kidneys.  A kidney from a living donor starts to work right away.  Cadaver kidneys take longer to start working sometimes 2-4 weeks.  Kidneys from a living donor work better and last longer than one from a deceased donor.

I was happy to answer his questions and Maureen and I are open to answer any others you may have about giving the gift of life.  Please feel free to reach out anytime.

“Let me tell y’all what it’s like, being female, middle-class and white.” Ben Folds

It was my first and last time to the Magic Castle.  After quickly perusing the almost 60 year old dress code and consulting my friend, a repeat guest, who’s only worn dresses there, I opted for slacks and a nice, sparkly top.  I wanted to be comfortable, since I just had oral surgery and my face felt achy and puffy.  I didn’t want matching puffy feet from high heels.  I figured the only thing puffy that night would be my hair.

My friend and I arrived early and checked in at the door but were told we had to wait for the rest of the party unless we could get a confirmation call from the person who got us on the guest list.  I thought the staff, who was definitely annoyed with us for not knowing the rules, was also suspicious of us too. We sat on a bench and watched the guests arrive in limousines.  Young, pretty girls stepped out in dresses cut so low and slits slashed so high, us 50-somethings started to feel really out of place.  

Debbie whispered, “Are you feeling underdressed or what?”

“Maybe a bit overdressed, if you know what I mean?” I answered, closing my eyes to avoid catching a glimpse of a crotch as a limo door opened in front of us.

The call finally came through vouching for us moms, grateful we had boys, because we’d never let our daughters leave the house dressed like that.  We stood in line, trying to blend into the sea of flesh, applying a last minute coat of lipstick.  We joked about pigs and lipstick, trying to brush off how puffy and fluffy we both now felt.  

“I’m gonna have to ask you to see the ladies at the front desk for a jacket,” the huge doorman said as he examined my non-“dressy tunic (hip length)” top.  The sparkle satisfied the dressy part, but it definitely didn’t cover my hips.  

I laughed, “Excuse me, you’re joking right?”  I watched 1/2 naked girls walk right in and wondered if they also decided to only peruse the part of the dress code that read, “Prohibits ‘Excessively revealing or provocative clothing or attire that could be viewed by our membership as generally offensive.’”  I pulled my shirt down, trying to stretch it to an acceptable “tunic hip length,” but the burly doorman wasn’t falling for it.  Debbie’s tunic barely passed the imaginary line and she was saved from further humiliation.  

We stepped up to the desk and were met by two rail thin girls, whose weight put together added up to one of us.  We were met with looks of disgust as we tried to defend my top as a tunic.  I thought if my butt weren’t so big the top would fall down further.  Or if I had more money, I could’ve gone shopping for the right kind of clothes, and we’d be drinking cocktails and watching magic with the provocatively dressed “in crowd”.  Instead I was being handed a little jacket to try on.  Begrudgingly, only because it was kind of cute, I thought to myself, “I’ll just  conform to their outdated rules, forgive the two Barbie dolls and try to have fun.”  After failing to get one arm in, I handed it back to the millennial and said, “Can you find me something closer to a Size 10?,” whispering the Size 10 part.  I was handed a bright, white, blazer that must have come from the  costume closet.  I reluctantly slipped it on, wanting to crawl up the closest magician’s sleeve.  Embarrassed, I felt like David Byrne.  They must have known how unflattering it was.  Was this their way of penalizing me?  Was my butt in a pair of slacks more “offensive to the membership” then the bare legs and cleavage of the girls who were squeezing past my shoulder pads to get to the bar?  But that wasn’t the end of the punishment, as we tried to follow the arm candy to the bar, one of the “plastics” had the nerve to ask me for my driver’s license as collateral for the hideous jacket nobody wanted to take home.  (“I was pissed off, but too polite.”) I held back the tears, handed her my license and gave up the fight.   Humiliated, I knew the two, mean girls couldn’t wait to laugh at me behind my back about my poor clothing, puffy face and fat ass.  

By the time we got to the bar to order a much needed drink, I couldn’t hold back the tears that fell down my swollen cheeks. I ran to the bathroom to sob.  I called my boyfriend who calmed me down a bit and encouraged me to not stay somewhere I wasn’t comfortable. I washed away the tears and most of my makeup and immediately told my friends that just arrived that I was leaving.  I couldn’t wait to to give the Miami Vice jacket back to the “Bewitches” and get my license to drive off onto Sunset. 

This happened in May 2019.  As a white, middle-class female, I struggled with writing a story of my grievance about a dress code but I think it was meant to be shared this year.  In recent weeks we’ve seen video of minorities being discriminated against for “dress codes”.  And as embarrassing as it was, I can’t really compare my tale to the struggles minorities have faced for more than just they way they dress and for more than just the past few weeks, years or centuries.  I, at least, was still allowed to enter the club as long as I felt comfortable dressed as a man from the 80’s.  I understand the establishment had strict rules and looking back the easiest thing I could have done was wear a dress or better yet, politely decline the invitation to a place with such detailed guidelines.  The doorman’s job was to look over the patrons to make sure they’re following the rules and grant them privilege to enter the private club. (Another reason I should’ve declined).  Anyway, I’d call that discernment.  But when he bent the “generally offensive” rules for the girls with perfect bodies and perfect hair and not for me I felt discriminated against.  I was set apart for being different.  And their remedy only highlighted that and made me feel worse.  My clothes, imperfect body and hair were all being judged even though I was a white, middle-class female.  To tell you the truth, I wasn’t specifically paying attention to the scantily clad girls’ colors or sizes, I just know they made the cut and I didn’t and that was not a good feeling.  But only now can I view the experience as a minor glimpse of what it’s like having unbendable rules to follow and how they can be used against you for any reason.  Generally, dress codes are establishments’ way of keeping their clientele white, rich, skinny, pretty or whatever.  I just know for me, I’ve learned I don’t ever want to go somewhere with dress rules unless those rules are “No entry without face mask.”