Visiting Cedar Sinai

A long day....

Our check in time at Cedar Sinai was 6:15am--yikes! Apparently they do intake sessions every Wednesday.  There were about 12 of us getting assessed on that day.  We were all required to bring someone with us.

Of course, there was paperwork.  There was coffee, pastries and fruit.  We were told to bring our own snacks and lunch.  I also brought my comfort blanket ;)

They took my weight, blood pressure and temp, then the day officially started with all of us watching 45 minute video talking about kidney donors and kidney recipients.  Afterward, every one was assigned to an exam room.

Over the course of the 7 or so hours, everyone who would be associated with my case came to the exam room to speak with us. First up was a young, cool nurse with a good sense of humor. She was there to get an EKG.  She asked me to remove my bra and then straight up just hiked my sweater up over my boobs and started putting the contact pads on me with Seth sitting directly in front of me!  As you can imagine, he could not stop staring, despite the fact that my colorful balloon dog print Lululemon leggings were pulled up and over my Buddha belly. Or maybe he was staring because of that.  In either case, when you've been married as long as we have, this situation definitely qualifies as "getting lucky," LOL.  And I'm pretty sure he was having flashbacks to when he was a kid and saw boobs for the first time in National Geographic, the Africa issue. ;)

The lovely nurse was followed by the nephrologist, the living donor coordinator, the transplant surgeon, the nutritionist, a social worker, the financial coordinator, and finally the transplant nurse.  Across the board, I think I can confidently say that none of them had any concerns about me being a great candidate for transplant, assuming further testing does not reveal anything else wrong with me.I was definitely the youngest, thinnest and healthiest patient there that day.

I'll let you decide for yourself what it might have meant, but when the social worker was assessing me, asking about my support system, my history with any drugs, alcohol or mental illness, I didn't fail to notice that suddenly Seth was hot and took his jacket off... LMAO.

After all of the talking, all that was left was a chest x-ray and some labs.  I get blood work every couple of weeks now (the girls at the clinic know my name, like Cheers, but different...), so I'm not squeamish about blood draws at all anymore.  While sitting in the chair waiting for the nurse to pull the test tubes, I was playing on my phone.  After about 20 seconds, I thought to myself, my goodness, that's a lot of tubes!  And still, he kept pulling them.  Twenty one in all!!  A personal best!

Luckily I have a good vein and good blood flow.

After he was done drawing the blood, he was attaching a label with all of my info on it onto each tube.  After labeling all 21, he said, "oops!." Um, there are really no instances that I can think of in a medical situation in which "oops" is a good thing.  Apparently, he had missed pulling a test tube.
While it really wouldn't have bothered me to be pricked again, what he did instead was call the lab to see if they could use any of the blood in one of the other tubes to run the missing test.  They said yes :)

Some of the tubes of my blood, along with the extra label he forgot to pull a tube for....

As I mentioned in my first post, I just need to have a few more things done (pap, mammo, cardiac stress test and pneumonia vaccination) and my case will be presented to the transplant team.  They have these round tables every Thursday.  If they all agree I'm a good candidate, I will be approved to be added to the cadaver donation waiting list.  Once that happens, anyone who wants to get tested to see if they're a match for me can start getting their blood work and any necessary medical tests done.

Speaking of living donors, one thing I haven't addressed yet is the fact that if someone who has donated a kidney ever has an issue with their remaining kidney, they go immediately to the top of the transplant list.

Thank you

I was overwhelmed by the response to my sharing of this blog.   Thank you again to everyone who took the time to read it, reach out, and to share.  Please continue to share and ask your friends to do the same.  A lot of people have found donors (even anonymous!) through sharing on social media.  Getting a transplant before having to go on dialysis would be a HUGE advantage.

In between my last two doctors visits, my GFR decreased from 14 to 11, so time is of the essence.

And I also want you all to know that I am still feeling just fine, so no need to worry about that.  But make no mistake, it won't last, and I need a kidney sooner than later.

Wishing you health, peace and joy!

Love, Lisa

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