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My Living Kidney Donation Experience
My
name is Samantha Perouty and I am a 26 year old wife and mother from
Baltimore, MD. My non-blood related uncle had strep throat as a
child and that virus stayed in his body and attacked his kidneys.
He had a kidney transplant in 1993 from his brother, who used to be my
step-father. In 2010 my uncle was placed on dialysis and needed
another kidney transplant. Some people were tested and said they
were not a blood match. After losing other relatives through the
years I knew if my uncle died and I never got tested I would always
wonder what if. I didn’t smoke or drink, I knew I was healthy, I
didn’t really have any health problems that ran in my family, and I
wasn’t having any more children, so I figured I was a good
candidate. I started the testing process February 15, 2010 and I
was a blood match and tissue match, but we were a 0/6 HLA Antigen
match, which I was told didn’t really matter because of the
sophisticated anti-rejection medications that exist now. Once all
the test results kept coming back okay I knew the surgery was meant to
be and I wasn’t worried or nervous about it at all. I got the
call on July 1, 2010 that I was approved to be a living kidney
donor. The surgery was scheduled for August 2, 2010 at Johns
Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, MD. My surgery was laparoscopic,
but my uncle’s wasn’t. I had Dr. Segev and my uncle had Dr.
Montgomery. My surgeon said my kidney looked great and everything
went just like the textbook said it should. I had three punctures
on my stomach in a triangle shape and one three or four inch incision
on my pubic area. I didn’t need the Morphine or Oxycodone, but I
did have bad gas pains. Until then I never experienced gas pains
so bad that they shot up into my chest and shoulders and felt like I
was having a heart attack. I was able to get up and walk the same
day as the surgery. My intestines and bowels didn’t wake up and
work until two days later because of the anesthesia. I did take
Gas-X and had two suppositories. I stayed in the Marburg Pavilion
and it was very nice. It was much more like a five star hotel
than a hospital. They gave me a fleece jacket that said “to save
one life is as if you saved the world” and green ribbon pins. I
walked to see my uncle at Nelson 7 the day after surgery. I went
home three days after the surgery and I looked and felt almost
normal. I felt pain when I moved a certain way or laughed, but it
wasn’t bad. I went back to work the day after my follow-up
appointment, which was ten days after surgery. At my follow-up
appointment my creatinine level was 1.00, which my doctor said was
perfect, and my incisions looked fine. I drove two weeks after
surgery without any problems. I don’t feel any different with one
kidney and it hasn’t restricted me from doing any of my normal
activities. I wish I had more kidneys because I would donate
again in an instant. I felt like it wasn’t a big deal, but I know
it meant a lot for my uncle. It was a little inconvenient with
all the testing and a little uncomfortable with the gas pains, but it
will hopefully give my uncle fifteen or more healthy years. Thank
you for reading this article and considering becoming an organ and
tissue donor. Contact me if you have any questions or concerns
and I will be happy to help in any way I can.
Samantha Perouty
lilnewslady@aol.com
