Well, what a full on two days they were!! Mum and I left Helston on Tuesday at 8:30 and made our way up to Derriford. Our first appointment was in the Renal outpatients department. It was here that Mum and I had blood taken for the cross matching. This is where a negative result is a good thing!!
From here on all the tests performed were on Mum as the two days only aim is to ensure that Mum would not be detrimentally affected if she were to donate one of her kidneys to me.
Firstly we made our way to the Nuclear Medicine department where mum was to have an Isotope Renogram and blood tests which will test how well her kidneys are working.
Mum was injected with three drugs, the first one to make the kidneys work harder, the second so they could be seen on the renogram and the third to see how quickly the kidneys clear. Mum was then placed between two plates which were a gamma camera. Slowly as the injected drugs began to go through mum's system, her kidneys became clear on the screen. Then the bladder. Mum had to stay under the gamma camera for about 25 minutes. The Radiologist will be able to produce a graph from this procedure on how well each of Mum's kidneys are working.
Next the Radiologist gave mum three vials for blood to be taken every hour, the point of this is to show how well Mum's kidneys were clearing the substances which were injected into her. This is like a more rigorous version of the tests which I have to measure the percentage function of my kidneys.
Next we made our way up to the Planned investigation Unit where mum was to stay the night and was our base for all of the rest of mum's investigations.
When we arrived mum had her first vial of blood taken, she also had to have a cannula put in her hand ready for her CT Scan. When this was inserted mum had a funny turn and had to be put on oxygen for approximately fifteen minutes, the nurse said it was most probably due to the drugs which had been injected in the Nuclear Medicine department. I was very glad when she was feeling better.
Next mum was wheeled down to have a CT Scan, I was not allowed in with mum for this procedure however, mum explained to me that she was injected with iodine which helps make the images clearer and she said that when she had the injection she became extremely hot as the iodine spread through her system. The scan is an x-ray procedure which takes cross sectional and 3D images of your internal organs.
Mum then had a "normal" x-ray before she was wheeled back up to the planned investigation unit where she had the second of her blood tests. There was then no more procedures performed apart from having the final blood test.
My friend Sharon then came up to find me as I was staying with her in Plymouth and we left mum to have a restful (probably not in a hospital) nights sleep!
This morning mum had her final blood taken for the last tests and she was also supposed to be given an ultrasound, however, when we got to the ultrasound room the Doctor advised that the only point of the ultrasound was to check that there was two kidneys before the CT scan and if mum had already had that there was not point in having it! I felt so sorry for mum, she had been put on nil by mouth since midnight for no point whatsoever, and she was actually supposed to be nil by mouth before the CT scan but wasn't!! Not to worry, I bought her a bacon bap as soon as we checked out of the hospital!
So there it is, all of the tests have now been performed and we are told that in no longer than a week we will know if mum can donate to me or not! I suspect if the answer is not I will be going onto dialysis so positive vibes please everyone!! I will update you next week when we have the results. Eeeek!!
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