I was a kidney donor in a Nigerian hospital in late 2015. That gave me opportunity to interact with a couple of kidney patients, doctors (including non-Nigerians) and other donors locally. I have been thinking of sharing some of my experiences regarding this, but I have been forgetting until recently when someone was telling me about a kidney patient he knows and some problems he was having about getting help in Nigeria. So, I believe my experiences might benefit someone out here who may be having a challenge in this direction. Then, coincidentally, I just came across a passage of This Day Newspaper uploaded only 2 days ago saying Nigeria records 17,000 new cases of kidney diseases annually.
We can reduce this with more information. For example, my friend who called me was talking of the difficulty in getting a donor (he actually called me to speak to a prospective donor who was apprehensive of undergoing the surgery, being that I have passed through it). So, if you have a loved one who needed your help in this regard, you can take some points here. The point is, even if you don't have money to give, there is something better than money you can give without really losing anything.
So, talking about my experiences let me say the much I can here: I donated to a dear one. Before that, I underwent intensive medical check-up, long orientation and then, documentation. The first set of the medical check-up was to ensure that I matched with my receiver (blood group and all); the second set was to determine I was healthy enough to donate. The orientation was to ensure my decision to donate was informed. Then, the documentation included court affidavit and personal data filing.
On the day of the surgery, I was placed on anesthesia during which I lost consciousness completely (not even a dream!) until later I saw myself after the surgery had taken place (about 8 hours or so, later). For me, that was some idea about how death would be eventually.
Before the surgery, I was asked not to eat for some hours prior to it. Then after it, I did not eat anything for 24 hours (may be more) but I didn’t feel hungry because I was often placed on drip. I was in the hospital for post-surgery medication for two weeks before I left.
During the experience, I learnt so many things I could never have learnt unless I passed through it such as: 1. Pain-reliever consumption predisposes you to kidney problems. Of course, it gets to be risky only through over-consumption. So, stop taking paracetamol or panadol at every opportunity you have to. 2. It is not just anyone that could donate a kidney to anyone. Apart from matching the blood groups of prospective donor and receiver, there are a ton of other considerations 3. As the medics told me, it hardly ever happens that one kidney would have problems without the other having. So, you don’t have to live carelessly thinking ‘if I lose one, the other continues’. Also, if you donate to a loved one, you have saved a life without losing any of yours.
One thing I noticed after donating the kidney is that I have naturally become less careless in the way I live. For example, I naturally (without struggles) gave up smoking and heavy consumption of alcohol. These habits are equally as dangerous to a one-kigneyed as to a two-kidneyed person though (from the above expert views, that is).
There is nothing I could do before the kidney donation I can’t do now.
This is all I can say for now. NOTE: I’m not a doctor and so, this can’t be taken for medical advice. All I know about this is from being a donor.
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