It was twenty years ago that I went under the knife, and my kidney had an out-of-body experience, eventually finding its way into a new body – that of a colleague of mine.
Donating a kidney wasn't something that I had known a person could do until about six months before it actually happened to me. When I found out that Chris needed a kidney, I looked on the hospital website to see what they thought about donation, and of course they thought it was the bees knees, but I wasn't sure I could trust them to be perfectly objective because, c'mon, they're the ones doing it!
I tried hard to think about who actually knew somethings factual about donation but who might have a more pessimistic view, and so eventually I called my insurance company to ask what they would think if I were to donate a kidney. If you can hear somebody shrug their shoulders through the phone, that's kind of what happened. I figured if they didn't freak them out, then kidney donation must not be too big a deal. So I contacted Chris and told them that I was willing to step forward.
I didn't really want to tell many people about this beforehand, because I knew I had to do a battery of medical tests first. If it turned out that I had some terrible disease that would prevent me from donating a kidney, I didn't really want that terrible disease to become public until I was ready to deal with it myself. But of course some of my friends found out anyway. One of them asked me, about Chris, "how could anybody ever say thank you for something like this?!?" I didn't really know what to say to that, so I just answered, " . . . chocolate?"
I didn't really want to tell many people about this beforehand, because I knew I had to do a battery of medical tests first. If it turned out that I had some terrible disease that would prevent me from donating a kidney, I didn't really want that terrible disease to become public until I was ready to deal with it myself. But of course some of my friends found out anyway. One of them asked me, about Chris, "how could anybody ever say thank you for something like this?!?" I didn't really know what to say to that, so I just answered, " . . . chocolate?"
At any rate, the surgery itself was short and sweet. They made a few tiny holes for their tools, one somewhat larger hole for the kidney. They pulled the kidney out, dusted off the dog hair that had settled there (just kidding -- but really, doesn't dog hair seem to wind up everywhere?), and popped it into Chris. Three days later, I was home again. I was pretty sleepy for a few weeks. Within a month, I was running my old distance (albeit more slowly), going back into work, and essentially back to normal.
Now, every year on June 14, I get a box of chocolates. Sweet. If I had known that was the deal, I would've donated a kidney much earlier!
This year, Chris and their now-husband found a chocolatier that created a custom box with my name on it. So cool!
So, at 3:14, I opened it. Ymmmmm.
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