Eight months ago today, I had surgery to remove my kidney and donate it to my friend Kelly. I cannot believe it’s been eight months already, and at the same time I can’t believe it’s only been eight months! People who haven’t seen me in a while ask me how I’m feeling, and I often stare at them blankly, because it really doesn’t occur to me that they’re talking about that major abdominal surgery I had a while back. I’m more like “Oh, you mean my allergies? They’re great, thanks!” (Of course, I had that same reaction back in May and it was only 2 months after surgery.)

I hardly ever think about the fact that I only have one kidney unless someone mentions it to me, or I see my scars. The only negative side effect from surgery is that one of my little scars itches a lot. That’s it. Of all the things I was worried about (hernias, internal bleeding, death, etc.), I couldn’t possibly be happier to have one tiny little scar that itches more than normal. Luckily, it’s the one at the bottom of my ribs, so scratching it doesn’t attract attention. Can you imagine if my c-section-ish scar was the itchy one? Oy!

Kelly, in case you were wondering, is doing great! She’s on a minimal amount of medication now, and she’s been able to travel and eat pretty much anything she likes! (She had to watch what she ate very carefully before, since she couldn’t have too much potassium, fluids, or sugar while on dialysis and without kidneys.) I lost a lot of weight after donating, due to my lack of appetite, and conversely, she gained some weight because she was able to eat anything she wanted. (We joke that I gave her my “fat” kidney.) She was able to go to a conference in Baltimore last month for the first time in 5 years, and she’s off to Aruba over Thanksgiving! My kidney is getting to see more parts of the world than I am!

Since donating in March, I have been asked by a number of people if I’d do it again or if I’d do it for someone I didn’t know. I’d absolutely do it again for Kelly. The best part of donating is being able to see Kelly looking and feeling so wonderful. The stress before donating was infinitely times worse than the pain afterward (and the pain afterward was pretty damn bad). But even knowing the amount of stress and pain I’d have to go through, I’d do it again without hesitation.  I don’t, however, think I could donate an organ to someone I didn’t know or someone that I wasn’t very close to. I know there are people out there who have and will donate to people they’ve never met or who they aren’t close to, and they have my utmost respect. I just know that I, personally, could never do that. I can’t explain why, exactly, but that’s just how I feel. And since I don’t have any spare kidneys to give, it’s not something I have to worry about!