In response to Ryan’s comments, thank you for your detailed and informative post. The death risk from kidney removal surgery is 3 in 10,000. If the donor does not have high blood pressure, the risk of death drops to 1 in 10,000. Anonymous kidney donors with high blood pressure are not going to be approved. If someone is donating within a family, they are more likely to share the same health issues, mostly because people in a family eat similar foods. Unhealthy food like meat, dairy, sugar, eggs, oil, spark high blood pressure and diabetes, leading to kidney disease. The Standard American Diet (the SAD) is a huge profit maker for the health “care” industry. That’s why heart disease causing steak is served to patients after open heart surgery.
Kidney disease costs billions of our tax money each year. A great deal of of money is saved with donor kidneys because kidney dialysis costs a fortune. There’s plenty of data on this which is internet accessible. With good policy, high nutrient foods are promoted and subsidized, and the money saved could be reallocated to truly saving those who will suffer and die without the resources.
Only the super healthy pass the organ donation medical committee’s thorough and caring scrutiny that combs through the medical record of potential donors before approving them. Those who are approved as anonymous donors are not at risk for kidney disease. Most people who contract kidney disease eat a high fat, salt and sugar diet. Donors need to pass multiple tests including a stress test, renal scan, psychological evaluation, and CAT scan. One of the reasons for the requirement of the CAT scan is to make sure the donor has 2 kidneys.
Because kidney donors are in top health and therefore at low risk for disease, kidney donors actually outlive average Americans. Donors have no food or drink restrictions. The only lifestyle change is that we can no longer take ibuprofen because the tablets damage kidneys.
In my case, the 8 days I took off work were covered by my sick days, so no income was lost. Was the effort worth the saving of four people who would die in the next couple of years without the new kidney? For Ryan, the answer is no. For me, the answer is a resounding yes. Donations to Give Well did not cease. Hundreds of thousands of health care dollars were saved.
My kidney donation experience was captured in this short video I made. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XSsI7IkkmPY I will host a Reddit Ask Me Anything at 3pm EST on February 23rd, 2020.
In response to Ryan’s comments, thank you for your detailed and informative post. The death risk from kidney removal surgery is 3 in 10,000. If the donor does not have high blood pressure, the risk of death drops to 1 in 10,000. Anonymous kidney donors with high blood pressure are not going to be approved. If someone is donating within a family, they are more likely to share the same health issues, mostly because people in a family eat similar foods. Unhealthy food like meat, dairy, sugar, eggs, oil, spark high blood pressure and diabetes, leading to kidney disease. The Standard American Diet (the SAD) is a huge profit maker for the health “care” industry. That’s why heart disease causing steak is served to patients after open heart surgery.
Kidney disease costs billions of our tax money each year. A great deal of of money is saved with donor kidneys because kidney dialysis costs a fortune. There’s plenty of data on this which is internet accessible. With good policy, high nutrient foods are promoted and subsidized, and the money saved could be reallocated to truly saving those who will suffer and die without the resources.
Only the super healthy pass the organ donation medical committee’s thorough and caring scrutiny that combs through the medical record of potential donors before approving them. Those who are approved as anonymous donors are not at risk for kidney disease. Most people who contract kidney disease eat a high fat, salt and sugar diet. Donors need to pass multiple tests including a stress test, renal scan, psychological evaluation, and CAT scan. One of the reasons for the requirement of the CAT scan is to make sure the donor has 2 kidneys.
Because kidney donors are in top health and therefore at low risk for disease, kidney donors actually outlive average Americans. Donors have no food or drink restrictions. The only lifestyle change is that we can no longer take ibuprofen because the tablets damage kidneys.
In my case, the 8 days I took off work were covered by my sick days, so no income was lost. Was the effort worth the saving of four people who would die in the next couple of years without the new kidney? For Ryan, the answer is no. For me, the answer is a resounding yes. Donations to Give Well did not cease. Hundreds of thousands of health care dollars were saved.
My kidney donation experience was captured in this short video I made. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XSsI7IkkmPY I will host a Reddit Ask Me Anything at 3pm EST on February 23rd, 2020.