Step 1 and 2... Done.

Last night, our dog got sick and we had to take him to the Animal Hospital ER. After stealing my money, they made us wait in a waiting room for an hour. Perfect time to read through and fill out my living donor documentation.

Mercy - this whole ordeal is much more serious for me then I thought. The Toronto hospital will be very thorough in their assessment of me. Currently only 20% of people who wish to donate their liver actually go under the knife because they are found to be an unsuitable donor. The most common issues include:

- unsuitable blood vessel structure
- abnormal blood tests and medical issues not previously diagnosed (ie. diabetes)

There are also quite a few risks involved for a living donor. These include:

- bile duct leak
- infection
- clotting
- mental health issues

I read a few other unpleasant statistics. It started to freak me out a little. However, I then read that over 300 living donor transplants have been done in Toronto with no deaths and no persistent long-term effects. How fantastic is it that we only live five hours away from the only hospital in Canada that performs living donor transplants and the have an immaculate record! Amazing!

The surgery should be around six hours long. I go into surgery before my dad. At the beginning of my surgery, they will put a tube through my nose into my stomach to keep my stomach empty. They'll also stick a tube into my you-who - deep into my you-who - to keep my bladder empty. Both will be removed around the second day after surgery. I'll be awake when they pull the tube out of my you-who.

Enough about the you-who already.

After they stick the tubes into my you-who, they'll slice me open and check stuff out - even do an x-ray or two. They have to be sure that my bile duct is good to go. As soon as they deem me good to go, they'll wheel my dad in for surgery. Then my dad will probably get something in his you-who too... as well as a new liver.

Anyway, there's a ton more interesting info in the living donor transplant information kit. And since there still exists a slight chance that I may not be able to give my liver, I'm making the information kit and health questionnaire available to download online. Read it - its cool!


Living Donor Information Kit - http://files.jacie.ca/liverdie/Liver%20Donation%20Manual%20-%20October2008.doc

Health History Questionnaire - http://files.jacie.ca/liverdie/Liver%20Donor%20Health%20Hx-October%202008.doc

Please pray that my assessment will go well and I'll be a suitable donor.

By the way. Our dog (Dolce) is fine. He has back problems... nothing some canine-advil couldn't fix.