The Road is Long....

I'm very pleased to say that I have just received notification of three appointments for 10th August - that's going to be another busy day! These appointments are for a CT angiogram, a Glomerular Filtration Rate (GFR) test and a Renal DMSA.

The fact that I have progressed to this stage means that the tests two weeks ago were all fine - there would be no point in having an expensive CT scan if they weren't.  The other two appointments are to done in the "Nuclear Medicine Department" which sounds a bit worrying but isn't, apart from the fact that it isn't shown on the hospital map!  The "Nuclear" bit is because for each of these they inject you with a small amount of radioactive fluid.

I don't yet know what DMSA stands for, but the test "demonstates the location and function of my kidneys".  At least I know now that the GFR test will provide a real GFR figure, not an estimate, which is what eGFR means as the "e" in "eGFR" is for "estimated".  The neph at my tests explained why that is; the more extensive multiple blood sample test will give a truer figure than the single blood sample which was done then.  In this test they take blood samples at intervals after the injection in order to monitor how well your kidneys are dealing with it.  So this test lasts for up to five hours!  Since the Renal DMSA also requires a 1.5 hour wait for another blood test after the injection, it's going to be a long day; this time I will definitely be able to read more of my book, which I didn't last time as they were so quick.

Going back to the last set of tests, I had a strange feeling being tested by some specialist for something that I know very little about.  I just feel so detached from the process and watch with an interest which hardly accepts that I am actually the subject of their investigations.  I noticed this earlier this year during my colonoscopy (see this previous entry) - it was really strange being able to see the inside of my own lower intestine on a TV screen!  I rather think that the hospital specialists think that I am a bit odd - perhaps I am - as I meekly accept my fate at their hands and do precisely whatever they ask me to, without argument or apparent concern.  However, I don't think that this will apply much at the next tests as the last two will simply be injections and blood samples, with a lot of waiting.

Finally, here's a link to a very useful website all about kidney donation, which has lots of information, stories of experiences, blogs and links.  I have found that most of this sort of thing on-line is from the USA, but this one is British which is useful as the health systems are pretty different; it started with the story of Dianne Franks who in 2010 made a non-directed living kidney donations in the UK not long after that was legalised. [Edit: in fact, Di's comprehensive website gives an explanation of DMSA (above), so I'll cover that next time.]