Evaluation at Mayo

Abstract

This chapter begins with narrating the author's preparation for the required tests and evaluations at the Mayo Clinic. It reviews the two purposes of the tests and consultations: they were designed to ensure that donating an organ would not adversely impact the author's medical or emotional health in either the short or long term, and they wanted to be sure that her kidney would not hurt Deb Porter Gil, the recipients. The chapter also mentions a paper that reviewed fifty-two other studies on the health outcomes for 118,000 adult, living kidney donors over twenty-four years. It shows that the living kidney donors in the study had no increased risk for chronic diseases such as type 2 diabetes, hypertension, or cardiovascular disease; no adverse psychological outcomes; and they lived just as long as everyone else. Ultimately, the chapter recounts the author's 400-mile drive from Kansas City to Rochester and her meeting with the Mayo doctors.