Don’t get me wrong, we don’t take this lightly. And we wouldn’t be asking anyone to do this if Samantha hadn’t been ready to step onto that operating table herself right up until the nurse called a week and a half ago. But things are a lot easier now than they were even a few decades ago.
Up until the mid to late 1990s, kidney donors underwent an operation that required a 6-8 inch long incision, spreading of the ribs (sometimes even removal of a piece of rib) to reach the kidney, considerable pain, and required more than a month of recovery before returning to work.
Today, the operation is laparoscopic with no need to disrupt the ribcage or cut through musculature, resulting in a significant reduction in pain (most patients use oral pain medication for about 5 days), hospital stay of 2-3 days, and 2-4 weeks recovery before returning to work (more if you do physical labor).
As a veteran of laparoscopic back surgery, I can attest that it is an amazing thing!
With gratitude for all you’re doing for Mike,
Lindsley (Mike’s sister-in-law)