I'd like to meet the farmer that grew these berries...

The donor coordinator called me last week to let me know I needed to have a cat scan of my kidneys as part of the prescreening process. Since I was going to be near the city on Tuesday, we made the appointment for the evening, and I would go in after work. The scan was very simple, but not something I would want to do on a regular basis. First, I had to drink about a liter of contrasting agent. "Banana or berry?" the well mannered man behind the desk asked me. I can't stand artificial banana flavor, so I went with the berry. Imagine a piece of chalk dissolved in water, with a drop of berry flavor. "Oh, and drink it slowly, over an hour's time", he mentioned. Awesome. If I could chug it, it wouldn't be so bad, but to sip it over the next 60 minutes? Ugh. Time to see what games I have programmed on my phone.

After an hour in gustatory hell, I was led to the back where they stuck me with an IV tube that they would later use to inject an agent that would improve the "resolution" of the images. While I am not averse to needles, this one was pretty thick, and it hurt like the dickens going in. They then led me to the machine. which resembles a large donut with a sliding rack that I would lie on. I climbed aboard, they slid me into position, and we were ready to scan. They scanned me once, then injected the second agent, and scanned me again. The injected agent was pretty neat; as it worked its way through my body, I could feel a warming sensation in my veins. It was very strange to actually feel it flow to my heart, then out to my extremities. Once the second scan was finished, I was all done and could start my long trip home.

The next day, I heard from the donor coordinator. My kidneys were both in great shape, and the donation is still a go. My case will be discussed at the next team meeting in a couple of weeks. In the meantime, they are still looking for a match that would be most compatible with me. I probably won't be hearing anything new for the next week or 10 days, so I guess I will sit and wait patiently..Until then....