The first stage in the process of becoming a live kidney donor is the series of blood tests that will determine whether you are a match.  If you are a blood type O there is a good chance that you will be a match - not for nothing are we nicknamed "universal donors"; a blood group A can donate to an A or an AB, a blood group B can donate to a B or an AB, a blood group AB can donate to only an AB, but an O can give to anyone (this is of course ignoring the Rhesus factor, but that's basically because I don't know how that works.)  Knowing that I was a blood group O gave me a pretty good indicator that I would be a match, but an even better indicator was the look on Alison’s face when I said I was an O… but I'm getting ahead of myself.

So, following the initial chat, we headed over to do the actual blood tests. 

Number one, they take a lot of blood, so if you, like me, have ever got light headed after giving blood, I advise you, take snacks.  Because of my older sister's squeamishness she went first.  My younger sister had to hold her down, she was crying her eyes out, and the top renal nurse had to take the blood (hats off to Dorothy - who we see a lot later in the story.)  My younger sister went next, which was cool.  Did I mention that my mum couldn't be considered because of her own medical problems?  Which left me and Joel. 

Joel has had more blood taken in his life than currently runs round in his veins, he has also had high blood pressure, which means that he has the M25 of veins, and even doctors can get blood samples from him.  Although he was being a man I stayed with him - I have never seen blood gush like that, we were lucky my older sister didn't get a look at it or she'd have had a very nasty bump on the head. 

I, on the other hand, have the B roads of veins (low blood pressure, delicate flower) or those yellow ones that you can hardly make out on a map that don't even have letters.  So Alison put her hands up and called for Dorothy again (hooray for Dorothy!)  A Winnie-the-Pooh kids plaster later and I was laughing, actually no, I was bitching, but that's just what low blood pressure and taking that much blood does to a person.  I'm alright after a cup of tea and packet of crisps, and a packet of HobNobs, but I forgot that before the tests, unfortunately.

In case you were wondering, the reason they took Joel's blood was so that they can put it with the potential donors’ to see how they react - it's to do with antigens and stuff - very technical.

As we walked back to the car, knowing that we would have to wait weeks for the results, and not yet knowing whether it would be okay to have kids after giving a kidney, my older sister (admittedly on a high after getting through the blood tests) started saying that that was a really minor point and she was still gung ho.  I tried to explain to her that it was worth letting it sink in, and thinking it through before making a decision, but she wasn't listening (wait till you see what happens next!)

That weekend I got a lift with my older brother's family down to my mum's.  On the way down he quizzed me on the chat.  He was most interested to hear that after the operation you can drink and eat whatever you like (although alcohol does tend to have a much more intense effect - you will be a light weight drinker!) in fact people who give kidneys statistically live longer, but maybe that's because you have a kidney check up each year (looking forward to that - not), and that the scar would probably be on the side, under the arm (very discreet).