S/O Organ Donation

karimychel · August 2011

If you're an organ donor is there anything you're not willing to donate? Does your DH/SO/parents know of your wishes?

karimychel · August 2011

I'm fair game, do what you wish with me.

My mom doesn't like the idea of donating eyes for some reason. It really bothers her, I don't ever get her rational.

jennlin · August 2011

i renewed my drivers license online today, which was what made me ask the question earlier.......i'm new to organ donation, and am still not 100% sure on it. i suppose if i don't need it, somebody else can have it, though, right? i guess i haven't set any limits or thought of any....

uwhuskygirl · August 2011

Anyone who wants anything can have it then. Or if my organs can't be donated then the UW Med School is getting me.

H, my family and close friends are all aware of my wishes.

I even told my BFF that if I'm in a comma and there's no chance that I'm going to wake up and neither H or my parents can pull the plug, then she needs to nut up to do it.

karimychel · August 2011

uwhuskygirl:
I even told my BFF that if I'm in a comma and there's no chance that I'm going to wake up and neither H or my parents can pull the plug, then she needs to nut up to do it.

DH swears he'd never let me stay hooked up to wires. But, BFF also has direct orders to make this happen sooner than later if family can't do it.

uwhuskygirl · August 2011

karimychel:
uwhuskygirl:
I even told my BFF that if I'm in a comma and there's no chance that I'm going to wake up and neither H or my parents can pull the plug, then she needs to nut up to do it.
DH swears he'd never let me stay hooked up to wires. But, BFF also has direct orders to make this happen sooner than later if family can't do it.

Yeah, that's what my H and parents swear too, but I'm afraid that they'll be too emotional to do it if the time ever really comes.

amandasw · August 2011

I'm an organ donor and it's a free-for-all. I think H and I have talked about the life support thing, I think one time he was like "give me a month and that's it. wait, two months, if I can't do it in two months that's it" lol.

picksthemusic · August 2011

Since I plan on being cremated, they better take everything they can! LOL

KST_ · August 2011

picksthemusic:
Since I plan on being cremated, they better take everything they can! LOL

Pretty much the same for me, although they shouldn't take my eyes...I have super sh!tty vision and I'd hate someone to go through all that bother to barely see.

CDMay2006 · August 2011

KST_:
Pretty much the same for me, although they shouldn't take my eyes...I have super sh!tty vision and I'd hate someone to go through all that bother to barely see.

karimychel:
I'm fair game, do what you wish with me.
My mom doesn't like the idea of donating eyes for some reason. It really bothers her, I don't ever get her rational.

It bothered me, too, but then i looked into it. Instead of whole-eye donation, parts of the eye go to different people. For this reason, even people with poor vision can benefit others through donation of the eye.

Eye

Over 46,000 people a year have their sight restored through corneal transplant, and one eye donor can help up to 10 people. Not only is the cornea used, the sclera (the white part of the eye) is needed for ocular graft surgery in the treatment of eye disease. Anyone can be an eye donor. Cataracts, poor eyesight, and age do not prohibit eye donation.CorneaThe cornea is the clear window to the eye. It is about the size of a contact lens. Traumatic accidents to the eye, infections, and inherited eye diseases like Keratoconus are just a few reasons cornea donation can fill such a great need. Almost anyone can donate their corneas, even individuals with diabetes or cancer. Corneal transplants have a success rate that exceeds 95%.Whole Globe

After the cornea has been recovered, the sclera (the white part of the eye) can be utilized to repair eyelids and reinforce the wall of the eye. Sclera can be used to repair ruptured ear drums, which restores hearing.

(From http://www.lcnw.org/understanding-donation/, a good resource to find out more.)

uwhuskygirl:
karimychel:
uwhuskygirl:
I even told my BFF that if I'm in a comma and there's no chance that I'm going to wake up and neither H or my parents can pull the plug, then she needs to nut up to do it.
DH swears he'd never let me stay hooked up to wires. But, BFF also has direct orders to make this happen sooner than later if family can't do it.
Yeah, that's what my H and parents swear too, but I'm afraid that they'll be too emotional to do it if the time ever really comes.

Just make sure your wishes are documented in a living will/advance directive, otherwise non-immediate family can't make any decisions. Plus if it is written, *no one* has to make a decision -- they just follow your directive.

Other resources (note: i haven't looked at all of them):
http://www.organdonor.gov/
http://www.compassionwa.org/directives.html http://www.wsma.org/patient_resources/advance-directives-qa.cfm

Ciaram22 · August 2011

Anything and everything is fair game. If they want it. They can have it.

KST_ · August 2011

CDMAY - cool! Although I'm not sure if my cornea would still work well for them. I have bad astigmatism and my cornea slowly keeps warping over the years so it gradually gets worse. I don't have time to look up, but now I'm curious if that would be something encoded in the genetics of my cornea (I would imagine) and if it would continue if transplanted to someone else!

karimychel · August 2011

CDMay - You're right, I've really been slacking on the living will part. Suppose it's one of those things that you don't really want to sit down and do.

And my mom knows all about the eye stuff, I gave her a ton of info, but it still creeps her out.

My dad had a sister die in her 20's of a rare cancer, she wanted her body donated to science and that caused a huge uproar in his family. But thanks to her living will she got what she wanted and 5 years later her daughter got her ashes back from the research lab.

sarack · August 2011

thanks for bringing this up... i need to talk about h about it. i want them to use as much of me as possible.

CDMay2006 · August 2011

KST_:
CDMAY - cool! Although I'm not sure if my cornea would still work well for them. I have bad astigmatism and my cornea slowly keeps warping over the years so it gradually gets worse. I don't have time to look up, but now I'm curious if that would be something encoded in the genetics of my cornea (I would imagine) and if it would continue if transplanted to someone else!

I've heard of something like that that can be treated with special hard contacts... not an option for you (or not even the same condition?)?

amandasw · August 2011

CDMay2006:
KST_:
CDMAY - cool! Although I'm not sure if my cornea would still work well for them. I have bad astigmatism and my cornea slowly keeps warping over the years so it gradually gets worse. I don't have time to look up, but now I'm curious if that would be something encoded in the genetics of my cornea (I would imagine) and if it would continue if transplanted to someone else!
I've heard of something like that that can be treated with special hard contacts... not an option for you (or not even the same condition?)?

I also have asitgmatism - hard contacts do actually help correct it, but I just use soft and they have special ones that work well enough for me. The biggest bummer is that I recently found out I have thin corneas or whatever so I can't get lasik and I'm also probably going to have glaucoma On the plus side, if you have cataracts they replace the cornea (covered by insurance) and you have perfect vision! My grandpa just did that and he is also who I inherited all these stupid eye problems from. So I'm hoping for cataracts

CDMay2006 · August 2011

amandasw:
So I'm hoping for cataracts

I recently learned that allergy medications (some), inhalers and diabetes increase that chance -- so many options!

jennlin · August 2011

CDMay2006:
amandasw:
So I'm hoping for cataracts
I recently learned that allergy medications (some), inhalers and diabetes increase that chance -- so many options!

lol!

S/O Organ Donation

Re: S/O Organ Donation

Choose Another Board

Search Boards