The same day I had the CT scan, I also saw a psychiatrist. They want to make sure that I am of sound mind as I make this decision to donate. The appointment was pretty short, just over half an hour. The psychiatrist was very pleasant, asking me some questions about myself that I have already answered a half a dozen times before about my health and family situation. It appeared he had read previous charts because he knew some things about me already.
Mostly the questions centred around my mental health, and whether I have had problems in the past with mental illness, depression, anxiety, intrusive thoughts, or had problems with alcohol or other drugs. And then some questions about why I want to donate. He asked me how I would feel if my kidney was rejected by the recipient; I said of course it would be disappointing to find that out, but that in my situation I likely never would find that out. I explained how some psychological challenges are avoided by being an undesignated donor. He commented, “It looks like you have thought about this a lot.”
It was a pleasant conversation, everything was pretty easy to answer, and at the end of our time together he said he didn’t see any reasons why I should not be a donor. So one more appointment down.
I still need to see a haematologist (because my mother had some blood clotting problems), and the urologist who will do the surgery. After all the appointments are complete, I will meet with the nephrologist again and he will outline the ways I can donate my kidney; the different options as to who would receive it, either a direct one to one donation, or a domino sort of donation through the national registry.