There's a Strange Jug in my Fridge

This blog will be posted some time after it was written due to an outside directive to not talk about my living donor experience until after I have donated.  If you are reading this, it is because I have completed the donation process.

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February 27, 2011

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Today I get to pee in a jug all day. Yahoo! Actually, I get to put a contraption called a "disposable hat" into the toilet, pee in that and then I get to pour it into the jug. Once the transfer is complete, I return the jug (about the size of a bottle of liquid laundry detergent and the colour of a portable gas can) into the fridge in its plastic bag. I am not a germaphobe by any stretch of the word and I know also that urine is sterile.  But the fact that there is a bright orange jug of my "output" where the Tropicana used to be is weirding me out a bit. It's also strange to need to stop at the fridge on the way to the washroom.

I set the alarm for 5AM (which is not cool on a Sunday) so that I could start it early, making me able to finish it when I get up for work tomorrow at 5AM.   So far I've gone through the routine twice which isn't bad considering that its 11AM and I've had a cup of coffee. And at least I'm allowed to do this one on the weekend.  I'm not sure I'd be okay with doing it at work.
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It's 4:30 now. Another three (maybe?) trips under my belt almost lost one but saved it in the nick of time from tipping. We had decided to make the upstairs bathroom the designated bathroom to "wear" the hat because during a weekend day its used less.  It just means extra stairs which isn't a big deal unless I forget the jug in the fridge. Even then it isn't a big deal in the realm of things I guess.  All for the greater good right? I was just thinking to myself that even people who fail out of the tests should get something-I don't know what exactly...a thank you card? A "Thanks for Trying" postcard? Or a lollipop like when we were kids and we were "good" at the doctors. Only another five or so waking hours left in the day though so that at worst is another four to five bathroom visits.  Almost done!!

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Almost bedtime.  Hopefully (but unlikely) I will go through the night without having to get up and deal with all the hat and jug routine-mostly because it will involve going downstairs. Its hard to do that on autopilot and stay half asleep.. All and all this hasn't been too bad or as inconvenient as I thought it would be. I'm hoping that arriving at the lab right at open time tomorrow will see me move through the blood tests etc. as quickly as possible. Because of the jog factor, I couldn't make an appointment (and you can't make appointments for first thing in the morning anyway). As my past experience has demonstrated, the lack of appointment, even when impossible, seems to cause ill will at Calgary Lab Services. I'm going to a different lab this time but Charlie, who unfortunately has had more than his own fair share of lab time over the last 2 months, has informed me that this lab is not going to win any awards for friendliness either. But tomorrow is Monday.  Who doesn't start their Mondays off happy?