Living donor - two weeks later

[sherri]

Donor 99,

It is always encouraging to hear from "veteran" donors. I donated in 2007. One of my many concerns is always will my health be compromised by having less kidney function reserve. Best of luck to you and continued good health.

Sherri

[CK]

I don't remember being exhausted or depressed after surgery, so it's not a given.  Of course I was tired, and sore, but I could have gotten back to work after 2 weeks (I waited one more).

You are just stopping opiates, and they can make you very tired. Give yourself a chance off of them to see if you feel better. I didn't take them past the first couple of days/nights, so maybe that was the difference.  But also - find someone to care for your boys and get some rest.  2 weeks isn't a long time to recover from major surgery.

[poodles]

Hi there Palvarad! You did a great and selfish thing and now you need to look after yourself.

I donated just over 5 years ago and like you a high energy person always on the go. The absolutely the hardest thing of all about the donation process was to have no energy afterwards. It was a mind numbing lack of energy beyond description. You may hear the words "no energy" but that is a vague term with many different meanings. I had though of it as having to move slower to get to the end not the feeling of no possibility of even getting to the start of the race.

You were given a lot of drugs, mostly stuff you have never taken before they will take some time to completely leave your system. You need to drink lots of water and move around a much as you can.

My Donor Social Worker who evaluated me as a suitable donor did advise me a few days before the donor surgery to expect to be very tired when I got home from the hospital. She told me to have family to cook and clean and make sure that anything I would need for the next month was close at hand with in easy reach and not make many plans. She also said to expect to hang out snoozing on the sofa a lot so exhaustion was/is an expected consequence of donor surgery.

Some people have no problems with exhaustion but all I can say is everyone I have personally known who donated a kidney has been utterly exhausted and slept a lot, some people for longer than others. But every person I know has improved and been able to move on with their lives.

Can you discuss this with your Donor Nurse or Social Worker? I suggest these people as you Donor Neurologist will do tests to check your kidney function which will be scheduled fairly soon after donation but a report of exhaustion is not measurable.

What I can tell you is that you will certainly improve at your own rate. Can you think of this as another test where you have to finesse your way through obstacles as if you are in training for a competition. Long before my donation I thought of the Donor Surgery as a serious sports injury and planned for a major rehab, unexpected setbacks included.

Make sure you get lots of rest as you need it, eat a nutritional diet and It hard put what energy you do have into improving your health. It's hard but try to spend as little energy as possible on worrying.

Good luck and let us know how things go please.

[Clark]

It's been another couple of weeks, how are you now? Any better? We all hope so. Take care.

[MrDavid]

17 days out!

I was very sleepy until day 6 I started to build up my walking, 10 minute/15 minutes/20mins etc per day each day until I could do 30 minutes with ease, I felt this helped with energy levels also the most important thing is eating and drinking!

I suggest instead of eating large meals space several smaller ones, eat lots of fruit especially stuff like oranges, pineapple and stuff high in vitamin C. Also eat more than normal, you need to recover,

Sleep 8 hours straight then follow with 1 hour nap or 2 if you can during the day, main thing is drink clear water this also helps with energy levels,

Coffee, 2 cups per day! Nice for the poop and to keep you focused

[Flex_BT]

I donated on December 7th and I felt exactly like you do.

The first few weeks of my recovery were terrible.  It was nothing to be able to sleep for 12-14 hours a day when I first got home.  My wife would prepare dinner and I felt like I was hungry but could only eat a few bites before feeling totally full.  It seems like everything goes so much slower than it should recovery wise.  The lack of appetite should fade, and the lethargy won't be too far behind.  One word of advice since you just stopped the pain meds... do NOT stop taking miralax just because you've had 3 days of loose poops.  Give it an extra week.  Don't ask me how I know.

7 weeks later and I'm wondering why my abdomen is still rigid under my incision, and how long it will take for that to go away, or stop pulling / pinching on the right side when I sneeze.  And WHEN THE HELL WILL THEY LET ME GET BACK IN THE GYM AND PLAYING SPORTS.  Point is, in my limited experience it's hopped from one "when the hell will this end" to another and I'm hoping for both of us life will eventually get back to normal.  The first 4 weeks were definitely terrible and things should start getting better in time (which seems to crawl when you're in this situation).

[RKEM]

It does get better. It really does. Just give your body time to adjust. For me it took two months to get the "all clear do whatever you want" from the doctor ... mind you I had already been doing that before. I figured that off opiates my body would tell me when I was doing too much ... and it did a couple of times.

I donated in September and even now I will get the minute twinge of pain now and then but it's just for a second. Stretching the core did wonders ... I think the operation tends to leave you walking hunched over (to protect the incision ... I know I was terrified my entrails would suddenly become extrails if I moved the wrong way or tripped) so everything gets bunched up. I also read that adhesions can form between organs and be painful so I tried to be diligent and stretch that belly every day.

The appetite also comes back ... I went through some slightly scary weight loss because I would just be full after two bites. Once you start eating more and moving more your energy will come back. Losing an organ is a pretty significant adaptation demand on your body. Just give it time and take all the naps

[Fr Pat]

     I quite agree that bending and stretching exercises are a big help to get the innards and the whole body back to normal. My surgeon had me start gentle stretching exercises the day after surgery, even though the surgery was by a single 10-inch incision along the flank!
I also found that simply lying flat on the floor with arms and legs spread-eagled seemed to help the innards shift into comfy positions again.
     Fr. Pat