Athletes who have given... has your performance suffered?

[Flex_BT]

I'm not to far off from donating.  I am a very athletic person, 35 and have a very physically demanding job.  When I first started looking into this it seemed only a very small percentage of people had issues with chronic fatigue or athletic performance.  The more I look into it it seems like a great deal of living donors report fatigue, decreased performance and some not being able to continue their present employment - some figures up to 40%.  It makes one wonder if the other 60% were active enough to even know the difference.

I'm looking for feedback, hopefully some success stories to ease my mind.  Can anyone who plays sports or participates in endurance events say they were back to their old performance after their surgery?

[RKEM]

I am by no means an athlete although I am 37 a runner and enjoy weight training. I am more high energy than most people my age. I am two weeks into my recovery and for the first while it was very scary. The smallest effort seemed to send my heart rate skyrocketing whereas I'm used to something like 50 bpm at rest. So registering in the 80s and 90s from light activity scared me. But it seems to be improving much faster in the second week.

I was told by a surgeon at the hospital that people who are fit can have a bit more pain around the incision because if everything is "tight" and there isn't a whole lot of extra tissue, it means a bit more stretching to get the opening they need (my operation was a hand assisted nephrectomy through a pfannenstiel incision).

I was wondering how long it would be before I could start to use my lower abdominal muscles. Frankly I was terrified of an incisional hernia. Still kind of am but I am gaining confidence. Yesterday I tried a few stretches and exercises and what was cut seems to be coming back online.

I think that in a way being in good shape, even if it means more pain, helps in the recovery. I was out and about earlier than expected (it you do body weight exercises then lifting and supporting yourself with an arm is easy ... same with running which I think gives you steadier legs). I'm by no means back to my normal activity level but there isn't anything I would call chronic fatigue. I napped just once and I sleep maybe an hour more each night.

One thing which I found helped tremendously was to ditch the opiates as soon as I left the hospital. Most of the symptoms including the lethargy, dizzy spells and weird heart palpitation seemed to have been caused by them. And really, at its worse, the gas pain and incision pain felt as though I had done way too many crunches. When I started this, I was bracing myself for agony for days. This hurt way less than a cracked rib. Generally between 0 and 3 out of 10. At home I took tylenol on and off but now this isn't needed either. Blood pressure is actually back to its usual low and although the heart seems to be taking a bit longer to recover, it's improving. My only lingering problem is the discomfort that food causes if I try to eat as much as I normally do because of pressure against the internal stitches.

So, this isn't the success story you asked for but as far as I can see, I will go back to my normal activity level. I also think that being an athletic person will give you a massive advantage when dealing with the pain and compensating with other muscles while your stomach heals.

[elephant]

Dear Flex,

Of course all living donors experience fatigue.  Removing a kidney has a major impact!  I was very fatigued for the first month.

I disbelieve that 40% of "living donors report fatigue, decreased performance and some not being able to continue their present employment" unless you are talking about post-surgical fatigue.  I also disagree that "the other 60% were (not) active enough to even know the difference."  Living donors are among the healthiest of all people.  I'm quite sure they are able to recognize a change in their health status.  You may want to keep in mind that people who feel great are far less likely to post to internet forums. 

I have been weightlifting and running for over thirty years.  I was jogging by about two weeks out from surgery, and also lifting weights as the surgical restrictions allowed.  Four years later, at age 52, I remain an advanced lifter and can still run for more than an hour without any special training.  Of course I'm not like I was at age 30, but that would have happened anyway.  There are posters on this forum who got into distance running AFTER donation.  You may wish to search for their stories.

It is good to be aware of all the risks of donation, as they are quite real.  I think there is a paucity of very long term data about kidney donors. In the end, the living donor needs to decide to accept the risk or not donate.  If you decide not to donate, your medical team will not tell your recipient the reason. 

Love, elephant

[alextim]

I am an age grouper triathlete who donated in May of 2012. I am now 56 years old and have always been relatively active. In my experience the kidney donation is having no effect on my current performance at all. It seems like we are simply born with a spare.
I ran a Tri the Saturday before the operation so I was in good shape going in. I was back to work in about two weeks and started biking about then. Swimming took a little longer. I had hoped to do a Tri around the 4th of July but I had a problem with a suture that was causing some pain about 3 weeks after surgery. That part was very frustrating and it took several weeks to figure out what was going on. Eventually the problem suture was found and removed and I recovered quickly after that.  I did a sprint Tri in late August of that year, about 4 minutes slower but no problems of any kind.
I'm certainly no superstar and I'm not brave or anything else like that. It's certainly a little scary but I would do it all over without question. I'm not fast but I enjoy the training and the whole racing thing. Since then I have done four or five sprint tris each year and a few running races. I get a minute or two faster each time but I won't ever set the world on fire.
I wish you the best of luck.

[Fr Pat]

     I donated a kidney at 56 and only took up running afterwards, so I can't compare before-and-after abilities. I'm 69 now and still do one or two half-marathons a year. Gave up the full Marathon 2 years ago as I was too slow.
     However, over the years I have read the narrations of some other kidney donors who have suffered serious long-term fatigue or other complications, so there is indeed some risk involved.
     On the subject of athletics I'll take the opportunity to mention again that the "Transplant Games" are held every 2 years somewhere in the U.S., and the next Games are in Cleveland in June of 2016. Most of the athletes are transplant recipients, but we living donors can also compete as members of our State or regional teams. At the last games in Houston there were about 160 living donors present. There are also workshops and ceremonies during the Games. I won medals in the 5k and in the 1,500 meter run (but they are generous in medals according to age groups, as the goal is to encourage everyone to celebrate post-transplant life.) Info at www.transplantgamesofamerica.org and there are many videos of past Games at www.youtube.com under "Transplant Games".
       Fr. Pat

[Flex_BT]

Thanks all for commenting, it is very good to hear some positive feedback.  After a few days went by with nothing I was starting to get a little (even more) worried.  I know there's a chance I could really be screwing my life up doing this but it's very reassuring to read this and to think I could be able to pick up where I left off after a few weeks to a few months.  It's a s***ty risk to have to take but if I can come through for my buddy it's gotta get done.  Final results are in and my left kidney's good to go with only 1 artery (the right has 2 so I'm still sort of a mutant).