When will bloat go away? 6 days post donation...

[Randene]

I am 6 days post donation to my dad. I had mine done laparoscopically so I knew there would be bloat from that. But I still look 6 months pregnant. None of my clothes fit.  When will the bloat go back to normal?  Please tell me it will!

[CK]

For some reason I didn't have much bloat at all. I think it's because I was only in the hospital about 24 hours so I didn't have the days and days of IV fluid. I'm assuming that it's fluid...my "significant other", who was my recipient, came out of the surgery weighing 6 lbs more than when he went in, despite the fact that he had two 12 lb kidneys removed in the surgery. He was bloated for about a week and a half after discharge, and then he started peeing out liters and liters every night, losing 5 lbs over night every night for a few, until he was down a total of 24 lbs from pre-surgery weight.

So, in other words, it's probably just fluid, and yep, you will start losing it soon.

[Orchidlady]

I did have some fluid build up early on because of all the fluids being pumped in me post op. But once they disconnected that, a lot of the fluid went away.
What you may be experiencing is tissue swelling - the body's natural defense to trauma from all that "messing around" they did to get the kidney.
I was swollen, and felt swollen for a good amount of time. I always said it felt like I was carrying a football in front of me! It did decrease over time. I called it a "baseball" about 4 weeks and a "golf ball" about six weeks.
If you feel pain or too much discomfort, it wouldn't hurt to check back with your center.
Hope you and your father are doing well.

[cupid]

I still have swelling 4 weeks out but think its what Orchidlady said-more tissue swelling from the trauma. The fluid retention should subside in another week or so but the inflammation from the surgery itself sticks around. I am still carrying the 'football'! And not being able to work out doesn't help much. hang in there-its probably just a small side effect!

[jennybebopper]

It will start happening soon.  The fluid they give you is a part, but as mentioned above your tissues swell and your body is readjusting to balancing fluid with only half its workforce.  They only gave me 3L of fluid (about 7lbs) and I was up about 15 lbs post-op day 1.  The weight was almost gone by end of week 1, definitely for me by end of week 2.  That being said, even though my weight returned to baseline, I still didn't like wearing regular pants for more than a couple hours until week 3ish due to tenderness.  Hang in there!

[sherri]

Some bloating is normal but if you feel like you are six months pregnant that sounds like a lot. You can call your follow up nurse coordinator and let he/she know what's going on and see if they feel you should be seen. Sometimes but not often, a lymph vessel may be cut and some lymph fluid may leak into the abdominal cavity. Whenever you have any type of surgery always best to check in with the nursing staff post op if you feel something isn't right. chances are you are having normal side effects from surgery but always best to get it checked out.

Heal well and take your time recovering. Welcome to the donor club!

Sherri