4 days In

[RKEM]

So I went ahead with my donation last Thursday. Although I'll never know my recipient, I was told that he or she was doing well and that the kidney proceeded to go into overdrive making the poor sap pee something like 4L in a very short amount of time.

Pain was not as excruciating as I had expected. I weaned myself off the Dilaudil on the Friday because it was making me nauseous and itchy and today, my first full day at home, I'm testing out if I can do without the toradol and the tylenol. 9 hours since my last dose and I am feeling more coherent and less light headed. There is pain, but not excruciating.

Had a few meltdowns in the hospital, one when the transplant coordinator came to visit. But it was a weird I'm so happy I don't know why I'm crying kind of moment. Then on the Saturday, having gone on several solo walks around the ward and being newly freed from the IV post, I got it in my head to walk to the Timmies at the hospital. I didn't know just how far it was. I got there completely exhausted, staring at the lone timbit I asked my boyfriend to get me, feeling  too sick to take a bite and too weak to talk back to the ward. This was followed by a sobbing wheelchair ride of shame my room. There I did finally eat the darn timbit and I'm guessing the effort helped reawaken my digestive system. My boyfriend, ever the cheerleader, put things into perspective using the MEME that is now my avatar on this forum. I laughed so hard I thought I was going to pop some stitches.

Also I'm a bit surprised that I only seem to have two small scars (although one is still with steri-strips so maybe there are two under there and one large one (though I can feel that the bikini scar also includes a vertical cut under the skin at 90 degrees. I thought that there were supposed to be 4 port holes and one hole to retrieve the kidney.

[sherri]

Congratulations and welcome to the donor club. Sounds like you are progressing as expected. Give your body time to heal. this is an emotional kind of surgery so no surprise about the tears!

Keep us posted.

Sherri

[Michael]

Congratulations!

[RKEM]

This is going to sound like a very strange question, but did you find that your taste in food changed after the surgery? I've always had a massive sweet tooth. You wouldn't be able to tempt me with a bowl of fries but put a slice of pie in front of me and all bets are off.

Yet, ever since coming back from the hospital, all I feel like eating are savoury and salty things. After decades of sweetened oatmeal for breakfast, I find myself considering cucumbers, tomatoes, olives and feta for breakfast or wondering how oats would taste with a bit of hot sauce in them. The thought of sweet things makes me kind of queasy.

[Fr Pat]

      Sometimes changes in food preference/tolerance can be temporary after the donation surgery. The innards are literally pushed around and slightly relocated in the surgery, and the antibiotics can kill off helpful digestive bacteria for a while (eating yogurt can help restore this), plus there can be lingering effects of the anesthesia.
     Emotions can be unusual, because living donation is so unusual. Sometimes when we don't have words to express what we feel we express it with tears. Pat yourself on the back for having done a fine thing, and be proud of your scars and of your tears.
   Fr. Pat

[RKEM]

I do hope that it is temporary. Otherwise I'm going to start asking if they threw in a stomach stapling for free. I haven't been able to eat as much as I normally do. About a third of what I would consider a normal portion and I genuinely feel full. Anything more and it's painful bloating time. I didn't think too much of it until today and I weighed myself.

I started this journey on the low end of a healthy weight, but now I'm down about 10% of my body weight. I haven't been this light since I was 14. Five more pounds and I'll be entering the below 19 BMI range ... which I find a bit scary since I'm built pretty square

[sherri]

This sounds very similar. I felt full up to my eyeballs and couldn't even think of eating. I did make sure to keep well hydrated and only ate very lightly like toast and crackers for at least 3 weeks. They use a lot of carbon dioxide to inflate the abdomen during laparoscopic surgery so it is not unusual to feel this way after any lap surgery. I loved seeing the number on the scale even if it was only for a short time. The weight will come back so if you are very thin and it is concerning to you, you can try drinking boost or ensure for a higher calorie intake.
Donor nephrectomy is major surgery even though it is marketed as minimally invasive and you go home to recuperate pretty soon after. It takes weeks to months for your body to regulate to its new normal. Your digestive organs were manipulated, you now have one kidney learning to compensate for two, we lose 50% of our nephrons (the working units of the kidney) and it takes time for the body to build up to get to about 75% of working kidney function. Take the time to recuperate and make sure to get your yearly blood work and urine to make sure your body is working well. The transplant center is required to report on donor at 6 months, one year and two years. If you get checked somewhere else, make sure these numbers are reported to them. There is no way to keep track of donors and have long term data which is really lacking.

Should you have any questions you should be able to contact your post transplant coordinator. Hopefully you will have a post surgery follow up and have an opportunity to address and concerns.

Sherri