1 week post donation blood results

[Crocodile]

I am make, 32 and donated a kidney 1 week ago. I feel fine, I just had my blood test done and got the results pretty quickly and I was wondering if this is normal for post op bloods?

Serum potassium 4mmol
Serum urea 7.9mmol
 creatinine 129umol
GFR 59.6ml/min/1.73m2
Serum sodium 137mmol

I am worried, it shows impairment but not 100% sure what I can do about it? Or if I need too? My GP said I had impairment but I am not sure what this means or if it is normal

If I am honest I am afraid of being in damaged ? Any advice?

[Fr Pat]

     I'm not a medical professional, so I won't try to comment on the numbers. But I did want to mention that for me it took about a year or two before my numbers settled into their "new normal" and I am doing fine now 14 years after kidney donation. It is good to be concerned and watchful, but also keep in mind that you have gone through major surgery only a week ago. Your remaining kidney has to learn to handle its new work load. Plus you have lots of anesthesia, pain killers, etc. in your system and they don't flush out for a while. So give your body time to fully heal and to fully adjust to this new reality. And please let us know how things go.
   best wishes,
      Fr. Pat

[Crocodile]

Thank you for the advice...

I think I just seen some abnormal numbers, impaired I should say. I just got a little stressed, maybe fearful of any chance I would need to have a transplant myself in the future.

I suppose 6 days after surgery my kidney would be a little sleepy I guess I should not worry too much and just get on with life, I will repeat this test in 3 weeks so see what happens.End of the day I am in good health, alot better than most.

[RKEM]

I think it takes a while for the lone kidney to deal with its suddenly doubled workload. Not to mention that your body just had to deal with a bunch of chemicals and medications from the operation. I bet you that when they re-do the tests in a few weeks, there will be a substantial improvement. Roughly speaking, I was told that the remaining kidney generally makes up half of what was lost. So if after donation a figure drops from 100 to 50, it may eventually settle at around 75. But it may take a while. In the meantime, take it easy, rest a lot, eat healthy foods and drink loads of fluids.

[CK]

Yes, give it time - the other kidney will take over some of the work load.  I can't interpret those numbers, but almost 4 years post-donation, my creatinine is at .9, which is in the normal range.  I believe it was up to about 1.2 initially and then dropped down.

Have your doctor monitor it regularly - most people need transplants due to kidney damage or disease.  You can live quite well with less than optimum kidney functioning.