July 4th, 2010 | 
Author: My Recovery at Home
I was allowed home 2 days after the operation. The journey home was okay. Couldn’t avoid all the bumps and potholes in the road so had to support my abdomen during the journey. It was good to be home. Own bed, own bathroom etc. Couldn’t keep my eyes open so had not been home for long before went up to bed. Now of course, my bed does not raise up like the hospital one. So with great effort I got onto the bed at a sort of an angle and then couldn’t move, lol. The pain in my abdomen was intense. Oh well – I just stayed there on the bed sort of laying across it – and went to sleep. Woke about 5am feeling refreshed and wanting the bathroom, but quite a battle to get out of bed. took around 10 minutes trying to work out the least painful way.
Decided that the next night I would sleep with lots of pillows behind me so my upper half is already raised, just like the hospital bed was. It would then be much easier getting in and out of bed as would not have to use my abdominal muscles as much.
In myself I felt very well. Still bloated which was uncomfortable rather than anything else so hopefully the extra 4 kilos would go soon. I got tired very very quickly. In fact I had only been up for around 3 hours and was walking back from the kitchen with a cup of tea and almost dropped it as I found my eyes closing as I walked. The tiredness just came out the blue!! I know I was told I would feel tired, but I was not sure if that meant bodily tired i.e. no energy, or tired in wanting to go to sleep. Now I know. I had to go back upstairs and get some sleep. I arranged the pillows so they were like a backrest. I have a memory foam mattress which is bliss. I could get into bed a lot easier now with little pain. I got a good hours sleep and woke refreshed. Around 3pm the same thing happened and I found my eyes just would not stay open, so got another hours sleep. I must say the first four or five days was like this. Suddenly feeling sleepy when I had only been up a few hours. I didn’t fight it as I knew my body needed the rest. I was also going up to bed around 7pm or 8pm in the evenings. I actually felt more comfortable laying propped up in bed than sitting in the chair downstairs, which squashed my abdomen up a bit and was uncomfortable. I had very good night sleep for the first week, most nights not waking at all until the morning. Pre operation I would wake about 3 or 4 times needing the bathroom. I also found that sleeping with my upper half propped up I could breathe a lot easier as well which I am sure aided a good night sleep. In fact I have continued to sleep propped up and find it much better than laying flat in bed. When I have saved the money I may just invest in a bed where I can raise the back up. I am surprised at the difference in quality of sleep I get this way.
The first week was obviously the hardest as I was not allowed to do much and I felt tired so quickly throughout the day and there was a bit of pain when I walked or used my lower abdomen. For some reason the first couple of days I forgot about the pain medication. Duh! After that I took it and made sure I took enough. Although I still had some pain, it was not troublesome. In fact I was quite pleased I had a little bit of pain as it reminded me to take things easy. I enjoyed being spoilt and looked after the first week!
Some people get no pain at all. I believe the only reason I got pain was because I am overweight and the pressure of a tummy “overhang” on the incision area coupled with gravity pulling down on it when I walked, just aggravated everything! If I held in my abdomen muscles which then supported the incision area, then I had no pain at all when I walked. Of course remembering to take the pain medication would have helped!
Once 10 days had passed then I noticed a quicker improvement. I was not sleepy during the day any more, although I did physically get tired. It was quite some time before energy levels restored themselves. Incisions were healing nicely and everything was just great.
I also heard that the recipient was doing excellently well! That is the best news of all. Wonderful!
Recovery continued and things are great. It has been a while since the evaluation finished in October 2009 and some time since kidney donation, so I hope I have remembered everything, I did make notes at the time but not always. Anyway I hope this blog gives a good insight into the process of becoming an Living kidney donor and the actual donation process itself. I know if I had another spare kidney I would do it all again without hesitation.
Tags: 20 Responses to “Recovery at home after Kidney removal”
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You have given a kidney to a stranger – How amazing! What a wonderful person you are. I have spent an hour reading through your blog and am so amazed. Why do we not know more about being able to give a kidney. I did not know you could. It was like reading a TV series, I was glued to reading your next post. You do not say much about the person who got your kidney? Were they in the same ward as you?
I loved reading this.
Best Wishes
Zoe
Hi Zoe,
Thank you for reading my blog, I appreciate the time you have taken to do that.
The person who had my kidney was not in the same hospital. I donated to a stranger, they call that Altruistic or non-directed and it also means you do not get to know the person. You stay anonymous to each other. The recipient can write a letter of thanks, say, to the donor. But it has to go through intermediary at the hospital and then forwarded on to me. Likewise if the donor decides to respond, it has to go through intermediary again and no personal details can be given such as full name or address/location etc. It is all to protect/respect the individual people’s privacy etc. The hospital the donor is at can enquire as to how well the recipient is after the transplant and you can be updated as to how they have responded. I was told that my recipient was doing excellently which was fantastic news.
I may in a month or so post again and give my thoughts on the whole experience.
All the best
DF
How do they get the kidney to a different hospital then? isn’t that dangerous, doesn’t the organ shrivel up or something?
So what did your recipient say in their letter to you? I cant imagine how it must feel to get an organ from a live person. Do you know you are missing an organ? Can you feel any different without your kidney.
Best Wishes
Zoe
Hi Zoe,
There is a process by which organs are preserved for as long as it takes to either have them driven, flown etc to the required centre.
I am sorry but I cannot disclose anything regarding the recipient and any communication that may have taken place between them and me. Apart from which I never get to know their name anyway, and they not mine.
You know, I feel no different with only one kidney than when I had two. The strange thing is, that any discomfort or pain I had after the operation was localised to the main incision – and then with more pain meds I could have got rid of that but for whatever reason kept forgetting to take the pain meds .. duh! But I had no discomfort or pain inside my body where the work went on to cut away the kidney and remove it. I wouldn’t have known I had been operated on at all from that point of view. Only having the one kidney has not affected at all how I live my life or any aspect of my life. If I had another spare kidney I would not hesitate to give that one also.
Take Care
all the best
DF
i think you are amazing,so much so you have inspired me to register,my dad had a new kidney 20years ago and its still going strong,i would have donated to him,but i was pregnant at the time,who i have since lost to cancer.but reading your blog has made me more determind to save a life,thank you.
Hi Samantha,
Thank you so much for posting. How fantastic your Dad is still going strong 20 years later, that is wonderful. I am sorry for your loss though, that is very sad.
How great you have signed the register. Gosh I am so pleased my blog has inspired you to do that, I hope it does to many other people as well.
Thanks for taking the time to read my blog and to post letting me know.
All the best
~Di~
Thanks very much for sharing all this. I am almost at the end of being worked up as a donor for my husband and it has been very helpful to read about your surgery as it gives me a much better idea of what to expect.
Hi Rebecca,
Thanks for finding this blog and posting. You must both be very excited that you are nearly there now. I am glad my postings have been helpful, I know I was very much in the dark about it all, so wanted to try and help other people know just what the whole process was like … warts and all!
Best Wishes to you both
Di
x
i have just finished reading this blog as i was looking for information on how long recovery takes after donating a kidney. On 6 August 2010 i donated my kidney to my husband (he is doing amazingly well). I knew i would be feeling exhausted and a bit poorly but thought by now i would be feeling a bit more normal ?? I was just wondering how long will it be before i can go a full day without feeling exhausted ???
I must add at this point that i wouldn’t hesitate in doing it all again as you do get so much satisfaction knowing you have made someone else’s life much better. I’d do it all again tomorrow (if i was feeling up to it ! )
By the way Rebecca, good luck, you’ll be fine
tracy
Hi Tracy,
It has been just over 3 weeks since you donated, that is still pretty soon to be feeling full of energy etc. When I went for my 6 week check up I mentioned that I still had not got energy levels back and felt a bit whacked at times and I was told that is perfectly normal as it is major surgery we had, even though it may have not seemed so because of it being keyhole, and our bodies have to not only get over the anesthetic, but the emotional side also – we may not realise it but our emotions have been on a long ride preparing for this etc …and our body has to heal after the operation and get used to one kidney. The remaining kidney has to take on the extra work, it does grow in size a bit also. All that is going on at a steady pace and our bodies cannot cope with all that and leading a normal daily life. I was told to expect up to about 3 months before I felt right back to normal. We are each different in how we are anyway. I just know that I often felt like a sleep during the day or to go to bed early and this was weeks and weeks after, and I would just make sure I did get some rest when my body asked for it, if I could as I knew it was telling me it had “work” to do.
A friend of mine who donated about a year ago he took a couple of months before he felt like he was just about back to normal, but even then would get spells of tiredness that he would not have got before.
I am not sure what your day entails but if you are trying to lead a really busy/active day then you will feel very tired for a while yet as your body wont be able to cope. You just have to be patient. Mention it to your surgeon when you have your 6 week check up and I am sure they will say the same, that it could take 3 months or so before you feel really right again. Make sure you drink plenty of water as getting a bit dehydrated will tire you and you need to make sure you drink enough now with one kidney.
Hope you get to feel better soon, do let us know. It is good to hear different people’s reaction to donating and how it affect us.
Glad hubby is doing well, must be so fantastic for you both.
Best wishes
Di
x
Di, thanks for such a quick response. I’m actually not doing much I have just been signed off work for another 6 weeks so i’m making the most of the time off. Perhaps i’m being a bit impatient to get back to normal as i do normally lead a very busy lifestyle. I have noticed that even after having a shower i need to take a 10 minute break before i can tackle the chore of having to blowdry my hair. Then another break before i attempt anything else. I will take note of the fact to drink more water, i have not been told that by anyone else. Thanks again for information it was really useful. I will certainly keep posting as i’m sure it will help others going through the same procedure. Off for a lovely pint of ice cold water now !!
Hi Tracy,
Lol .. I do website design so spend a lot of time on computer so that is why I can reply quickly. I drink 1.5 litres of water a day which the doc said was great. Help flush everything through. I was also told not to take NSAID tablets i.e. nurophen, asprin etc .. now only having one kidney, I was told it was wise to just take extra precautions. If you do a google for kidney and NSAID’s one of the side effects is that it “could” cause problems. Certainly not a huge concern but it has been known.
Actually I started regularly drinking about 1.5 litres a day when I was losing weight (well trying to), my dietician said that I was storing body fluid and to get rid of it I needed to drink more … huh!! lol … but its true. I was not getting enough fluids so my body stored some. Once I started drinking 1.5 lts I lost several pounds in weight as the retained fluid just went. Now it is habit and I do feel better for having enough water during the day. I will start dehydrating if I dont have enough and that makes me very tired.
Interesting thing here (sorry, I know I talk too much, bad habit!) after the operation I woke with very dry mouth and headache (had that before after an operation) and once a nurse said to me drink water … its because you get dehydrated then get a headache etc .. and its true, first thing I did was ask for some water and within seconds my headache went and I felt fit as a fiddle. (okay mouth zipped now!)
TTFN
xx Di xx
Tracy and Di, thanks for this information. It is very useful and gives me an idea what to expect – and also to pass on to my husband, as I suspect he has very unrealistic ideas about how quickly he is going to get back to normal.
I have been trying to make plans for making everything easier that might cause problems during recovery, including buying a small extra freezer so I can make stuff and stock up beforehand, so I won’t need to do much more than microwave food afterwards, move the laundry basket downstairs, so I won’t have to carry the basket of laundry to the washing machine, and we have booked the dogs into kennels for a month (slightly awkward as we don’t have a confirmed date for surgery, but things do need to be booked well in advance, unfortunately) and so on.
I met up with someone who lives near us who donated to her husband – that was useful too. She said the only thing she had problems with was hanging laundry up.That was something I hadn’t even thought about, but I have contingency plans for that as well now.
Tracy, I am glad you and your husband are doing well.
Rebecca
Hi Rebecca,
I found bending down very hard but then I think that was because I was overweight a lot so my lower abdomen really felt it and I didn’t want to take any chances with the internal stitches, but it was an impossibility to bend to pick up something from the floor,or get the pans from the bottom cupboard. I never had any problem hanging laundry up, it was movement that involved bending that bothered me. But for the first week I did virtually nothing except cook and gently walk around with sudden onsets of tiredness so would sleep/rest for an hour when that happened. Second week things started to look up but I was still very careful, maybe overly careful, but just didn’t want to rock the boat so to speak.
Let us know how you get on and when you get a date. I am excited for you both …
xx Di xx
hi, im having a meeting with transplant nurse soon, as im hoping to be able to donate one of my kidneys to someone on the waiting list. are you able to say what hosp you was under. did you have all your tests as an outpatient as ive read you may need to be admitted for a couple of days for some of the tests.
Hi Sarah,
I cannot say which hospital I was at as it was a non-directed donation. I have never heard of any tests being done as an in-patient. All mine were as out patient. If you wish to email me we can discuss better and I can give you more information than I can on this blog. You can also post on our forum (link at top of page) You can email me at:
company.account [at] gmail.com
Thanks
All the best
Di
Hi Sarah,
Check out this link and watch the video all the way through, very informative as are the links on the page.
http://www.organdonation.nhs.uk/ukt/how_to_become_a_donor/living_kidney_donation/living_kidney_donation.jsp
You may have to copy and paste that into your browser.
All the best
Di
xx
Sarah, all my tests have been done out an outpatient basis, as and when the hospital could fit them in. All of them have been done at my local hospital, except for the MRI scan, which for some reason had to be done at Addenbrookes (which is where the transplant will take place)and they took yet more blood there, but most hospital visits at the moment seem to involve blood tests, so I am getting the hang of being a human pincushion. The tests are time-consuming, but there hasn’t been any need for staying in hospital.
Rebecca
Rebecca – I did not realise that maybe tests could be done at local hospital. I will ask when i visit the hosp.
Di – mine too would be a non directed donation.
Sarah
Hi Sarah,
I have sent you an email just now. I think a lot depends on the hospital as to whether tests can be done locally or not. I cannot say which hospital I was at but all the tests had to be done there and it was an hour’s drive away, yet I had a huge hospital with satelite dialysis center etc only 15 minute drive away. I did ask if I could have some tests there, but the answer was no. I didn’t ask why not though.
xx Di xx