Suggestions

Permission for Use

Kidney Transplant

Surgery

Recipient's Discharge to Home

By May 28 Sam was ready for discharge to his home. He had no fever, his Foley catheter had been removed, he was tolerating his diet, he demonstrated understanding of how to take his medications and monitor his vital signs, and he was aware of signs of possible kidney rejection. His lab results were a 1.1 creatinine and 25 BUN. Hematocrit had decreased to under 30% since the surgery so he was still anemic and a bit weak. However, he felt markedly better than he had for several months leading up to the transplant. Blood pressure was in the 160's over 80's.

Donor's Discharge to Home

Meanwhile, Charles had been recovering from his donor surgery. Donors generally have more pain because surgery to remove a kidney is much more extensive than surgery on the recipient for implanting the new kidney. While many donors are hospitalized for up to a week, Charles was discharged on May 27. His creatinine was 1.5. Charles recovered at home for another 2 1/2 weeks after surgery at which time he returned to work.

His company assigned him to desk work with no lifting for several more weeks. Many donors require at least 6 weeks recovery time after kidney donation. Charles was young and strong, had an understanding employer and was thus able to return to easier work in approximately three weeks time. As he was not working for about a month, he received a grant from the Missouri Kidney Program to assist him with ongoing expenses such as rent and utilities.