Organ donation
Recovery at home and follow up after living donor kidney surgery
In this section we discuss people’s recovery at home and the follow up care they had after having surgery to donate a kidney.
For people’s experiences with kidney donor surgery see our section on ‘Having surgery - donating a kidney’.
Recovery after the surgery
People who have had surgery to donate a kidney are usually given painkillers immediately after the operation and when they are discharged from hospital to use during their recovery period.
Some people may also be prescribed antibiotics for a short period if they need them. However, living donors do not need any long-term medication as a result of kidney donation.
Many of the people we spoke to talked about coming back home from hospital and recovering from their operation.
Recovery can take between 2 to 12 weeks depending on how the surgery is done, individual recovery, and the type of work that a donor will be resuming after the surgery.
Donors need to rest after being discharged from hospital. They also need help during the first week or two with day-to-day domestic tasks and if they have children or elderly parents to care for.
The first few days back home, the donors we interviewed said they’d rested, slept, ‘took it easy’, or ‘just pottered around’.
Recovery after being discharged from hospital
People had been discharged from hospital with painkillers, usually paracetamol, sometimes also codeine. Several mentioned having discomfort or pain around their wound. Some found getting out of bed particularly painful.
One woman said the painkillers she’d been prescribed hadn’t been strong enough, so her husband visited her GP, who prescribed her 'something stronger'.
Many of those we interviewed felt unusually tired during the first week of recovery. Several people said they’d had no or little appetite at first, though this improved over time. A few people felt constipated or had indigestion.
Donors were careful not to lift anything heavy or to over-exert themselves physically and had been advised not to drive. They managed to walk, but very slowly and carefully at first.
One woman was concerned about the dark colour of her urine when she first came back home but said it soon went back to normal.
At first, Wallee had very little appetite and slight discomfort around the wound. He spent five weeks recovering in his friend's house and allowed himself two months to recover completely.
At first, Wallee had very little appetite and slight discomfort around the wound. He spent five weeks recovering in his friend's house and allowed himself two months to recover completely.
I was in a certain amount of shock and things that were slightly uncomfortable was that I found it difficult to eat, because obviously everything had happened in the tummy region. So my digestion wasn’t, you know, I wasn’t really having much of an appetite. And there was a certain amount of coming to terms with what had happened. I just remember having, sorry it’s hard to explain, an almost kind of a deep experience about the whole thing, just something deep because I agreed to do something, and I trusted in something, so something else took place, which has remained with me ever since actually.
I was ready to go home. I was ready to rest and have food at my own time, not when the food came around in the hospital. And I had better food actually in hospital, that’s the reality. I could say, “Well I feel like a little bit of fish or something, potatoes.” I could actually say that because there is a menu in hospital but, you know, they’re cooking on such a big level.
I spent five weeks, something I’m going to have. I think it might be slightly wrong, something like five weeks in my friend’s house. Then I went to Denmark for a week. So somehow about two months, you’re still recovering for a few months after that. But two months, allow time. But it’s not like, it’s a case of really being ready, you’re up walking in a couple of weeks, shuffling around.
Support and recovery
During the first week, most people received support from family or friends, and several said it was helpful to have someone there to cook meals and do the shopping.
Darren stayed with his girlfriend for a few days. Di praised the support she got from her ex-husband. Her son lived nearby, and it was reassuring to know she could phone him if she needed anything.
Clare said she had a lot of support from friends but sometimes found it draining having company when all she wanted was rest. She advised people with dogs to arrange dog-walking in the first week.
Clare also said she had used the opportunity of being off work to get some building work done at home, but that it hadn’t been a good idea. The drilling was noisy and all she’d wanted was sleep.
Other people said their feelings of tiredness wore off quite quickly and they started doing light things after a few days.
Paul had some pain at first and felt a bit constipated. He recovered quite quickly. He went into work for a day one week after surgery. Within a fortnight, he was driving again.
Paul had some pain at first and felt a bit constipated. He recovered quite quickly. He went into work for a day one week after surgery. Within a fortnight, he was driving again.
I came home by train, train and car from the station and then I was at home, pottering around. I spent a fair amount of time lying down or in bed. Obviously it was a bit sore at times and I needed some reasonable strength painkillers, but it wasn’t a big deal.
I got a bit constipated, which I think is always, and I know from what people tell me, that’s always something that is a bit of a nuisance and always gets people down a bit. And it was just quite interesting to have the experience myself. So I look on it as a kind of learning experience and it didn’t last that long. But, for a few days, I think it was probably the symptom in a way that troubled me most. Even more than the pain.
But I actually got better quite rapidly. I went out to lunch, a half hour’s drive away, the next weekend on the Saturday. I can remember I didn’t have much appetite still at that stage, but I was fit enough to travel. And in fact, though I probably shouldn’t have done, I actually went and did a clinical session about a week later, after the operation. And I think, probably in retrospect, I wasn’t entirely well. I don’t think I did anything dangerous. I’m sure I was fine. But anyway, so shortly after that I started driving again. So I was driving within a fortnight and I have no doubt that I was quite safe to do so. It was quite comfortable.
Wallee travelled from England to Holland to donate a kidney to a friend. His first week back to a friend’s house felt isolated because all of the other housemates were on holiday.
Wallee felt a bit isolated at first, though the environment was perfect for recovery. He could rest, relax and sleep. He soon started walking the dog and was later allowed to travel again.
Wallee felt a bit isolated at first, though the environment was perfect for recovery. He could rest, relax and sleep. He soon started walking the dog and was later allowed to travel again.
I went through a period of, it was kind of isolation because, even when I came back to this house, his friends were actually abroad on holidays. So we were in the house alone with somebody caring for us.
And so it was just a totally new experience. The neighbourhood we lived in was very quiet, perfect. Beautiful, comfortable, low house with a big garden. So it was easy to sleep and relax and rest.
Then the people whose house we were in returned from their holidays. And I got on with them very, very well, and I just continued to make progress, you know walking the dog, just going for walks and eating, sleeping, resting.
And eventually the doctor gave me permission to travel. And I flew to Copenhagen for a week and then I went to Greece for two weeks. And I stayed in my friend’s house because he was still recovering. So I actually stayed in his house in Greece, on this Greek island, and we spoke on the phone. So it was an unusual circumstance, but it was so, still if I think about it, it was so powerful.
Recovery and going back to work
Recovery time varied and depended, in part, on the time that donors felt able to take off work and whether they had manual or non-manual jobs.
Most of the people we interviewed started feeling a bit stronger in the second week and made good progress from there on. Some people said they started driving again after two weeks, though only on short journeys.
Paul, a GP, went back to work after two weeks, though his first week back was ‘gentler’ than normal.
Many people had started feeling a lot better after the first couple of weeks, though were still careful not to over-do it.
Darren worked in a physically demanding job and said he planned to take 2 or 3 months off work because he didn’t want to take any risks with his health (see also ‘Work and finances’).
Di, who wasn’t working at the time of interview, said she was particularly cautious. If the doctors recommended a week, she took two.
Several people said that their scars had healed gradually and, over time, were no longer uncomfortable, and were very small or hardly visible.
Darren rested at first and made good progress. Three weeks after surgery, he was doing many normal chores, including shopping. He still made sure he was sensible and didn’t do anything strenuous.
Darren rested at first and made good progress. Three weeks after surgery, he was doing many normal chores, including shopping. He still made sure he was sensible and didn’t do anything strenuous.
A couple of days rest and I was pretty much slowly getting back to normal. I baby-sat someone for a few hours, and started eating, trying to eat salad and things like that. Just trying to get back into normal food and so it’s quite easy really. Because I was taking things at my own pace, which I didn’t think I could do that in the hospital setting. So that was kind of more helpful to me personally.
And now three weeks after the operation how do you feel now physically?
I’m alright, yes. I’m just slight, like a bit sore still but, yeah I ran for a bus yesterday so.
Did you?
Yeah. Yeah it was a bit, I’ve just been, just pretty much doing my normal day to day things really like shopping and stuff, which I couldn’t really do a few weeks ago. Yeah I was…
So you can carry your own shopping or?
Pretty much now, yes. I wouldn’t obviously try not to take anything too heavy or, you know, I’ll try and get a trolley if I possibly can, if you know what I mean. The ones with the wheels and things like that, yes, just to try and be sensible and not like try anything too strenuous really.
Di was over-cautious and had no problems during recovery at all. She ordered her shopping online and started doing light housework at the end of week two. She advises taking it slowly.
Di was over-cautious and had no problems during recovery at all. She ordered her shopping online and started doing light housework at the end of week two. She advises taking it slowly.
[My ex-husband] was only here for the first week. After that I was on my own. But my son lives just walking distance so I knew that if I found something needed doing that I couldn’t, I just had to ring him and he’d be along at some point.
Things like going shopping and lifting heavy bags, I was over cautious and I think you should be over cautious. When the doctors said a week, I called it two weeks. When the doctors call it two weeks, I called it three weeks. I thought the last thing I want is to be the odd case where things don’t quite heal as quickly as possible, so I go doing something that causes me injury because not only would that be not good for me, it wouldn’t be good for the living donor programme either. So, yes, I was very over cautious. And there were no problems at all.
I got my son to do, well I had shopping delivered. And I got them to actually bring the shopping into the kitchen, onto the worktops for me just to unpack.
Was this the online shopping?
Yes, that’s online shopping, yes. And housework, I can’t remember when I started that, probably the end of week two. And then I was just very careful, say go slowly with the vacuum because you’re being pulled that side. And so I really just took it very slowly and I didn’t have any problems, or feel there were any problems or was concerned about anything. But yes, the answer is don’t rush. Don’t rush, just take things slowly.
Maggie said she went back to work after 7 weeks. She felt her recovery might have been slower than that of other donors because of the minor complications she’d had. She also worked in a demanding teaching job and didn’t want to go back too soon.
A few people said that their time spent at home to recover had allowed them to slow down for the first time in ages, and they’d appreciated life at a slower pace.
Wallee said the time in recovery had given him time to read and watch some films. Clare said she thought she’d be bored doing nothing, but no longer worried about retirement because she realised that she’d have plenty to do.
Views of kidney donation with recovery from the surgery
All the living donors we interviewed recovered well and had no regrets about donating a kidney.
Many said that, quite unexpectedly, they had gained enormously from the experience and that there had been ‘no downsides whatsoever’ (see ‘Feelings about donating a kidney’).
Annabel said she had a very small hernia because of the surgery, but nothing that caused her any concerns.
Harmanjit (Interview 38) said she had some adhesions after surgery, but these were not serious or worrying.
Annabel had a small hernia since the surgery, but it never became a problem. She ignores it now. She is fit and well again and her kidney is working fine. There were no 'downsides' to donating.
Annabel had a small hernia since the surgery, but it never became a problem. She ignores it now. She is fit and well again and her kidney is working fine. There were no 'downsides' to donating.
There was one thing, I think I’ve got a very slight tiny little hernia. I’ve got a little lump underneath one of my tiny little scars. And I’ve had it felt by both my husband and a couple of doctors who’ve said, “Well, it does seem as if it might be a hernia. We could do something about it if it develops, if it becomes a problem.” But it never has become a problem, and I just ignore it now. I’ve had no other side effects at all. And I’ve been fit and well. I’ve had my creatinine levels checked and they’re fine. So I can’t think of any downside to it.
Follow up and long-term health
Living donors are seen by the transplant team between 2 and 6 weeks after donation and are recommended to attend an annual follow-up appointment for the rest of their lives.
There is a small possibility of a slight rise in blood pressure and excess protein in a donor’s urine after donating a kidney.
None of the donors we interviewed had had any problems relating to the donation. Studies have shown that there are no long-term effects on the health of the donor or their remaining kidney.
Studies have also shown that donors tend to live longer than the average population. However, this statistic is probably linked to the fact that living donors are selected on the basis of good health and are thoroughly screened before donation.
Donating a kidney does not mean that the donor’s health might not be affected in some way in the future. It is always possible that something unexpected could happen to the remaining kidney.
As the health of all donors is thoroughly assessed before donating, the chances of this are very small, especially if the donor has a generally healthy lifestyle after donation. In the unlikely event that a problem occurs with the remaining kidney, dialysis treatment may be needed earlier than if the person had both kidneys.
Most people we spoke with had their first follow up appointment shortly after surgery, another after 6 months, and then had annual check-ups after that.
Several people mentioned that they appreciated having their kidney function checked and that attending a yearly appointment was easy and convenient.
Most people had their check-ups at a local hospital or at their GP surgery so did not usually return to the hospital where they had had their operation.
Paul expected to recover well and he did. At follow up, the doctor confirmed that his blood pressure and kidney function were fine. Paul has had no problems because of donating a kidney.
Paul expected to recover well and he did. At follow up, the doctor confirmed that his blood pressure and kidney function were fine. Paul has had no problems because of donating a kidney.
I was well aware that there was, quite a lot of research had been done on the outcome for people who had donated kidneys. And that the outlook was very good, that there was some evidence that they actually lived longer and were healthier than the average population. And I know people say, “Well if you’ve only got one [kidney], and what happens if you get a problem with that one,” but the chances of that happening are very remote.
So I had every expectation that, once I’d got over the surgery, that there weren’t going to be any more problems. And indeed my expectation has been fulfilled. I went back and had the surgeon look at me and prod my tummy. And discourage me from doing too much too soon. But it all went very, very straightforwardly after the first, you know, as I say the first couple of weeks of discomfort or so. And I really haven’t had any problems whatsoever. Again, you know, perhaps I’ve been more fortunate than some.
But I do partly think that if you’ve gone into something confident, if you’ve gone into something expecting it all to go smoothly, then that does help for you to recover. If you go in very apprehensive and uncertain, and you go in with a very anxious frame of mind, then I suspect your chances of having problems are probably greater. And I’m sure that’s the case.
So I went in confident, and my confidence has been vindicated. Again I mean clearly there will be a small proportion of people who don’t have such good experiences and one has to take that into account when going ahead in the first place.
I’ve not needed any follow up to speak of at all. I mean I get a request from the hospital once a year to have my blood pressure checked and my kidney function checked. And I get that organised, very straightforward. My blood pressure remains exemplary. My kidney function is completely normal. My single remaining kidney, as far as I’m aware, and everything leads me to believe it’s functioning, it’s taken over. It swells a little bit to do a bigger job as it were, and that’s given me absolutely no problems at all. So I have no, apart from the physical scar, which isn’t even very obvious now, I don’t think there is anything to show for it at all.
Last reviewed: November 2025.
Last updated: November 2025.
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