Kidney Transplant What to Expect
From preparation to recovery, what lies ahead
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Before, During and After Your Kidney Transplant Operation
A kidney transplant is a major surgery — and a major life event. Once you’re on the kidney transplant waiting list, you will likely have questions about what lies ahead. We’re here to answer them and help you get ready.
Preparing for Your Transplant
You may get the call that a kidney is available for you at any time of the day or night. The quality of a deceased donor kidney deteriorates once it’s outside the body, so, it’s important that we move quickly. Having your surgery as soon as possible may help your kidney function recover faster after the surgery and result in fewer complications.
So that you can get to us quickly:
- Make sure we can always reach you, whether you’re at home, at work or on vacation.
- Provide phone numbers of close friends and family members to our transplant team.
- Have an overnight bag with clothes and other items ready.
- Create a transportation plan with family or friends.
Instructions from Your Transplant Team
You will receive instructions from our team before surgery. You should stop eating right away. Your digestive tract should be empty during your operation.
Once you arrive at Lahey, you’ll be in the pre-op area, where you’ll have a few preliminary tests. Your family can come with you to the pre-op area.
More About What to Expect
When it’s time for your surgery, we move you into the operating room on a gurney. Then:
- An anesthesiologist places you under general anesthesia.
- Once you’re asleep, the anesthesiologist inserts a tube in your throat that connects to a machine (ventilator) that helps you breathe.
- You’ll have a tube (Foley catheter) inserted into your bladder via your urethra. The catheter allows urine to drain during the long surgery.
- You’ll have a nasogastric tube inserted through your nose to drain the contents of your stomach.
- The surgeon will make an incision in your lower abdomen on the side where they’ll place your new kidney. (There’s no evidence that one side is better than the other.)
- The surgeon connects the new kidney and connects it to blood vessels that will supply blood to the new organ.
In total, the kidney transplant takes about three hours to complete.
Your new kidney is likely to start working almost immediately. It may work slowly at first, but within a few days, its function increases.
It may take up to six weeks for the new kidney to function its best. During this time, you may require dialysis.
You should be able to walk the day after surgery. In most cases, we discharge you within three to six days. We ask that you arrange to have a family member, friend or transport service take you home.
When You Get Home
When you get home, it’s important that you begin walking 15 minutes a day. You can gradually increase the time as your body allows. Walking helps improve your circulation, lower your blood pressure and strengthen your cardiovascular system. It may also help reduce stress.
Eventually you can take part in more strenuous physical activity. But you must get approval from your kidney transplant team first.
Here is a typical recovery timeline:
- In one day: You can walk and stretch.
- In two to four weeks: You may resume driving a car once your transplant team authorizes it.
- In two months: You may do simple aerobic activities, such as jogging or swimming. You may consider returning to work or school.
- In three months: You may lift up to 20 or 30 pounds. By this point, most kidney transplant recipients return to work or school full time.
- In six months: You may return to all your normal activities, including strenuous exercise and heavy lifting.
Your team may provide more information and answer any questions you might have.
You will need to take several medications that help prevent your body from rejecting your new kidney. You stay on these medicines for as long as the kidney continues to function.
Our post-transplant nurse coordinator and kidney transplant pharmacist will talk with you about your medications. They also teach you how to recognize signs of organ rejection.
Because anti-rejection medicines lower your immune system, you may be vulnerable to infections from sources that would not typically be a problem. Our transplant team will teach you how to spot signs of infection. If you suspect you have an infection, you should contact the transplant center immediately.
You will have follow-up appointments with your primary care provider. We coordinate these appointments.
You must also see our specialists at the transplant center at least once a year.
