I’ve donated a kidney, and I definitely did not have that experience… I suppose everyone is different. But from my experience, it would have been really hard for me to gain weight because I barely ate in the hospital. You can’t eat or drink immediately after surgery anyway because of the anesthesia. And anesthesia and pain meds have a side effect of nausea so I could barely eat. When I got cleared for food, it was clear liquids. I was in the hospital longer than expected due to a minor complication, so that may have had something to do with it.

I think I lost 10 pounds just in the first two weeks post-surgery because it took a good while for my appetite to bounce back. And while the scars were healing, the more I ate, the more my stomach distended and applied some stretch on the scars, which was uncomfortable. For a whole year I kind of felt like I couldn’t eat as much as I wanted, to the point it was kind of an issue because I couldn’t eat enough.

My situation may have been specific to me, but I think the physical effects that caused my difficulty eating weren’t specific to me.

Donating a kidney was one of the most rewarding things, if not the most rewarding things I’ve ever done. I don’t regret it for a minute, but it was also one of the most challenging and painful things I’ve ever done. Looking back, I realize I didn’t have the greatest transplant coordinator nurse and my recipient was at a public hospital, so we just weren’t prepared about what to expect as well as we could have been. I also have chronic pain conditions that weren’t completely manifested then.

I think it’s great you’re trying to get all your concerns addressed and asking questions.