PART FIVE: Donation Day!

“BEEP BEEP BEEP” the hotel alarm chirped at 5am. I was already wide-awake with anticipation and excitement. I was grateful that the registry set up a hotel arrangement for my husband and myself that was conveniently connected to the hospital. I will also add that my dear friend, who was close to 9 months pregnant at the time, also stayed with us and was quite comfortable. You and your loved ones WILL be taken care of in every way, and the registry covers all the details for you! Due to the extent of my excitement, we were dressed and out the door within minutes.

The prep procedure is similar to that of any other surgery: changing into an oh-so-stylish hospital gown, meeting with nurses and the anesthesiologist, and getting some additional blood samples. The IV is not comfortable to have in but it does help remove your feeling of thirst from fasting. Your team will do their very best to get you into the earliest OR available. My surgery was pushed back until 10am but I was continually checked on while waiting so I did not feel forgotten. When it was finally time to wheel me to the OR the staff was nice and let my husband follow us until the very last minute so I was completely comforted.

I was grateful for the warmth my husband’s support provided because the OR was COLD. Thankfully, within a couple of minutes a mask was over my face and I was told I was going to take a very nice nap. When I awoke in recovery the first thing I felt was disorientated and nauseous. The last thing I remember was my husband holding my hand so I confusedly kept asking where he was. The recovery nurse went and got him for me, which they will do for you provided the recovery room is not full. I was instructed to eat some crackers and drink fluids. My throat was sore from the breathing tube (breathing tubes are necessary anytime general anesthesia is used) so I requested soda, which was soothing. The ONLY negative part of my experience was that someone dropped the ball and forgot to administer my anti-nausea medication. Your advocate will bring you pain and nausea medication before you leave the hospital, but the hospital should administer some through your IV while in recovery.

Advocating from the Recovery Room

I was moved back into my hospital room and that is when I started to feel soreness in my pelvic bone. It hurt to move but in a good way. It was the kind of feeling whenever you have a tough workout and then force yourself to move or stretch the next day to get the lactic acid moving out of your muscles. It hurts but you know it is helping you. They will always keep you for supervision after surgery, but how long they keep you depends on you and the hospital. I was ready and wanting to leave to a more familiar place to recover. Due to the absence of my nausea meds, I did eventually throw up but I felt much better afterward. We were finally released and thus began my recovery period, bottom line:

-Expect to rest the day of and the day after surgery.

-I required assistance to move around and use the restroom but only for about 10 hours.

-Have someone supervise you for 24 hours incase you get dizzy.

-I switched from prescribed pain meds to ibuprofen within 36 hours.

-I was back to work and doing light workouts after 1 week. I have a very active job, you could return to less active jobs sooner.

-Soreness was a factor. I would say my pain level was about a 6 the first two days and then dropped to a 2-4 shortly after that. Pain was only bad when I moved, and icing and pain meds made resting pain free.

-My soreness lasted a total of about 2 weeks, but I only felt it when working out or sitting for extended periods.

 And lastly, think of your recipient every single day. It will make it all absolutely worth it, and trust me…you will be eager to do it again if given the chance.