I went active October 2022 and then on PD dialysis in Feb 2023. PD failed and I spent July, Aug and Sept 2023 in the hospital. In Aug I called the transplant center and had them inactivate me. When I got out of the hospital I was doing in center hemo and had lost weight. I've been eating as much as possible and have finally put the pounds on to bring my BMI to normal weight.
March 21 I go in to the transplant center to get reactivated. If so, then I'm back on the list and could possibly receive the "call" soon after.
My question is how soon did those of you with transplants go back to work? I have a desk job and I can work from home (I do so on dialysis days). So there is a lot of sitting. I have a whole list of questions for them on the 21st but I've not seen this one asked/answered.
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horsie63
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If you can work from home and if there are no complications from the surgery or response to treatments, I think you can resume part time as soon as two weeks after if you really want to. The limiting factors include feeling tired, pain, and "emotionally different". Most of the feeling out of sorts come from side effects of high dose medication. You will also need to do lab work as frequently as every other day and he seen weekly within the first few months so it isn't practical to assume you can perform full.time at work.But be assured that if the transplant is successful, it will make you feel so much better than you had felt during dialysis.
hi. My dr told me to wait 4 weeks to drive and 3 months before returning to work, so that is what I followed. I am a teacher so I am on my feet and up and about all day at work, and can’t imagine going back much sooner than I did. Maybe after 2 months I would’ve been able to do it but am glad I took the full 3 months to recover. I guess everyone is different though.
The first 2 weeks I was still in a lot of pain. Still Had a drain in and staples for first week or so. Then had to get stent and PD catheter removed at about 2-3 weeks. Also you have to go for clinic appts 2-3 times a week for first several weeks and then once a week, then every 2 weeks, etc so I can’t imagine how I would be able to take all that time off for Dr appts if I was working. I was lucky my tranplant was during the summer so I didn’t miss too much time.
Also, right after the transplant you are still on high dose immunosuppressants so even with a mask I wouldn’t have wanted to be around that many people early on. And the meds can cause bad side effects early on. ( Mycophenolate made me want to stay close to - bathroom!).
I am 6 weeks post transplant and just set up a slow return to work plan with my employer. I’m 48 years old and work in a rural health center. So I can remote for some time (admin stuff) but will have to commute an hour to get into clinic most of the time. I had a very bad terrible no good year last year—ruptured aneurysm, sepsis from my PD catheter, umbilical hernia, and DVT but finally got healthy enough for a transplant. I did work part-time for most of last year.
Like others have said, the first few weeks are busy. Labs every other day, getting your stent out, and dialysis catheter if you have one. I normally take narcotics for a few days after surgery but it took me 3 weeks to tolerate the post-transplant pain on Tylenol alone. My labs are great and I’m tolerating the anti-rejection medications well but I’m having a lot of fatigue and brain fog. I was told to give myself 3 months to recover, although some people go back to work in 6 weeks.
Currently I’m planning to do 3 four hour shifts week 9 after transplant. I’ll mostly do admin stuff and can do it all remotely. By week 11 I’m hoping to be back at my 32 hours a week in person. This seems doable. I know my brain couldn’t tolerate going back to a full schedule at 2 months post op.
I made sure I stay active as soon as I left the hospital with a transplant. I start walking immediately for 10 minutest and I increase it everyday. I work as a tutor and I work from home so I went back to work after a week online. I worked few hours everyday. Working is what helped me to be active and productive during my kidney failure journey so I didn’t want to stop it.
As others have said, the fist few weeks after transplant you will still be recovering from surgery, getting used to medicines and possibly going back to the hospital for blood tests and visits. I also got 3 months of leave and I had vacation time afterwards. I received a living donor kidney that started worki g immediately. However, I think you need to wait a minimum of 6 weeks if your transplant goes without complications. Remember your immune system will be really low for the first 3 months.
Since the transplant center is 3 hours away I intend to stay in a hotel nearby for 2 to 3 months. I can bring my work laptop but I found out from work until I get a Release to go back to work I won't get paid. I can have FMLA but since I used some when I was in the hospital it's limited.
That isn't any easy question to answer because it depends on the person. After my transplant, I had a lot of issues with my meds. Transplant docs were able to adjust my meds and I started to take name brand rather than generic and I was doing better. Although for me this took almost 18 months. I started out working part-time and gradually worked full-time. I wound up having a full-filling career but also trying to give back with my local Donor Alliance. When I retired we moved to Wyoming and I became an Advocate and Public speaking with the local Donor Network. I am also a Kidney Advocate for NKF in WY & an Ambassador with HealthUnlocked NKF
Hi Horsie,Similar journey to myself. I think it depends on your overall health. Post transplant there is about a month of intensive monitoring and procedures to get through. I felt massively better after transplant and was fully active after about six weeks.
Stay strong and be positive. I reached a low point then the phone rang and my life changed.
I just seem to have to adapt every few months to something new....CKD...kidney failure...PD...PD failure....hospital...Hemo...new house....hemo changed to 2 days a week. I seem to have surgery every 3 months.
My job has been fairly consistent...I know what I have to do month to month and every now and then I get a special project. Currently due to hemo I go into the office MWF and work from home Tue and Th.
After I get my TM I'll walk on it and hopefully start some small weights to get my PTH and protein up. My PTH is finally in range but I still struggle with protein.
I too have an office job and was able to work remotely as well. I felt like I was ready to work after the first month. My appointments were once a month by then and everything went very well for me thankfully. At two months I asked for clearance to work remotely but my team denied my request they told me they wanted me to focus on my recovery and went back to work at three months they told me they could extend my leave if I chose but I pushed on returning to work then. I think in retrospect it was a good choice to keep me from the stress of work for three months and maybe a week or two more would have been good too.
I would give yourself 3 months as alot of issues can arise right after.They make it sound like get a kidney and go but no you are luvky if that gapoens.The high doses of antirejection drugs make you sick, the numerous blood draws to get drug levels right and doctor visits. Im into my 18th month post transplant and do to one infection/disease I caught or another have been in and out of hospital 4 times the first 2 within three months after and they were stays of 3 to 14 days.Luckily I gad an undersranding boss this last 18 months as going back to work then being off afain for 2 weeks,then 2 months,then 2 months again really sucked.If I had known I coukd just said hey take me off for 8 months. Eceryone is different vut I know my transpkant team said 6 months before you feel really good if no complications and no travel for a year.
I know from your posts here you have had quite the journey. The center I will go to is a good 3 hours from me so I intend to stay in a local hotel so as to be close as I sure don't want to be on the road. I plan to stay at least 2 months more if needed. I already spoke to my boss (also understanding) but until I get a release to work from my doc I can't return to work. Luckily I can plan somewhat ahead and I have a coworker who will be my back up.
That is good.One's head always thinks they can push on especially mine but I had to lisren to my body and slow right down which is not a state I was used too.Btw I also have aoffice job in a very busy vet clinic.
For me i restarted work from home 2 weeks after transplant and it is hard i recommend stay at least 3 weeks before you go back, my first month included one hospital stay and 2 uti, after 6 weeks i started go to the office but you should be taking care of infection if you can more it is better because a lot of testing and screening will be done,for me i was asked to have business trip at my 4th month and was good, month 6 was the time i feel i fully recover but also after one better and better.
Hope this help and hope you journey be better even
I will retire on July 3rd this summer but was still working as a university professor when I had my transplant in Nov of 2022. I teach graduate classes inly. They are all online. I also attend all meetings and so forth virtually. (I have an accommodation plan due to my vision impairment which has caused me to stop driving.)
I started working again 2 weeks after my transplant. I was actually fortunate. My transplant ivmccurred right before Thanksgiving. Our semester on campus ends shortly after Thanksgiving. So by the time we were back in session in January I was ready to work full time.
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