Living Liver Donor Surgery Guide

​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​After Your Operation

• Right after my operation
• How will I feel after my operation
• Taking care of myself after operation
• How long I will stay in the hospital

• ​Following your operation, you will be in the Post Anesthetic Care Unit (PACU) or recovery room for about 2 to 4 hours. You will then be moved to either the 6​​^th floor (Inpatient Unit) or 10^th floor Transplant Unit​ for recovery.
• Your catheter will remain in your bladder to drain your urine until you are able to walk to the bathroom. You will receive IV fluids until you are able to take in enough food and fluids. The nasogastric tube may remain in place to keep your stomach from feeling bloated. Your diet will be gradually changed from liquids to more solid foods, as tolerated. All of these tubes will removed during the first few days of recovery.

• Once you have recovered from the anesthetic, you may feel some pain at your incision. The incision will become less painful over the first couple of weeks, but it will take several weeks for the muscles and nerves to heal completely
• You may also feel stiffness in the joints of your upper body after lying on the operating table for a long period of time. This will resolve as you gradually move around during your recovery.
• ​Our pain management team will work with you during and after surgery to make sure your pain is well managed. Your pain will be managed by Patient Controlled Analgesia (PCA). This lets you control the number of doses as​ well as the timing of the pain medication. The medication will be given to you intravenously (IV) until you are able to tolerate oral medication.

• You can expect to be in the hospital for up to 7 days.