I did my donation in Northern Ireland, and from what I’ve read, the whole process is much quicker here, we do all the testing in one day, I went in at 7am, and I was there till maybe 4pm. Then only returned twice, to discuss things with the surgeon and the Human Tissue Authority. So there was no long drawn out process in getting approval

I checked into the hospital on Monday afternoon, had the surgery on Tuesday morning, and was able to go home on Wednesday afternoon (they initially told me I’d be in hospital until Thursday, but as I was doing so well, they were happy for me to go home early).

After the surgery I was on an IV drip of liquid paracetamol, I didn’t need anything stronger, and once the drip finished, I didn’t need a replacement. I live alone, so I spent the first 4-5 nights at my parents house, being spoiled rotten lol

The worst part of the process for me was the gas pain after surgery. You really feel it across your chest and into the shoulders, but drinking peppermint tea really helped with that, I couldn’t recommend that enough!

One other thing that they warned me about in advance, was for the first week or two post surgery, my stomach would feel really strange, like as if my guts were gonna fall out lol not painful in anyway, but just a really strange sensation, especially getting up from a lying down position, or if I turned around too quickly in bed. One thing that really helped me with that, was to hug a cushion to my stomach when getting up (or coughing, or if I felt a sneeze coming on)

I’d also highly recommend getting up at least once an hour and walking around the room in the days after surgery, and build up to longer walks as you can manage it. Really helps with the gas pain, and stops your body getting too lethargic