hand-assisted laproscopic surgery (donor)

[mima]

I am going to be having what they call hand-assisted laproscopic surgery when I donate to my husband.  This is where they have 4 small incisions for the instruments, and a 3-4 inch incision in the lower abdomen (below the bikini line), and they basically reach in with their hand through that incision to aid in taking out the kidney.  In order to reach the kidney they basically have to move the bowels out of the way.  I hope this isn't too gory for this forum, but I am the kind of person who likes to understand exactly what they are doing, and know what to expect (I watch when I am getting a shot or having my blood drawn, call me sick  ).  I have read some testimonials of people who have had this surgery and some have complained about having intestinal issues post surgery, having to take laxatives for years following in order to have a bowel movement.  I'm wondering if this is due to the hand reaching in and having to move the bowels out of the way?  Does anyone know if that may be the cause or if there are other ways of doing the surgery that might lessen the likelihood of having these kinds of issues down the line?  Or maybe there is someone out there who had this kind of surgery and can tell me about their experiences?
Thank you!

[paddbear0000]

I don't know anything about this, so I can't be of any help there. But, I can assure you that what you said is not too gory for this site! Not at all! We can get downright disgusting sometimes! 

[waitlisted]

Mima, my wife donated me her left kidney with laproscopic surgery and she had some constipation, which was explained to be caused by pain medication. She got some laxatives in hospital and took some at home as well and now 2 weeks after surgery everything is already back in normal.

There is a good explanation from donor side in http://ihatedialysis.com/forum/index.php?topic=4963.0

My wife's biggest pain was the air in shoulder, which was very painful on the first night night, but not anymore after that. The surgery for donor is actually bigger than for the recipient and she was much more tired on the following days after the surgery, the steroids were of course one reason to make me feel more energetic.

If you want to see more detail what is going to happen, you can watch following videos:
http://www.or-live.com/umm/1407/
http://www.or-live.com/methodisthealth/1336/
http://www.or-live.com/meritcare/1145/

[paris]

That is the preferred way to do living donors now.  They say the donor feels worse than the recipient because the recipient has not felt normal for a long time and suddenly has a working kidney--yeah!    You are a hero to all of us waiting for a transplant.  Keep us posted.  There is a video on line of an actual laproscopic kidney removal--I will see if I can find it again.