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Kidney transplant: the tests, the waiting list, the surgery, rejection, and living with a new kidney
For anyone with kidney failure who is wondering about a transplant, anyone on the waiting list or just home with a new kidney, and the family member or friend thinking of giving one. It passes on, by name, what the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK, part of the NIH) says: where a kidney comes from, the steps and the tests, the waiting list, the surgery, who is on your team, how you will feel, the problems and the signs of rejection, the side effects of anti-rejection medicines, food, and paying. It builds the questions to ask and prints a wallet card. Nothing is saved.
A word with a dotted line under it, like this, opens its official definition, quoted from a U.S. government glossary.
Right now
- You have a transplant and a fever of more than 100 degrees, drainage from your scar, burning when you pass urine, a cold or cough that won’t go away, or you just don’t feel well? NIDDK says to call your transplant center right away: anti-rejection medicines raise the risk of infection and can dull its symptoms. If no one answers, go to an emergency room and say you have a kidney transplant (ours).
- Severe trouble breathing, chest pain, or fainting? Call 911 (ours).
- Thoughts of suicide, or all too much? Call or text 988, any hour, free (ours).
More help
- On this site: Kidney failure: choosing a treatment · Hemodialysis · Peritoneal dialysis · Kidney disease · Kidney biopsy · Kidneys, bladder and urine: find the right page.
- Alongside it: How your kidneys work · Bladder infection · High blood pressure · Caring for someone · Depression · My medicines.
- When it is hard to pay: When you can’t afford your medicine · When you need a doctor and can’t pay · Medical bills · Disability benefits. Getting ready: Get ready for your appointment.
- In an emergency: Help right now (988, 911). All our free tools.
Kidneys, bladder or urine, and not sure this is the right page? The pages on this site for bladder infections, kidney stones, blood in the urine, bladder pain, bladder leaks, the prostate, kidney disease and bedwetting, on one list.
This page and its wording were written with AI (Claude) for Scarlet Beast (our AI policy). No doctor or nurse has reviewed it. The facts were read on October 20, 2026 on NIDDK’s (NIH) page Kidney Transplant (last reviewed January 2018: an older page, so ask your team what is true for you today). The numbers (testing over weeks to months; a wait of a few months to years; on the list with kidney function of 20 or less; a blood test every month while you wait; surgery of 3 or 4 hours; 2 to 3 days in the hospital for some living donors; up to a few weeks for the new kidney to make urine; a fever of more than 100 degrees; Medicare paying for 3 years after the transplant) are NIDDK’s, and we add none. Ours: the 911 line; going to an emergency room if the center does not answer; never stopping or skipping an anti-rejection medicine on your own; that Medicare rules may have changed since 2018; 988; the questions to ask; the card; the links to our other pages; and the order of the steps. What we left out: NIDDK’s pictures, its videos and its outside links; we name no medicines, no brands and no foods, and no dollar amounts. Nothing you tick or type here is saved or sent.