Operation worries

Hi Davey boy

There can be a large extent to which it's all fear of the unknown. Even if you ask someone else who has had the same procedure it can easily turn out that their experience is not the same as yours. Your surgeon should have told you what will happen and that's probably the best guide but having said that any plan can change once they get inside you.

There's not much time left now but there are plenty of people on here with lots of experience between them. I'd recommend asking away while trying to make your questions as specific as possible.

My opinion, others will diagree, on the visitors issue is that is helps to keep things as calm as possible in the hospital and is all to the good except for those who are very ill indeed. Make sure you have a phone and charger with you so that you can talk, videocall etc and it's almost the same as your visitor being there. Don't forget your headphones, the rest of the ward don't want to listen to your call.

Good luck for the op, you'll soon be on the other side of it.

Hi David

I had a partial nephrectomy two years, if yours is the same as mine its a laparoscopic procedure which means you end up with a few small scars rather then one large one. They do pump gas into your belly to give them room to work which can make you feel a bit bloated the next day and you can get a thing called referred pain which in my case gave me a bad pain in my shoulder for 24 hours. Overall I found the recovery time was short and I wasn't in too much pain.

regards

Richard

Hi Daveyboy

i don’t think it is silly at all. I was very nervous before I went into hospital for my radical nephrectomy back in mid July. Mine was laparoscopic and I was only in for a couple of days and was soon on the mend. The nurses and physios were brilliant at getting me up and moving about as soon as possible. The surgeon phoned my husband after the op to let him know how it had gone. My best piece of advice: take comfy, soft, easy to put on clothing for when you leave the hospital! Hope it all goes well and best wishes.

Thanks all for your posts. Really appreciate it when people take time to reply. 

By now you had the Opperation?

Passing wind helps Honest it what the nurse told me to do

I was walking distance oh 100 meters an hour 

But do it slow. 

My op started out as key hole. But as they opened it up.

19months ago. Scar is a good talk point.

Good luck with the recovery. 

Hi ,

I'm sorry that I'm late to the discussion but I hope that the operation went well.  If it is not too late I would make sure that you move your bowel or if you have not done so yet ask the nurse for some laxatives.  It anaesthetic constipates you and the fact that you have surgery can make you reluctant to push too much but they won't usually discharge you until you have been and the longer you wait the harder it is.

You will probably be sleeping a lot which is to be expected.  Although you can only see a few scars your body has experienced major surgery and will want to use all your energy for fixing the injuries.  You might want to let your family know that this is likely to happen when you get home.

When you do start to exercise take it steadily to start with.  Several very short walks rather that one ambitious one.

I hope that this is helpful but as has been said everyone reacts differently.  Please let us know how you have got on but also if you have any questions.

All the best,

Gragon

Yeah that has already happened.  Moving onto award tomorrow.  Just feeling shattered in High Dependency Unit. 

Thanks Cliff59. Yeah it was an open partial so have got  good scar already 

I had a total of 46 Staples. Over 2 weeks before the last one finally came out.

Take it slow an plenty of breathing to get your lungs going again. Look it up on Google 

Suck air in an hold then suck some more. Hold for say 10 seconds then slow release. 

Every hour. 

I had total left kidney an tubes removed, Al the way to the bladder, but then they told me doc managed to get out another 3 tumours at the same time.

But many more to fight. 

Keep in touch on your progress. 

Good luck. 

I was given a portable spirometer to help with my breathing after my operation, that I could use when I came home. It helped alot. Have you not been given one?