After only being diagnosed with Kidney cancer about four weeks ago I'm amazed just how quickly my operation to have my left kidney removed has been carried out, I had my op on the 6th of March. Apparently the operation was a success (it was carried out robotically) and the only thing the surgeon mentioned was that the cyst on my kidney burst inside me as they where actually removing the kidney from my body. I am more than a little concerned by this but my surgeon didn't seem to give it a second thought. After surgery I was told that the operation required them to fill my abdomen up with Co2 gas to give them more room to work and that this should pass normally from my body over the next few days. When I woke from surgery in the recovery room I was on a drip for fluids and also Morphine, this was removed the following day and I was instead given oral medication (paracetamol and oral morphine), other than being told how often I could have it I wasn't given any other instructions. Two days later I was discharged to come home and was in agonizing pain,by Thursday it was intolerable and I rang a local chemists to see if there was anything I could take besides my morphine/paracetamol to help get rid of the gas that was causing the bloating and excruciating pain. I was told that the morphine was the cause of the gas not being released as it was 'bunging me up', (I had called the hospital first but I was just told that as I had been discharged I should go to a walk in center if I needed any help) I decided to stop using the morphine, the following day things began to ease off. By Friday I could finally eat again (I'd barely eaten all week and I lost nearly a stone in weight). If I'd been told by the hospital about the effects of morphine I would have just tried to get by with the paracetamol and probably saved myself a weeks worth of pain and suffering.
Anyone going in for the op please bear this in mind after surgery, the actual pain from the surgery isn't that bad, I'm only a week on and I'm feeling loads better, I can eat , and almost sleep normally again. I am seriously considering lodging a complaint with the hospital however as my aftercare has been nothing short of disgraceful with staff who didn't seem remotely interested in my needs after such a big operation ( I had to beg for pain killers at times and get out of bed to go do this). The catheter which I had been dreading wasn't even worth worrying about, it was fitted while I was asleep and removing it was only seconds of a job that didn't hurt at all.
