Post Op Bloating After Radical Left Nephrectomy - normal?

Hi Mackiners,

When you have a laparoscopic operation your abdominal cavity is pumped full of gas to give the surgeons some space to work with.  Once the operation is over it takes some days for the gas to disperse.  You will also have some soreness and associated swelling following the operation.  Hopefully it should reduce fairly rapidly as you move about more but if it remains uncomfortable don't hesitate to get it checked out.

Pleased that the operation has gone well and removed everything that needed to go.

All the best,

Gragon xx

Hi,

I had my radical nephrectomy on my left kidney too 4 months ago.  The bloating is completely normal.  It will take maybe a few days to a week to have all the gas out.

Just make sure you walk and move around a lot.  I feel completely normal now and have been playing 2-3 rounds of golf each day.

Not sure how old you are.   I am 35 but the more you move the faster you will heal.

Hi. Thanks so much for the replies. The bloating gets worse as the day goes by. If it's not better by next week I'll go and see my GP. It sounds like what I have is completely normal. I'm 44 and the tumour was completely contained in the left kidney.  CT confirmed it has not spread anywhere else. Just waiting on the biopsy results, but hopeful I will be ok. 

It's nice to know I can contact Macmillan and get support from others. After care support from the hospital has been zero, and my specialist nurse is on holiday and there's no one to cover while she's away. 

Thanks again all. I really appreciate you taking the time to reply to me. 

My bloating started to go down after I was able to pass gas and also have bowel movement.  Those two are very important.  Have you had them yet?

Also, how did they find the tumor?  Was it through incidental scan?

Atleast you live in a place that has Macmillan help and people locally.  This forum is very active.  I am from Canada and there isn't as much resources.

I also didn't get much help from the hospital.    My biopsy results came back 2 week after surgery but I didn't get anything and I had to call the Urologist after 4 weeks when my GP said they should have it already.  The surgeon never even called me back but I think in these cases not getting a call is better as calling you is rather urgent.

Good luck on the pathology report.  Now that you know it's contained in the kidney and Stage T1b, the next important piece of information is the grade.

You will get negative margins I am pretty sure given you did a full radical nephrec and it's contained in the kidney.

Yes bowels are moving fine and I can pass gas. Bladder also ok. That's why I'm surprised I'm still bloated. 

I'm new to all of this, so can you tell me what T1b means? What do negative margins mean? I'm sure I'll get up to speed!

Yes, tumour was found by accident as I was getting a scan for the lady department. Never had any symptoms there was something in the kidney. Bloods all showed I was healthy. I had a CT scan of the abdomen and then the chest to provide a full picture, and they used the dye to highlight anything. 

Thanks for your help. 

For kidney cancer, the tumor size can get quite large so even if it's 6cm it stills considered stage 1 if it's contained within the kidney.

Stage T1a is when it's less than 4cm and Stage T1b is when it's more than 4cm and less than 7cm; both contained within the kidney.

Stage 2 is when it's above 7cm and contained in the kidney.

The prognosis is quite good for kidney cancer at Stage 1; obviously there's chance of recurrence but it's not high.  This also depends a lot on other factors such as Tumor grade (which you will find out soon), age and other habits.

Negative margins means when they cut out your tumor the surrounding tissues are all good cells.  The larger the margins the better.  In other words, negative margins means the surrounding tissues on all sides are negative for cancer cells which is important.  It's very likely yours will be negative margin give the whole kidney is taken out.

Yes I had my left kidney removed due to a 6.5 cm tumor an I feel how you felt

I am due to have mine removed this weekend. I’ve been told that it’s not spread about it’s about 6cm. I’m very nervous. 

Hi Manders33,

Firstly, I would like to wish you all the very best for your pending operation. I had my left kidney removed and most of the plumbing because I was T3a.  Terrified at the time both about the operation and the though of life without a kidney. I needn't have been worried because the operation was very successful  and although some discomfort afterward for about a week, I soon healed.  Life with only one kidney is proving to be little different from life with two but you need to be sensible.

All the best.

Mike

Mine was also contained but I'm a T2a .