Post Op. Odd Sensations common or worrisome?

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Hi All

I had my Op on the 16th of May, so 11 days out. Spent a few days in hospital due to a catheter mishap of sorts. Had 5 keyholes, radical right side neph. 2 of the keyholes are for holding the liver up and out of the way. apparently you need 2 on the right side because the liver bends down on that side. 

I am currently just trying to rest at home. I find myself in what is called the low fowlers position for sleep. Torso propped up a little and something under my knees to keep it a little more comfortable. That said, I am spending a lot of time on my butt or tailbone, which is starting to get a little uncomfortable. The mid and lower back are taking a lot of strain. When upright the back works really hard because I cannot stand up straight just yet. So in my attempts to see if I could sleep in a different position. I tried to lie down on my left side, knees curled, pillow between the knees to reduce pressure on my back in general.

This is when the weird sensation comes in. I can feel my organs shift, I mean I can feel them shift when I stand up after lying down on my back for a while. But this feels different. it feels like what I imagine having a thick viscous substance in a bottle and turning it upside down, must feel like. It feels like the organs fall down to the left and a strange suction occurs in the void where the kidney used to be. it is not altogether comfortable, although it is not sore. Just wondering if this is something others have felt? How long did it last for you?

I am also finding my left kidney aches a bit sometimes. But I dont know if this is the kidney itself, or if it is the back muscles on that side hurting from working so hard all the time. I suspect the kidney though, which worries me a little bit. Anyone else report kidney aches early on?

Any shared experiences will be welcome from my fellow nephrectomy-ees.

  • Hello! 
    I remember having that same sensation when first managing to lie on my side after robotic nephroureterectomy, it felt as if things fell into the void left? It was a strange feeling and went on for quite a few months if I remember, even now my left side is quite vocal with strange sounds coming from the operation area, but I just assume it’s where there is more room for everything to move around Shrug♀️

  • I’m now 14 weeks post op radical right kidney and only just managed to sleep on my right side, if I try the left side it feels like right side is being dragged down so we will try that again in a couple weeks. 

    Have you got a V shape pillow? These are amazing for helping with getting comfy to sleep. 

    Not had any aches from other kidney so can’t comment on that. 

  • Same side as me and same sensation. So that makes me feel a lot better. Although 14 weeks and you are still getting that dragging down feeling is a frustrating timeframe. I am a left side sleeper normally and have some lower back disc degeneration due to sports injuries in my younger years. So lying on my back is slowly becoming less and less comfortable.

    Thanks for confirming that same feeling though. That is a relief at least.

    I have 2 V shaped pillows. My issue is just getting a bit sick of sleeping on my back, and the discomfort of it all. But I will just have to deal with it.

  • Hi, I can sympathise, as I think it was a good couple of months before I could sleep on either side, certainly for more than a few minutes. It did help to have something slim like a folded t-shirt or quite flat cushion under my tummy when on my side, to stop that feeling of your insides 'falling down'. It does disturb your sleep when you can't naturally change position during the night. I tended to sleep for a bit less at night but have another longish nap during the day. I'm a bit surprised you can't straighten up properly when standing - I could always do that, albeit slowly and painfully at first but it was ok once I was straight. But everyone is different. It will all get easier!

  • I had a stupid series of events happen. I had a late operation time. Extra morphine given in recovery. Took ages to get sensations back in my right leg. Next day they took cath out but I wasn't ready actually. Still had aftereffects of anesthesia which caused my bladder control to not be present yet. They then had a bladder drill piece of paper that didn't say anything about not pushing at all with a wee. But it did stress needing to wee 3 times before they let you go.

    During the spinal tap I felt the doc hit my nerve which radiated like lightnen8ng into my anus.

    This, combined with worry over not being able to wee and the bladder drill script left me vulnerable to miss judgement. As well as the drugs still being in my system which also impaired my thoughts a bit.

    I panicked about not being able to wee. I pushed a tiny bit and felt wee start but couldn't get it to stay... I pushed a little too much, with morphine still in my system I didn't realise the damage I was doing.

    I now have hematoma under at least 2 of the incision sites. Between abdominal wall and skin. Not sure whether I busted internal stitches. But the extra mass causes a tightness and pressure on the wound sites when I stand up straighter and the skin pulls taught.

    That is why I filled out my profile description the way I did.

    It was definitely partly my mistake, but from a hospital care and guidance point of view. They definitely took the cath out too early and definitely give bad advice with post cath bladder drill paper.

  • Hope it is all going a bit better by now.  Love to hear how you are getting on, and any tips for post-op. Best wishes.