Hi all
I'm waiting for my partial nephrectomy in a few weeks. Could somebody who has had a radical or partial give me an idea of what happens on the day when you arrive at the hospital until you're good to go? I'm having mine at the Royal Free in London.
Hi Sean. I had a partial nephrectomy in October 2026 and I had to arrive at the theatre booking area about 3 hours before my op. I had some blood taken and had to get into theatre gear about 2 hours before my allotted time. I had to drink some water - can’t remember how much - over a certain period. I walked to the theatre where I was greeted by a team who quickly inserted a cannula in my hand, a funny spiky probe on my head to monitor brain function and that’s the last thing I remember until I came round in recovery. I was in a fair amount of pain so they kept topping me up with morphine and gave me hot towels for my tummy! I had a catheter until the following morning - my urine was then measured for output each time I went to the loo (scanned as well)
I had robotic surgery so had 5 incisions of various sizes that had soluble stitches and glue so no dressings. I won’t lie - I felt crap for a few days - mainly due to the gas they used to pump up my stomach (I do suffer from IBS). Best advice, let it go whenever you can!! Drink lots of water to flush out your remaining kidneys.
i couldn’t sleep on my usual side when I got home to my husband and I swapped sides until I felt more comfortable
Good luck 
