New to the group

Hello Hels and welcome to our friendly group ( although we would rather not be part of this club)!,

I had some scooby blood tests and scans before they found that I had renal cell cancer. I had a radical nephrectomy almost 4 months ago and for me it wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be.

My kidney function was a bit low for a few weeks but is now satisfactory. I feel that I do go to the loo more often, but it may be that I am just more conscious of it.

I didn’t really have backache just tiredness, so can’t help you there.

I hope all goes well with your op and do keep posting to let us know how you are getting on as we do care about one another

Bug hugs Jules x

Hi Jules,

Thanks for the info, it's all a bit of a learning curve at the moment...

Hels x

Hi Hels, hopefully you'll be fine with one kidney. I had my left kidney removed last September, it had a tumour but no other complications thankfully. Had the op on Wednesday AM, out of hospital Friday PM. Felt like I was in the wars but by the Monday I could feel I was improving day by day. You'll wake up one day & feel more tired than the last, but it's more important that your feeling better week by week. After 3 / 4 weeks I was still out of breath walking. I was back to work after 5 weeks but only 3 days a week, day 4 I was feeling very tired. It took a few months to get back to feeling properly better really. With one kidney my kidney function went from eGFR 90 to about 49 post op. It has since improved to 66 which I think is generally fine. Your creatinine levels may be a bit high for a while. For me, I only realised after 6 months that it had affected my vitamin D levels & also nutrient stores in my brain causing migraines. So do look out for little affects like that also which might not manifest for a few months. But hopefully overall you'll be fine. Exercise, good diet, rest & avoid stress! Best wishes for it. In one way with the time off work, it was a great time for me personally, a tough but also very positive experience. Take care.

Trust me you will feel an almighty sense of relief and an immediate end to unpleasant symptoms once the darn thing is out and gone. One kidney is more than ample. Some people have even less than a full one. No ill effects on toilet habits or anything. My op was eight weeks ago tomorrow. 

Hi Mike, thanks for reply, all sounds very positive, I just want it over and done now...

Hi Simon, thanks for your reply, glad you are feeling good 8 weeks in, hopefully I will too...

Still on the up nine weeks in. Sleeping better now. Pee is fine. No problems at all.