The view from the other side

dhs1963

I went in for a radical nephrectomy on the 19th. Before that, my thoughts were on the big things...Cancer, what if it returns, etc. In the mid to late afternoon on the 19th, I woke up. I did not know where I was or what had happened to me. I was quickly told by (I guess) a nurse that I had surgery and am in the Fairfax Hospital Recovery Room.

In the four days since, my time scale has been changing. For the first two or three days, I was living on ten minute horizon: the time till the next done of pain meds. How long until the Tylenol kick in (fever issues), etc.

my goals in the hospital were things like, walk 5 number of times, use the breathing aperattus 10 times per hour, etc.

Now, I am waiting for the pathology report.

This was my first major surgery. And I did not know what to expect. I do know I did not like it.

icemantoo

The initiation
DHS1963,

Not fun. There is no way to sugar coat the sutgery. Things will get a little better each day. The odds are you are now cancer free. Was it worth it? Of course it was. Relax a little. You are enttled to. A few years from now you will even forget there was any pain. Not really.


Icemantoo

dhs1963

icemantoo said:

The initiation
DHS1963,

Not fun. There is no way to sugar coat the sutgery. Things will get a little better each day. The odds are you are now cancer free. Was it worth it? Of course it was. Relax a little. You are enttled to. A few years from now you will even forget there was any pain. Not really.


Icemantoo

I can definitely feel a day to day improvement
Some subjective, measurements, and some are objective.

The objective measurements are from the Incentive breathing torture device (each day a little better; today I am up to 3000 ml). I am also using less pain medicine.

Subjectively, I am feeling more alert.

The Dr. thinks/is confident that he got it all.

I plan to treat myself to a toy when this is done. I have always wanted a ragtop, and plan to trade in the minivan for a Mustang convertable.