Have a date!

icemantoo said:

Enjoy Valentine's Day

Kim,

 

 

Enjoy Valentine's Day. Go to Disneyland or somehing like that. May the force be with you.

 

Icemantoo

 

 

 

Kim, great to know there is a DATE to end this tumor~

You have a wonderful attitude.

Did I mention (previously) that I wore a velcro lumbar wrap following two abdominal surgeries

and it truly helped support those recoverying abdomen. I also placed dry ice inside wrap, but

not right on skin and that reduced the swelling which resulted in less pain meds for me.

My tumor was in a precarious place so I had to have a radical nephrectomy.

Just glad its out and I am NED 2 years later!

Keep us posted hon.

Warmly, Jan

Pandabear1011 said:

You Go Girl!!! It will be

You Go Girl!!! It will be over and done with before you know it! Keep us posted...Hugs, Panda

....but it'll be behind you soon.  In the meantime it gives you time to prepare for the things you won't be able to do for a little while after surgery.

I'm with Jan, grab one of those lumbar supports, definitely helps.  (I wasn't aware of the dry ice thing)

I'll be praying for you Kim,

Donna~

In retrospect, waiting one of the worst things about my experience…  I know you are concerned about losing an entire kidney, but if that happens you can live a normal life with only one.  Yeah you will have to make some dietary changes and drink more water, but that’s something everyone should be doing regardless of health status.   About three years ago a friend of mine donated a kidney for his sister and he is doing great.  In fact one week post–op he was out mowing the grass.  His wife came home, saw what he had done, and she almost killed him, but that’s another story. 

Once surgery is over and you have the pathology report back you will feel better.  Mainly because all of those unanswered questions will be answered and there is peace in that.  It took about a week to get my path report back and the doctor called me on the phone to tell me that I did in fact have cancer.  After I got off of the phone with him i felt peaceful and that really surprised me.

Things you can do to get ready for surgery:

1. Start some type of exercising, if you don't already.  Go for 20-30 minute walks every day.  

2. Netflix is a good thing.  I actually used my renal mass as an excuse to but an Xbox One 

3. Food prep after surgery is different for everyone.  I didn't have much of an appetite for about 3 week post-op.  Just kind of keep that in mind if you are going to meal prep.

4. I would suggest buying a couple of flats of the 500mL bottled water.  Your doctor will give you an amount of water you will need to drink post-op, mine was min 2 litters a day.  I found it a lot easier to track my water intake using those 500mL bottles.  I started off using one litter bottles, but it took me longer to drink them and then they would get warm and since, as my wife puts it, I am a diva and I like ice cold water I started using the smaller bottles…

I'll be praying for you.  

daisybud said:

I will definitely be loading

I will definitely be loading up on cases of water.  Thanks for the tip.

Also, will be walking my pug dog, Joey.  Both of us need the exercise. 

I am more concerned about if I end up with a enucleatio during a partial that dr can't get clean margins bc of the location.  But I will just have to wait and see how it goes. Sometimes I think just yank the whole thing out and then I don't have to worry.  The dr says its much better to keep part of it if possible.

Have a great day!

Kim

Great news you have a surgery date and it's soon!

You really shouldn't have to worry about a partial without clean margins. I'd share what I wanted with the surgeon and make sure he understands your priority is clean margins even if it means losing the kidney. It can be difficult to tell the doctors what we want, but we have every right to make sure we are getting our health taken care of the way we want it. I would imagine his priority is the same.

Is he pretty sure he can do a partial with clean margins?

Wishing you the best. You'll do fine. The surgery is doable. It's inconvenient, but you will be ok.

Look through the old threads about recovery post-surgery. There are plenty of them.

Hugs,

Todd

Hey Kim!

So happy the date is set. It will be all behind you before you know it!! Think of this....by the time you are recovered, spring is just around the corner!!

You have already received lots of good advice, just prep as much ahead of time and then relax and heal afterwards.

Hugs

Jojo