New to the Club - post op information

I had a robotic radial necphrectomy on my left kidney in May of 2012. I was in and out of the hospital in less than 24 hours. Spent 3 weeks at home resting  before I was able to go back to work again. It took me another two to three weeks after that to not feel like I was going to collapse by 3 pm at work everyday. A week after surgery I was still pretty weak and did not do much of anything other than lay on the couch. What I did do that I believe helped with my overall recovery was that every couple of hours I made myself get up and walk around for about 5 to 10 minutes. Nothing strenuous, just getting up and walking slowly back and forth between the living room where the couch was and the dining room. Just walking in a path between the two. You have to remeber that the doctor had to go through a lot of muscle and tissue to get to your kidney. This is major surgery and not something that will just get better after a week or two. It takes a good six weeks to two months to feel somewhat normal again.

I have to agree with the others.  It takes time to recover from this sort of surgery.  You'll start to feel better, then have a minor setback.  Then a couple of more steps forward.  You will feel a lot better ... after a slow recovery process. 

You have to count your blessings as to finding this cancer now rather than much later.  RCC is usually found by accident.  Your accident happened early enough such that you can be pretty optimistic about your recovery prospects.

Call your doctor when you feel you need to while recovering.  Take things slow.  Be vigilant as to your follow up procedures. 

Dutch

and that was 10 years ago when an ultrasound for maybe gall stones turned into a full surgery for Stage IV renal cell cancer that had mets to liver and nodes.

Lap surgery is still surgery, every layer of muscle, sheath, and organs have to be cut or moved to make way for the tools that exert pressure on whatever they are touching.  Add the anesthesia effects, the cleansed colon, the pain meds following and you have a recipe for taking it easy.

I admit, I developed pancreatitis, which was a set-back; but it wasn't until 6 weeks post that I even began to feel human.  Because I'm part owner of the business where I work, I could go to work for a few hours and then go home.

Don't push yourself too hard, don't over-do, or it can come back to bite you in the bu...

And my bone scan was done to see if the mets had gone into the bones-luckily NOT.

You were truly lucky that someone suggested the full scan and you accepted. 

Good luck on your recovery.

donna_lee

Hi, Kris.  I sure would have rather "met" you under different circumstances than entrance into our club.  I sure hope you are in a better place recover-wise than you were yesterday or the day before.  I believe you'll notice this as the pattern.  Each day you will get a little stronger and physically start to feel better.  I had a partial on my right kidney on August 26.  I was headed home on August 27th!!.  Mine was laproscopic robitic, so it wasn't as invasive.  One of the worst parts of the recovery was how the gas they filled me up with tried to exit my body.  My right shoulder was really sore for a few days.  As people have already said, try to walk on a regular basis and stretch those walks out a little further each day.  Don't overdo it, but push yourself a little.  It's kind of a balancing act--I'm sure you've figured that out.  It won't be long and you'll find yourself with more energy, a better appetite, and overall feeling of being well.

You take care and focus on healing.  I'll include you in my prayers.

Stub