How Long Is Your Scar/Incision for those with Open Nephrectomys

Only 7 inches? Mine is bigger than yours!!!

My scars from the laparoscopic surgery were actually quite small. There is a 3 inch cut (on the side between ribs and hip) where the kidney was removed, a 1 inch cut nearby where the drain (I think) was inserted plus 3 small spots.

The emergency laparotomy that immediately followed the 'keyhole' surgery resulted in a 9.5 inch midline cut from sternum to below the navel.  Or maybe it was a keyhole for a very large key... The key to survival, as it turned out!

Anyway... This is not really what you were asking about, but I felt like bragging.

I bet 20 other people now chime in to tell us how much bigger and better their scars are.

Steve.

PS: Everything is healing beautifully and the cut near my navel seems to have fixed my mild umbilical hernia. My innie will remain an innie!

I actually feel very lucky, happy, and grateful to everyone here, everyone at the hospital, my family and the universe in general.

The leaking artery after the first surgery was bad luck, but everything else went brilliantly.

I feel great.

Steve.

So what is the real concern about how long it is?  I was so glad they could open me up and get the first surgery done that I didn't care it was 14" long.

And each succeeding one was 4" over the top of the others.  As the scars age, they get much less visible and seem to shrink and blend in.

There is so much more to be concerned with in life than a little or even big scar.

Good luck, no matter what happens.

donna_lee

Is about 4.75 inches long, straight line from my belly button down. My tumor was about 11 cm (4.3 inches) in every direction. I am still amazed that he was able to go in from that point and remove such a large tumor and my kidney through that opening. He said it was not easy and the way it was in there gave him a little trouble. He did not know prior to opening me up if they could do it with the smaller cut or would need to really open me up. You can see in the MRI how my liver was folded over the top of the tumor and he wans't sure if it was "stuck" to my duodenum. Thankfully, it wasn't. 

donna_lee said:

I don't think anyone is going to flaunt the scar

So what is the real concern about how long it is?  I was so glad they could open me up and get the first surgery done that I didn't care it was 14" long.

And each succeeding one was 4" over the top of the others.  As the scars age, they get much less visible and seem to shrink and blend in.

There is so much more to be concerned with in life than a little or even big scar.

Good luck, no matter what happens.

donna_lee

That makes you our winner, so far, even if size is not important...

Steve.

Mine was right side front extending from 2 inches under my sternum laterally and down for about 9 inches.  Three  + years out it still itches occasionally.  Reminded me some of the scene in Jaws where they are comparing scars.

Jack

I think worrying about an incisions length is ridiculous. What's next? Rescheduling surgery to not miss a hair appointment? Don't new people understand how serious this is? How vain. Every time this subject comes up I want to slap someone. Maybe I missed the memo where it says having an open nephrectomy incision means life isn't worth living and is worse than having cancer itself.

I worked with a woman named Rita. She refused a leg amputation after being dx'd with leg cancer.  The surgeons did their best to save her limb. Several times over several weeks. Trim here, cut there. Wounds became extensive. We did daily debridement in the whirlpools behind a curtain because she refused to look. One day the surgeon came in, knocked down the barrier and she saw the mangled meat and bones exposed. She became hysterical. Reality hit her hard. She now knew she made the stupidest decision and it would cost her her life.

I visited her bedside that afternoon as she was also a friend who worked in the hospital. She wanted me to help her decide what to do. "Give it to me straight," she says. It seems the thought of disfigurement and needing a "fake" leg bothered her. As she lay in bed wearing only her johnny, I looked at the woman we all knew as "Lovely Rita." I said, " Rita, Why does it bother you so much? Every morning you would get ready before work. You would pull up your girdle. Then your uplift bra. Support hose. Then put in your dentures, paint your lips, apply makeup to your face and eyes. Then work on your beauty parlor dyed hair. I said that almost nothing about your appearance was real or natural. So what is the difference?"

She had the amputation the next morning. We began pre-prosthetic training. She would get up early and do her hair, make up and looked forward to her recovery. The day her prosthesis arrived she died from osteosarcoma. All because of vanity.

Excuses like, "I will heal faster, or similar rational is BS. I think people concerned about incision length shouldn't be allowed to make any health decisions because they totally do not comprehend what is at stake.

Sorry that I have insulted people. But with our recent deaths, every stage 3 or stage 4 patient fighting for their lives, would place concerns about the length of their incision at dead last. 

I tried to be gentle on my earlier post about scars; You got in their faces!  Way to go you big bully.

It's Reality.  If surgeons would pose the question of, "would you prefer to live with cancer and probably die sooner, or have a scar?" they most likely would opt for the scar.

My father in law was adamant about not amputating his foot.  Oh, he had it when he died of heart disease caused by the osteomylitis in his tib-fib and ankle.  His quality of life for nearly 20 years was horrible, he spent months in cardiac units at OHSU, and was a really growly bear to even be around.

And it's always great when you can think of the perfect rejoinder at the time, instead of after you get home.

OK...go UCONN.

donna_lee

Vanity...actually it is a piece of furniture at sitting height, with a bench seat , a big mirror.  Size matters.  Surgeon skill vs length of incision.  Shirt off... flashing scars in a bar...

My day is made !  I will smile for hours.  I am just under 5 foot tall. Just under 5 ft. around.  I sure don't make my living showing off my abdomen.

My scar is from under my left chest side across to my right side, down mid right side then curves at my waist to left hip.  Yep, I was operated upon for my nephrectomy at a university hospital, and the resident was told the night before that he could practice his tummy tuck technique on the next patient in the OR.  When he gets there, it is not plastic surgery, its a nephrectomy.  He graduated. But was never asked to work plastic surgery again. !  It's not really true, but does match the humongus funny looking diaphram sausage lump that now graces my upper middle. That's my story, and I'm sticking to it.

Pam