Wife had partial left nephrectomy - got the pathology. Questions.

Her report looks very very similar to my wife's report. She had robotic partial where the surgeon only had to take 10% of her kidney. We only stayed in the hospital for one night and got discharged the next day. She was a bit groggy for a few days but she didn't have much narcotic pain meds. Mostly tramadol for swelling.

Shes 6 months out now and still has an occasional day or even 2 where she still feels it. The occasional sharp pain or some back discomfort. It takes time and every case is gonna be different but she'll get there.

she just had her first set of 6 month scans and all was clean. Hang in there.

In my opinion some of the items that you will want to pay attention to are: Sarcomatoid features and Rhabdoid features.  It's good that neither were identified.  The other big item to pay attention to is if the tumor extended outside the kidney.  It's really good news that it did not.  With the size of her mass along with the items listed above as negative--I'd say she has a very good chance that she will be in the clear.

Stub

Everyone is different on the pain level thing, me I never took a pain pill from the day I left the hospital after my kidney removal or both my rcc lung met surgeries, the damn things always make me sick and Id sooner just hurt than throw up and be dizzy, but thats just me. I dont think its the norm to still be in need of pain meds 15 days after surgery, but as pain meds go Norco is kind of a mid range one,JMO.

Sharp pain is not uncommon. I had a new sharp pain to the edge of the wound about 6 weeks post-op, doctor can check this quickly, for me there was no problem just ongoing healing.

I am not in North America and we have different drug terms here. I will do my best but it is essential you check everything with health care professionals or heed the advice of other posters who might correct me. Do not follow my advice without checking with a health care professional.

The problem at the moment is the regular use of the hydrocodone bitartrate in the Norco which might not always be needed, but this regime or something similar is something I have seen other North American posters say they are on.

The patient might only need to be taking the acetaminophen component of the Norco, and then boosting this as needed with an opioid such as pure oxycodone hydrochloride or something similar. I can't find any hydrocodone bitartrate which is not already combined with acetaminophen, if you can get pure hydrocodone bitartrate immediate release then that would be okay for a boost as well.

You could consider stopping the Norco completely and switching to 4mg of acetaminophen per day made up of 2 x 500gm tabs 4 times per day spread out at least 4 hours apart but better if it can be 5 hours.

The tricky bit is to get a suitable opioid booster if the pain is too strong for the acetaminophen. You MUST NOT use Norco or any other medication containing acetaminophen as a booster because you will already be at the maximum daily dosage of acetaminophen. This is why you need a pure opioid booster, an immediate release version of oxycodone hydrochloride 5mg would be suitable.

Hopefully the patient can be weaned off the opioid and come to rely on the acetaminophen and then over time cut down the dosage to 3mg per day, then 2mg per day, or increasing the dosage back up on days when the pain is worse.

This is a workable strategy to get off pain medication over time. Health care professionals sometimes overlook this need and instead focus their attention on keeping patients alive.

I am fairly sure the acetaminophen is available over the counter, but you will need a doctor to prescribe a suitable opioid booster.

WARNING: you MUST NOT USE any medication containing acetaminophen if you are already taking pure acetaminophen.

Also, no alcohol at all can be consumed.

Do not follow my advice without checking with health care professionals, but you might need to push your concerns and possible resolutions in this and not just accept their first, automatic response.

Other members please correct me where needed or suggest deletion if this post seems irresponsible.

Pains are your body's way of saying, "Hey! Watch it, willya? Twisting hurts, so does activating the lift-y muscles." Her innards had quite a workout, what with being cut open, stuff being pushed out of the way, some things being pulled into view, this or that removed, then everything crammed back inside and stitched, stapled, and/or glued shut. Ooosh. Gah. 

One thing I noticed really made pain worse for me post-surgery surgery was if I let my body get slumped into the shape of a "C" or even a "(" - Then it was time to get completely horizontal or even arch my back to stretch things back into where they belonged. 

Also, using the muscles of your upper back (between your shoulder blades) to sit up straight will sure hurt less than trying to use your midsection muscles.

As for the pain meds, it turned out I was allergic to them, so just a few days post surgery I decided to Just Say No. Since part of my allergic reaction was inflammatory pain, being off of them made me feel way better. Plus, I chose to deal with the pain with breathing and focusing on my breath (as opposed to the owie). 

All the best to you both - !