Recovery

I am 2 wks out and have the same thing. I also have a really sharp, stabbing, bad pain when gas moves through my intestines in the area of the incision. Only thing I can  think of is there is internal swelling???? 

why does everyone think having a kidney yanked out should have a faster recovery than a bad haircut? I think it is due to TV. Everything gets better in an hour. Our bodies have had major trauma despite surgical precision. The infllammed tissue will be present for a year. Or more. Our physiology program has to be re-written to compensate for nephrectomy. The old you that you are judging everything by no longer exists. It takes time for this to happen. The old you took your entire life to build your body memory. This new change has been only weeks. There are metabolic changes to promote healing. Immune responses and blood fluctuations.

As these changes are proceding your nervous system relies on neuro chemical feedback which helps trigger reflexes. You've had post op pain, muscle weakness and spasm. Probably appetite changes and maybe vomiting, constipation, or diarrhea. These remain present until the neuro sensory system detects what would be a return to within normal limitations. It is only then that you feel really recovered. The fact you have pain states that some part of you affected by this procedure needs more time. The pain response is initiated to make you back off. You may not be doing too much per se, but your body is making sure you respect that  it needs more time

Everyone goes through this. You'll have a wonderful spring and summer. Patience. You will look back and wonder what the big deal was. We see it all the time. I promise.

From my perspective you are doing really well to be in this situation in 3 weeks. I was on a set daily course of 4gm non-opiod painkillers (paracetamol, also called acetaminophen) for at least 5 weeks. I topped this up only about 3 times with a pure opiod. Gradually cut down my dose over the next 5 weeks after that. I don't like taking opiods and think people should avoid them if possible but there are non-opiods for pain relief as well (which can be boosted by a pure opiod if the need arises). Speak to your doctor for guidance in this if you think you need to.   

Your body has been battered. Your mind played head games after the diagnosis with you. At 3 weeks there were times I felt like Wiley Coyote getting hit by a train. It will get better. At the 6 week mark surgeon let me go back all normal duties. I felt great but my body would tell me your not the same as you were. Slow down, take a nap, that kind of thing. I'm a newbie but Fox is right you need time for your body to catch up. As for the pains or aches I get, I try not to let my mind send me to a dark place and if I feel I'm heading there I come hear and read or ask questions. First scans behind me and I'm looking forward to the next 6months there's a lot to do..hope this helps

I had total neph. 10" incision. drove a stick shift to have staples out in about 6 days. I was back to running, weight training, walking 18 holes of golf in a month. I rode my big a$$ Harley in maybe 2 weeks. All without pushing myself. But....I had been running 3-4 days a week,lifting 3-4 days a week for over 35 years. 40+ years of health care experience as a physical therapist. And had experience of at least a half dozen other surgeries. All starting with a bone tumor excision whenI was 12. My fitness, functional level, knowledge and experience was almost off the charts. So it can be done. I was 58. To spice things up, I had earlier decided to train a little harder with the goal of approaching my 60's  that I would be in the best shape of my life before I died. How prophetic.

I'll be 66 in the spring. I have been stage 4 the whole time. I believe that I have taken hits that would kill 75% of everyone else. But it is now getting much more difficult to deal with. I just finished another week of radiaton and I am wasted. Exhausted and much pain. I've had radiation and cyberknife at least 6 previous times and used to riide my Harley 80 miles round trip for most of my treatments. Those days are gone. Now I recover like a normal person. I think if I had a kidney removed now, it would take 3 months just to feel ok. Forget doing much.

There are fundamentals which require being true to ones self. Sports and training, particularly marathon running have taught me a lot about getting back up when you've been knocked down hard. Those with similar conditioning backgrounds really have an advantage here. One of my buddies is a Dr. and his wife an administrator. We were visiting during one of my recent setbacks. We discussed this topic. Neither of them ever worked out or played sports. Never had the wind knocked out of them and never been hospitalized. They  have absolutely no idea of what it would be like to have any physical trauma. Zero experience whatsoever. A scenario I've dealt with thousands of times as a therapist. Compare that against my history and no wonder I've made some things look easy.

I have a therapist trick I use. The quickest way to get back to normal is to be able to do normal things normally. That means you transfer, walk, and move yourself as naturally as possible. You may move slowly but try to move in patterns that are normal for you your whole life. At first you cannot. So you compensate whether you want to or not. Pain and muscular inhibition make this happen. The trick is to be aware of the difference. Then always try to achieve the "prettiest" technique you can. Moving slowly and smoothly, ie:pretty, you practice like a professional dancer or magician to develope a return to grace. Since you work on moving without forcing anything, the risk for injury is minimized. Pain subsides, then return to normal is achieved. (short version)

Another trick I use. Imagine a long lost relative died. In the will the lawyer was to find and give a million dollars to you if...if you come right down to his office and walk in proving you have no disabilities. Now with every movement you make DO NOT let the lawyer see any problems. The acting performance of a lifetime. Then you have to do this EVERY time you move. Avoiding movments that cause pain allow for good healing. As time goes on you expand your range of motion until you closely duplicate the old you. Then you've rcovered.

Different tricks work for different people. When dealing with many older women, you could always tell who was athletic or a dancer vs someone who never learned to ride a bike.

foxhd said:

no sorries needed

There are fundamentals which require being true to ones self. Sports and training, particularly marathon running have taught me a lot about getting back up when you've been knocked down hard. Those with similar conditioning backgrounds really have an advantage here. One of my buddies is a Dr. and his wife an administrator. We were visiting during one of my recent setbacks. We discussed this topic. Neither of them ever worked out or played sports. Never had the wind knocked out of them and never been hospitalized. They  have absolutely no idea of what it would be like to have any physical trauma. Zero experience whatsoever. A scenario I've dealt with thousands of times as a therapist. Compare that against my history and no wonder I've made some things look easy.

I have a therapist trick I use. The quickest way to get back to normal is to be able to do normal things normally. That means you transfer, walk, and move yourself as naturally as possible. You may move slowly but try to move in patterns that are normal for you your whole life. At first you cannot. So you compensate whether you want to or not. Pain and muscular inhibition make this happen. The trick is to be aware of the difference. Then always try to achieve the "prettiest" technique you can. Moving slowly and smoothly, ie:pretty, you practice like a professional dancer or magician to develope a return to grace. Since you work on moving without forcing anything, the risk for injury is minimized. Pain subsides, then return to normal is achieved. (short version)

Another trick I use. Imagine a long lost relative died. In the will the lawyer was to find and give a million dollars to you if...if you come right down to his office and walk in proving you have no disabilities. Now with every movement you make DO NOT let the lawyer see any problems. The acting performance of a lifetime. Then you have to do this EVERY time you move. Avoiding movments that cause pain allow for good healing. As time goes on you expand your range of motion until you closely duplicate the old you. Then you've rcovered.

Different tricks work for different people. When dealing with many older women, you could always tell who was athletic or a dancer vs someone who never learned to ride a bike.

I have had a good recovery, 2 weeks post surgery today.   Did too much a few days ago and and paid for it the next day, the other thing I did was wear high heeled boots, well, every muscle in my body that had been doing all those contorsions that foxhd talks about.   Sore muscles on the side that wasn't operated on. Sore lower tummy.   Some of the pain is very benign gas pain.  

I make a conscious effort to try to breathe deeply and gently and stand tall and as normal as possible, the same with sleeping or resting in the initial more painful periods, I have tried to assume a natural position, sometimes after the effort of getting to the bed and laying down you don't want to get to a natural pose, you just want no more pain right now, so you stay still.  I think you pay for that later on with muscles that are contracted or tense.  

Here is a joke for you foxhd.  A man walks into the tailor to get a suit.  The tailor measures him up and tells him to come back in a week.  The gentleman returns and tries on the new suit.   The first thing that is evident is that the suit doesn't close at the front.  The tailor suggests that he hunch forward a little.  The suit closes.   Then he notes that the left sleeve is too long, the tailor again makes a suggestion that he just extend his left arm and maybe contract his right one up a little bit, it works, the sleeves are level.  The suit is looking better but the right leg is a little short, the tailore suggest that he bend his knee a little.  Finally the suit fit.   The gentleman pays and walks out.  On the street as he limps along, hunched over, arms at different lengths a father and son notice him.  "Look there son, that must be a fantastic tailor, fancy being able to make a suit to fit a man like that". 

As someone who swam 5 hours a day and worked at a pool, we often would look at people training who had no 'style' allmost drowning in their effort to progress up and down the pool, the effort they would expend was immense and not pretty.   I think you are correct, I have been to Mt Everest was a long distance swimmer in ocean and river as well as cross country running and the place I noted the difference was when i was in the baby birthing years, and you had many friends doing the same.   Often a lack of endurance or experience in managing pain and pushing through meant very different outcomes for births.   I had one exercise I used to practice which was walking in the rain and not flinching or hurrying.  Just accept the wet, cold, wind and walk.   i think in a small way it puts you in tune with uncomfortable sensations on your body and allows you to accept that they are there, may not get worse and will eventually go away.    My thing is if it is normal pain I am mostly ok.  If someone can reassure me that 'this is normal' then I can immediately deal with the pain better.  I now coach little kids in water polo, lots of hits and balls in faces and tears.  I get them to squeeze my two fingers (not more than 2 that would hurt me) and they count to 20, at the end of 20 I ask them if it hurts less, then we do it again.  Part of this is preserving 7 year old boys dignity in not crying uncontrollably in front of their team mates, usually we can calm down, it has stopped hurting (lots of cryng is based on the fact they think it is going to keep hurting as much as the initial hit) and well if after counting to 40 and assessing it is still really painful then we take first aid action, we rarely need any other action.  I don't dismiss pain, and I don't mind if they cry, but they don't like to cry, I just try to get them to focus on something else momentarily and then re assess. 

That said kudos to you and your journey thus far.   Ongoing pain and pain coming back would sure be getting old by now. 

Kiwi and Fox, those are some very funny stories but they also have their moral in disguise not to be overlooked!

 How true Fox, everything you say about thinking a surgery as serious as a nephrectomy, one could expect to recover like one would from a cold.  This coming from you and your experience is a great piece of info for the newbies, when you know better what to expect you tend to have less unrealistic expectations.  I so wish you were not feeling unwell right now. I hope you draw once more from your incredible strenght and will and get better soon to enjoy the Holidays.  

Angiebby I wish you a very good recovery.

foxhd said:

good stories

Reminds me of the guy who suffered severe testicular pain for years. Every step was excruciating and he couldn't stand up straight.  No doctor could help him. Finally he meets a surgeon who assures the guy  that he can eliminate his pain if he performs a castration. The guy can't deal with the pain anymore and gets the procedure. Amazingly all his pain is gone for the first time in his adult life.

The guy is so excited that he decides on a full make over. He skips his way downtown to this new tailor he has heard about. He walks in and tells the tailor to make him a new suit. The tailor looks him over and says, "You need a size 48 jacket. Shirt 17" neck and 35" sleeves. For pants you need 36" waist and 33" length.

Flagergasted the guy asks the tailor how he could possibly know his sizes without measuring him. The tailor tells him that he is very experienced and has done this for a very long time.

Impressed, the guy says that's incredible. Except he has always worn  33" waist and 30" length. The tailor says, "Oh no. I know I'm right. If you wore 33"x30" pants you would walk bent over and your nuts would hurt."

Totally unexpected and very funny. Ouch!