Pre surgery question

It's normal to try to find a reason for cancer, but it's an exercise in futility. There are things we're told that can affect our chances, but it's basically a crap shoot since it happens to young and old, skinny and fat, smokers and non-smokers, fast food addicts and organic vegans, people with a lot of family cancer and those with none.

I had a total laparoscopic nephrectomy and I'm retired, so I can't offer you advice on recovery time. One thing I do suggest is to schedule fun things to balance out the appointments, tests, and surgery. I found it especially helpful shortly before surgery (I took a short out-of-town trip for a few days) and again after surgery (another trip!) as a buffer between recovery and undertaking something else I had to do.

Welcome alinb-

Sorry you had to join us, but I'm glad you found us. In addition to the great advice given above, keep in mind that at age 47, it will probably be a much easier recovery than if you were decades older. Try to do some walking before the surgery - and then some slow walking after the surgery will definitely help with the recovery.

You're going to do great. We're with you!

Alinb: You've asked a great question, a question which I wish I had asked before my nephrectomy, a question that everyone should ask before undergoing any surgery except the most minor outpatient procedures. Nephrectomies are serious surgery and they require serious anaesthesia. It will take a while after surgery for your body to adjust. I found the pain to be nothing at all. (I used tramadol for four days after surgery and then found that nothing, not even over-the-counter pills, were needed.

No. The real challenge was two-fold: Mental sharpness and capacity for physical work.

Mental sharpness: for two weeks or so after the operation I had to ask people to repeat and repeat things they had told me. It was substantially more difficult than usual to mentally grasp new things, as if I was in a fog. And my reaction time was substantially slowed, as if everything in my head was operating in slow motion. Of course, with each passing day I got back a little more to my pre-operation standard. After three weeks most of the noticeable mental changes were gone, but I was told that complete recovery would take around six to eight weeks, more or less.

Physical capacity. This came back faster than mental sharpness. At first it just felt that the effort involved had been multiplied several times. Sometimes this meant becoming conscious of physical tasks that I hadn't before been aware of as tasks. For example, the physical process of getting out of bed, to which I had never before paid any attention at all. For the first ten days, this was a huge deal. Then it became easier and easier until now it's back to normal (no effort at all). Also, the attractions of simply sitting still and doing nothing became very, very strong. I remember at one point thinking that I'd like to spend the rest of my life sitting in a chair staring at the wall and being entirely still, something I had never felt before.

Sleep. I slept much more than before. By six or seven at night I really couldn't (and didn't want to) do anything other than crawl into bed for the night. I slept at least eleven or twelve hours a night. I think this was just my body trying, successfully, to heal itself. This has not yet gone away.

Of course, all of these reactions are very personal and depend on all kinds of personal variations. YMMV, as they say. What I've written above is personal to me. I'm not a medical person and have no way of knowing or generalizing about other people's experiences save through my reading of the discussions on this and other similar websites. At the same time it's reasonable to suppose the we're all physical and mental machines of a sort and our machines probably react in the same direction when interfered with as in surgery and anaesthetics. Some more and some less but in the direction of having to repair after interventions that are experienced as "insults."

I hope this helps. Best of luck to you!

This is good to know as I have a partial upcoming mid week. Thank you for this tip about the warm liquid and not eating....as I have "issues" with this area of the body from a surgery decades ago.