Wellness

[wismiss]

My brother is scheduled to have a kidney removed in the near future. The doctors, nurses, etc., will guide him through all the pre-op things, but are there any suggestions for post-op recovery that I might pass on to him? Of course, he will follow doctor's directions, but I am thinking more about daily living challenges that he might face and how we can work around those.

If you would be willing to share any ideas and suggestions, I (and my brother) would certainly appreciate it.

Thank you.

[PARedbird]

Hello Wismiss,

I had my right kidney removed 4 1/2 years ago due to kidney cancer. I was lucky in that it was a Stage 1 so I did not have to go through any treatments.

I'm not sure how old of a person your brother is, but I'm 50 now and when I had it removed, it was no problem when I came home and I live alone and not close to any family/friends. The only restriction my doc gave me was not to lift anything heavier than a carton of milk for a week or so. Other than that, he told me no other restrictions.

Also, my kidney surgery was done lapriscopically, however, the pain after my surgery was awful - I felt like they beat me up in the OR and I felt like that for several days! LOL! I am a side sleeper, so when I wanted to lay on that side, I had to prop a pillow on my to lay that way. I couldn't do it for long periods, though.

My hospital stay was uneventful, except that I ended up staying in the hospital for 4 days instead of 2, as I ran a high fever the day they were to let me out. But it came down within several hours and they kept me just to be sure.

Also, if your brother has pain meds hooked up to his IV, tell him not to be afraid to press the button on the IV tubing if his pain is bad. I wasn't using it and the nurse encouraged me to for the pain.

The most important thing is to get a lot of rest after getting home - take naps when need be and tell your brother not to push himself - go with the flow of how you feel for awhile and eventually he will know when he wants to do more, etc.

I am very thankful the cancer was caught by accident and I remain cancer free and am out of the woods now. I hope this helps somewhat and I wish the very best for your brother.

Robin

[Pandalady]

Winmiss, I wanted to send my thoughts and prayers to your brother, to you as his caring sister and to the doctors and medical staff charged with his care. May God bless your family during this time. As a kidney patient, myself, I felt I needed to reply to you. Although I don't have any advice, I have prayers!Panda lady

[Gooday]

Hopefully, I can help.

DH had a complicated medical history which I will not bore you with. He had been on dialysis for one year prior to having both kidneys were removed. One had not been functioning at all for a while but the functioning kidney was failing. He had a history of bladder cancer, so the transplant team thought it best to remove his kidney's as he was on dialysis. His case was different than the other posters as he needed to be opened up.

When he had the transplant, it was done laparoscopically. He was only in the hospital for 2 days because they wanted him OUT of the hospital ASAP in order to avoid possible infection. Of all the surgeries he had, and he's had many, this was the easiest.

The worst part of laparoscopic surgery is that they blow Co2 into your abdominal area and it takes a while for the gas to leave the body. You can burp and taste it. Other than that, your brother will do just fine.

Modern medicine and many surgeries are very uncomplicated these days.

Best of luck to your brother.

[151949]

There are numerous reasons why a person may have a kidney removed and their recovery would depend on what their physical condition is prior to the surgery and why it is being removed.

I had my right kidney removed in 1991 and have lived well with only one for many years. There is not a lot of post surgery care for a nephrectomy these days since it is no longer the huge practically cut you in half surgery I had.