Living with one kidney

My sister is having her left kidney removed on May 6th.  She has a 11 cm mass on the lower lobe which is growing upward.  The doc said she will not have any diet changes or restrictions because she has one kidney.  Just wondering if there are any other changes though??  Will she have to urinate more???

Also, can anyone tell me about the surgery....what is the recovery like??  The doc said she will be off work 4-6 weeks but will she be in pain or not able to do anything that entire time??

Thanks for your input. 

God Bless!!

Danielle

 

On 4/15/2009 Lil Sis wrote:

My sister is having her left kidney removed on May 6th.  She has a 11 cm mass on the lower lobe which is growing upward.  The doc said she will not have any diet changes or restrictions because she has one kidney.  Just wondering if there are any other changes though??  Will she have to urinate more???

Also, can anyone tell me about the surgery....what is the recovery like??  The doc said she will be off work 4-6 weeks but will she be in pain or not able to do anything that entire time??

Thanks for your input. 

God Bless!!

Danielle

Hi Danielle,

I had my kidney removed in 1997 & have not required any diet change or anything else.  You would never know you only have one kidney.  I believe the other kidney eventually does the job of two kidneys.

As for the surgery, yes there will be pain.  Although I came home with just taking Tylenol because I'm allergic to codeine & felt I could tolerate the pain & I did.  You get stronger as the weeks go on.  Your sister will be okay.  Stay strong & stay positive.

Joanne

Hi Danielle

I had my left kidney removed on 29th January and returned to full time work 2 weeks ago although I had done part time for 4 weeks before.

My operation was to be keyhole which requires 4 or 5 small incisions but during the operation there was a problem and they had to open me up the old fashioned way and I have a 7" scar.

After the operation I was on morphine for 24 hours and then they reduced it down to paracetamol. The pain was quite bad if you were to laugh, sneeze or yawn but normally it felt as if you were wearing a straight jacket. For a few weeks after the operation it is common to feel very tired and I found that I had to regularly lay down. When I left hospital, after 6 days, I was told to take paracetamol if I had any pain, but I did not require many.

Hopefully your sister will have the keyhole sugery it does not reduce the healing time as the main damage is internally but it does reduce the scarring.

Steve

 

On 4/15/2009 Lil Sis wrote:

My sister is having her left kidney removed on May 6th.  She has a 11 cm mass on the lower lobe which is growing upward.  The doc said she will not have any diet changes or restrictions because she has one kidney.  Just wondering if there are any other changes though??  Will she have to urinate more???

Also, can anyone tell me about the surgery....what is the recovery like??  The doc said she will be off work 4-6 weeks but will she be in pain or not able to do anything that entire time??

Thanks for your input. 

God Bless!!

Danielle

 

Hi, Danielle.

My mom had a kidney removed when she was 19 (in 1950, due to severe infection), and she is now 78! She has never had problems from living with one kidney, and she doesn't have any diet restrictions.

I also have only one working kidney. I had kidney failure due to diabetes, and then I had a kidney transplant. So I've been living with one kidney for over 10 years. I do have some issues, but it's because I have a transplanted kidney - not because I have only one kidney. My kidney has been very healthy for most of the 10 years, with a perfect creatinine of 1.0. Now I have ovarian cancer, and my creatinine runs 1.3 now because of apparent damage from chemo. That's still pretty good, though!

I think the main thing for living with one kidney is hydration. Your sister should drink lots of water and keep that kidney hydrated!

 Best wishes and God bless,
Joan

 

On 4/15/2009 Lil Sis wrote:

My sister is having her left kidney removed on May 6th.  She has a 11 cm mass on the lower lobe which is growing upward.  The doc said she will not have any diet changes or restrictions because she has one kidney.  Just wondering if there are any other changes though??  Will she have to urinate more???

Also, can anyone tell me about the surgery....what is the recovery like??  The doc said she will be off work 4-6 weeks but will she be in pain or not able to do anything that entire time??

Thanks for your input. 

God Bless!!

Danielle

 

 

On 4/23/2009 mamaleo66 wrote:

 

On 4/15/2009 Lil Sis wrote:

My sister is having her left kidney removed on May 6th.  She has a 11 cm mass on the lower lobe which is growing upward.  The doc said she will not have any diet changes or restrictions because she has one kidney.  Just wondering if there are any other changes though??  Will she have to urinate more???

Also, can anyone tell me about the surgery....what is the recovery like??  The doc said she will be off work 4-6 weeks but will she be in pain or not able to do anything that entire time??

Thanks for your input. 

God Bless!!

Danielle

 

 

Hi Lil Sis,

I had my left kidney removed on 3/26/09 and I am at home recovering now.  I am 42 years-old and never been sick or hospitalized so RCC was a surprise to me.  I had my entire kidney removed because the tumor had grown very large (about the size of a baby's head).  I have a very long incision that starts just above my navel and ending on my left side, so my bikini days over - but I'm happy and blessed to be alive!  The recovery has been relatively easy.  My first week home it was hard to get in and out of bed.  But it is important to walk around as much as you can.  I went from my bed to a chair and sat up awhile everyday.  After a week I ventured down the stairs ( one step at a time) to sit up for a while. Now I am going up and down the stairs easily.  I feel pretty good now.  Tell your sister do follow her Dr.'s recommendations and sure she'll be fine.  Blessings go out to you and your sister.

I hope the surgery has been done by now.  I had a total nephrectomy in November of 2008.  It was excruciatingly painful right afterward in the hospital, but they kept me comfortable with medication.  I came home on oral morphine and then switched in several weeks to Darvocet and then Tylenol finally in about February of 2009.  It was impossible to lay on the surgical side for weeks and I had to sleep on my back on the couch because I cannot lay flat in a bed on my back!  That was the difficult part, because my husband would go to bed and there I was, on the couch - but the up-side is that because I was napping so frequently I rarely slept for more than 4 hours, so I could watch tv to keep my mind off the pain during the night, when pain is always worse.  I am now a year and a half post op and at last check there were no mets and no recurrences in the surgical site or other kidney.  I am prayerful that this will continue and hope the same good outcome for your sister

Oops - wrong chain for my reply, sorry!  Good luck to you too.  I am 61.

Oh my, this was confusing me with the paste in of the other post - this IS the right chain and I do hope for the best for your sister!  So sorry!