On 4/14/2008 I had Hand assisted Laparoscopic Partial Nephrectomy for a 2.5cm solid mass on my left kidney. A biopsy was done while I was on the table to determine if it was cancerous or not and also to tell the surgeon how much of the kidney to remove. A “frozen section” of the kidney was done and was reported as benign. Good news but I spent 4 days in the hospital because of severe nausea and just not feeling well. I was called back to the office a week after my surgery and was told that the first pathologist had made a mistake and I did have stage 2 RCC. The doctor was really upset with this and he added that all of the tumor was not removed and he wanted to get me back into surgery as soon as possible. I was really upset about having the 2nd surgery. One reason being I was having a hard time recovering from the first surgery. I still could not eat. So 12 days after my initial surgery I was in the in the hospital having it done the second time. I ended up losing about 20% of my kidney which isn’t too bad. After a few more days in the hospital I went home just as sick as I was the first time.
It has now been 3 weeks since the first surgery and 9 days after my second and I am still so sick!! I have lost 20lbs in 3 weeks. I am overweight but it really sucks losing it this way. I am able to eat a little bit but I am still plagued with nausea and just flat out don’t feel well. My Doctor doesn’t understand why I am feeling so bad. He says maybe it is still the anesthesia. I have never had problems with anesthesia in the past. I don't take pain medication, so it is not that. My husband doesn’t understand about me being sick and says I just need to get out and start doing things. I tried to run out to the store this evening just to grab a couple of things and it just about killed me.
Has anyone had trouble “recovering” from surgery? I am scheduled to go back to work in a week and there is just no way. I am really having a hard time. My husband is gone almost all of the time and I am spending all of my recovery time by myself. That doesn’t help either. I guess really I just needed to vent .
If anyone has any feedback, it would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks for listening.