The surgery went as planned. The surgeon was able to do the procedure robotically, which allowed him to make four very small incisions instead of one relatively large incision. And, he was able to just remove the portion of the kidney that was diseased and to save the remainder. There will be no need for chemo or radiation follow-up. After the procedure, I asked the surgeon about the potential for (1) regrowth of the tumor in situ and (2) appearance of a tumor on the other kidney. He said he wanted to review the pathology reports before giving me a definitive answer, but said that typically the odds for both are about 5%.
I was discharged from the hospital at noon on Thursday, so I was in just Tuesday (surgery day), Wednesday (one day of recovery), and Thursday (another half-day of recovery). I had no ill effects from the surgery or the anesthesia--no nausea, very little pain. Though I'm taking an analgesic, I think it's mostly prophylactic because I'm not really in pain; I just have a little discomfort at the incisions.
I have a drain (and a collecting bulb) exiting my abdomen. It's draining blood and urine from the cut portion of the kidney. The volume of fluid has declined remarkably over the last three days (like it is supposed to do). If everything continues to go smoothly, I will have the drain removed on December 2. The drain is probably the biggest hassle, but even that is not really much of a bother.
Actually, the worst part of the whole experience may have been my roommate, Jim. He was 71 and had had a partial liver removal. Tuesday night he was disoriented and confused, slept very little, and kept urinating all over the floor when he got up to use the urinal. Every two hours or so, half the night staff invaded the room to clean up his messes. Wednesday night, his confusion had vanished, but he still slept very little and repeatedly told the nurses that he was going to call his wife to pick him up - at 2 a.m., 3 a.m., 4 a.m, etc. Plus, he and his wife (who was in the room from 9 a.m. until 8 p.m.) liked to watch TV with the volume up loud. Actually, they were pleasant people and they said that it was nice for Jim to have a "quiet, understanding" roommate, but needless to say, I didn't do much reading - or sleeping. I was nice to get back to my own bed.
Mononucleosis very well may have saved my life!
