Right Nephrectomy

Welcome 2018, or not really. Let me take you back a few months…

Since my left nephrectomy in October I had a few complications. All started well, recovery was good and I was comfortable. Then there was blood in my urine and a lot of it. My HB level dropped so I had a blood transfusion. It dropped again and I had another blood transfusion. Then it dropped again and we repeated the process. By December 2017 I had had 9 transfusions. It was time now to take some action and stop the bleeding. After consultation with Prof and Dr Dawood it was decided that my right kidney needed to be removed.

So on January the 5th 2018 I had my right kidney removed. The operation went well. It was a lot more complicated than the left because of how my intestine had stuck to it. Like the first this kidney was massive and so my liver was out of place. But I was out of theatre and alive.

Below is an image of the right kidney. What you about to see can't be unseen...

Anyway this time they put me in ICU. I remember not sleeping at all on the first night. Then things went a little wrong. My body was fighting everything the doctors were giving me. I remember being itchy all over. I thrashed in the bed. I got what is called ICU psychosis (which is a form of delirium or acute brain failure). The next thing I knew I was waking up with a continuous dialysis machine working its magic and a few days had passed. Getting feedback from my visitors, they said I was speaking nonsense and doing crazy things. Shay mentioned that my eyes kept rolling back in my head. The nurses actually warned my visitors that I would not be acting myself.

I survived that and a few days later was sent to surgical ward then home. Recovery at home is always better and quicker.