Kidney Cancer: How to make recovery from surgery easier?

So sorry to hear about your husband. My husband too was diagnosed with Renal Cell Carcinoma and had his left kidney removed a year ago and surprisingly enough he recovered fairly fast. He did just fine with no recliner but heck..... a recliner is always nice. :). Hoping the best for you and your husband. Hope it's a speedy recovery.

I’ve had a few surgeries and a recliner is comfortable until you struggle to get out of it. If you purchase one, I’d recommend spending the extra money and get one with an electric lift feature that helps you get up out of it with little or no effort. My father in law has one and he loves it.

@thewife Welcome to Mayo Clinic Connect. I imagine there are a lot of things going through both of your minds as you prepare for next week's surgery.

I have found using a recliner helps me get a more restful position many times. We have a three cushion couch, with the two ends having motorized recliners, even able to adjust the headrest separately! There are many nights I simply stay there for the night. While we do not have the electric lift feature that @sally0526 mentioned, when needed I have a cane nearby to help stabilize me to get up. From experience, going slow is critical! A recliner can offer many different positions and finding one that will encourage restful slumber is important!

Having fluids, a book or laptop, or other amusements nearby will help your husband relax and recover. How are both you and he doing with all this? Has he gotten a treatment plan from his medical team?
Ginger

So far it’s just removing his kidney . The dr will also check his bladder because he has lesions in his bladder but they could be blood clots . He had so many clots he ended up with a catheter because he couldn’t even go to the bathroom.

Thank you for your advice . I think an electric one would be good too .

Did your husbands surgeon use the robot ? That’s the plan for my husband . My nephew had his kidney removed at age 33 and has a 13 inch scar ! I’m hoping the robot will make recovery easier .

I do not know what "the robot" is. They made two small incisions on my husband, one I believe was to pump in air/gas and the other to perform the surgery to remove the kidney which the surgeon did, no robot. They made very small incisions and the kidney I believe was pulled out of one of the incisions. That probably did help with his recovery time.

I had kidney cancer which had spread into my pelvic area and toward my heart. I had one kidney and the cancer removed at Mayo.
I have a question now after the surgery. It has now been about 4 1/2 years since my surgery. After a sneezing fit, I now have a baseball size bulge in the navel area at the top part of my 12 inch vertical scar. Would that be a hernea or should I be concerned that it is something worse?
PS For those of you concerned about surgery for kidney cancer, I have to say that my recovery was much easier than I had anticipated it would be, so may you have as easy a recovery as I. Just be sure to press your stomach when you have a sneezing fit even if it is years later.

Welcome @bomed. Your experience with kidney cancer surgery is most welcome in this discussion. It helps to hear from someone who has been there. I see that @gingerw replied to your question about a suspected hernia in the discussion you started here:
- Years after kidney cancer surgery question https://connect.mayoclinic.org/discussion/years-after-kidney-surgery-question/

I have to agree with her that this is something you'll want to investigate.

Did you have any other treatment for kidney cancer besides surgery? What tip would you offer to patients about to have surgery that helps with recovery?

Yes
Get up and move! I had a relatively easy recovery and I think it was because I followed my doctor's orders that I should keep moving. I couldn't believe that they had me up and walking when I was returned to my room after surgery. My son was amazed that I was able to do that. The secret is to follow the doctors orders.