Nephrectomy for RCC and I'm terrified and uninformed

Hi Hj83,
I'm so sorry to hear about your nephtrectomy and your catheter problem. I looked up nephtrectomy on the Mayo Clinic website at https://www.mayoclinic.org/tests-procedures/nephrectomy/about/pac-20385165. It gives a lot of information that is very helpful in understanding this procedure and all it entails. If the link I gave you doesn't work, just go to the Mayo Clinic website and do a search for nephtrectomy. You can trust what the Mayo Clinic says about medical procedures. They are very reliable especially when it comes to information. I live in Edmonds WA and can't even get to the Mayo Clinic but I use their website to research all the medical issues my husband and I are going through such as my incontinence and his lung cancer. Also remember it is your body! You can say no to anything you don't feel good about or that affects you badly when you take it. I'm sure your doctor knows what he is doing and is trying to do the best for your condition. However, as is the case these days, doctors are very overworked and just don't have the time to research everything or know that much about you and how you react to things.

When my husband had his surgeries for cancer I typed up all of his medical information, (meds, former surgeries, allergies etc.) with copies and handed them out to his doctors and everyone involved with his surgeries. They were very glad to get the information. It helps to keep everything correct.

Also don't forget to pray and leave everything in God's hands. He made you and he can fix you! That's what my husband and I told God about his lung cancer. Last week my husband's cancer doctor said he didn't need to see him for a year! So God does answer prayers. Fear is normal in a situation like yours. God can help you get through that. Besides, December is one of the months that a large miracle happened when God's son, Jesus was born. Tell God you'd like a miracle in Dec. I'm sure you'll get one! I'll say a prayer for you too!
Merry Christmas in advance!
PML

Thank you very much for your comment. My heart and prayers go out to you and your husband. My surgery is 2 days after my daughter's 21st birthday. I love Christmas and all of God's miracles and tender mercies so I do pray a lot and try my best to keep in mind that God is the almighty healer and miracles happen all the time. Merry early Christmas to you and yours. I'm going to go check out the links but my urologist didn't even tell me much and acted like he hadn't just told me I have cancer and walked out of the exam room. It was found in April but the radiologist missed it at that point then it was found in July bc it's growing and finally in Oct I got my biopsy and cancer diagnosis. I wish I could get into mayo as that's where my mother (😇) was treated for her cancers and they treated her phenomenal and told her everything every step of the way. That's why I joined this actually is bc of my faith in mayo clinic bc I've seen first hand how wonderful they are with their patients.

Have you contacted Mayo directly, rather than go through your doctor? My husband did that after bouncing around from primary care to urology to nephrology without getting tested for bladder cancer. The week after he came to Mayo for a cystoscope, he had a TURBT to remove the cancer. It’s an amazing place and you CAN self refer.

@hj83, how did you nephrectomy go? How is recovery going.

I also want to bring @bettymmeadows5210 into this discussion. She has just recently been told that she has a cancer growing on the outside of her kidney and may need to have the kidney out.
How are you doing, Betty? Have you decided to go ahead with surgery?