Medical stuff
- Thread starter JustinR32
- Start date
imported_gusbubba
New member
Tom ,
I'm a relative newb here , but am well acquainted with your posts...and , yes , I'm aware of their absence lately.
My wife , Stacy , is an R.N. for the Hillman Cancer Center in Pittsburgh.
She works with some of the best doctors in the country and is well versed in conditions such as yours.
I haven't the words to express my hope for your recovery, but she may have the experience to guide you to better health.
In her words :
.......Hi Tom, I wanted to say a few words to you in this very difficult time in your life.......I work with cancer everyday and am amazed at how differently it's effects are on different people. I have come to know one thing about the human spirit , and it is that if YOU believe you are going to beat this then you will....it is as simple as that.
I have seen 80 year old men with esophageal cancer who have come in , and , on our initial meeting , they tell me that by no means are they going to let this beat them....and they don't.
Having surgery and removing the cancer is only 50% of beating it.......you have to believe that you can--- and that is the only real advice you need.
Some tips I can give you to prepare for your surgery are : 1...to incorporate a little more exercise into your daily activity.....this will strengthen your body and help you to recover faster......2....take time during the next few weeks to know yourself and believe in yourself.
I hope everything goes well and I will keep you in my thoughts and prayers. If you have any questions or need anything, please don't hesitate to conact me: calesa@upmc.edu
----Stacy
Our thoughts and hopes are with you..............good luck.
I'm a relative newb here , but am well acquainted with your posts...and , yes , I'm aware of their absence lately.
My wife , Stacy , is an R.N. for the Hillman Cancer Center in Pittsburgh.
She works with some of the best doctors in the country and is well versed in conditions such as yours.
I haven't the words to express my hope for your recovery, but she may have the experience to guide you to better health.
In her words :
.......Hi Tom, I wanted to say a few words to you in this very difficult time in your life.......I work with cancer everyday and am amazed at how differently it's effects are on different people. I have come to know one thing about the human spirit , and it is that if YOU believe you are going to beat this then you will....it is as simple as that.
I have seen 80 year old men with esophageal cancer who have come in , and , on our initial meeting , they tell me that by no means are they going to let this beat them....and they don't.
Having surgery and removing the cancer is only 50% of beating it.......you have to believe that you can--- and that is the only real advice you need.
Some tips I can give you to prepare for your surgery are : 1...to incorporate a little more exercise into your daily activity.....this will strengthen your body and help you to recover faster......2....take time during the next few weeks to know yourself and believe in yourself.
I hope everything goes well and I will keep you in my thoughts and prayers. If you have any questions or need anything, please don't hesitate to conact me: calesa@upmc.edu
----Stacy
Our thoughts and hopes are with you..............good luck.
Tom,
My thoughts and prayers are with you. It is good to hear all the support and determination you have for dealing with this challenge in your life. In dealing with the actual surgery itself, this are three basic components to post op recovery: 1) Cough and deep breath every one to two hours 2) get up and start ambulating as much as you can 3) Use pain medication intelligently and effecitvely. You need to use pain meds to allow you to accomplish the first two tasks as quickly and as comfortably as possible. There is absolutely no benefit whatsoever to trying to "tough it out" and use pain meds as sparingly as possible. It is the coughing and deep-breathing as well as early mobility that will help you recover as quickly as possible with the minimum risk of complications like pneumonia. This is my standard lecture for all my patients (I do open heart surgery) and I seriously get after people who don't do this. There is not a risk of addiction here that so many people tend to worry about...you have to take narcotics for weeks and use them instead of effective coping skills to risk addiction. Your emails here give no qualms about your coping skills. Nephrectomies hurt. You will recover alot more quickly, safely and a hell of alot more comfortably using pain meds appropriately. I tell my patients to target a 3 or less on a pain scale of 0-10 ( 0 being no pain and 10 being the worst pain imaginable). Honest acknowledgment of pain using this scale does not mean one is weak willed, wimpy or just can't tough it out. It is not a character flaw to acknowledge pain.
So much for my pain med lecture! Your other task will be to manage your diabetes to the absolute max to protect your remaining kidney, but it sounds like you know that and this is a doable thing that has other health benefits beyond protecting your renal function. I am impressed with how you are dealing with this....despite the shock of the diagnosis and the sense of grief, loss and anger it engenders, you can see beyond to the life that is still there for you. Go for it Tom! My very best wishes......Mary T
My thoughts and prayers are with you. It is good to hear all the support and determination you have for dealing with this challenge in your life. In dealing with the actual surgery itself, this are three basic components to post op recovery: 1) Cough and deep breath every one to two hours 2) get up and start ambulating as much as you can 3) Use pain medication intelligently and effecitvely. You need to use pain meds to allow you to accomplish the first two tasks as quickly and as comfortably as possible. There is absolutely no benefit whatsoever to trying to "tough it out" and use pain meds as sparingly as possible. It is the coughing and deep-breathing as well as early mobility that will help you recover as quickly as possible with the minimum risk of complications like pneumonia. This is my standard lecture for all my patients (I do open heart surgery) and I seriously get after people who don't do this. There is not a risk of addiction here that so many people tend to worry about...you have to take narcotics for weeks and use them instead of effective coping skills to risk addiction. Your emails here give no qualms about your coping skills. Nephrectomies hurt. You will recover alot more quickly, safely and a hell of alot more comfortably using pain meds appropriately. I tell my patients to target a 3 or less on a pain scale of 0-10 ( 0 being no pain and 10 being the worst pain imaginable). Honest acknowledgment of pain using this scale does not mean one is weak willed, wimpy or just can't tough it out. It is not a character flaw to acknowledge pain.
So much for my pain med lecture! Your other task will be to manage your diabetes to the absolute max to protect your remaining kidney, but it sounds like you know that and this is a doable thing that has other health benefits beyond protecting your renal function. I am impressed with how you are dealing with this....despite the shock of the diagnosis and the sense of grief, loss and anger it engenders, you can see beyond to the life that is still there for you. Go for it Tom! My very best wishes......Mary T
Tom, I've read through alot of your posts long before even becoming a member here and I've learned alot from you. I assisted in several nephrectomies in the Army and they always went as smooth as butter. I can't recall a post where you were never upbeat at all. I think that you're attitude has a lot to do with you're outcome when it comes to surgery and you've got an unbeatable attitude.
Having only one kidney isn't too bad to deal with. I've got a friend with one kidney and the only thing he can't do is join the military. He leads an actve life and if I didn't know he had one kidney, I'd never in a million years guess. He's in excellent health.
Keep a close eye on your sugar and stay away from whatever causes those stones.
Good luck and Godspeed.
Jess
Having only one kidney isn't too bad to deal with. I've got a friend with one kidney and the only thing he can't do is join the military. He leads an actve life and if I didn't know he had one kidney, I'd never in a million years guess. He's in excellent health.
Keep a close eye on your sugar and stay away from whatever causes those stones.
Good luck and Godspeed.
Jess
Setec Astronomy
Well-known member
Mosca--I see you are posting again, how did everything go?
Ben Kenobi
I hear the '55s are in
Tom, glad to see you're posting again as you were very much missed. How is your recovery coming along? My wife is also a RN so I have some idea of what you have been dealing with plus with some of my little adventures in the past few years it has changed my life. Be well and you have the group here thinking about you.