Recovery After Kidney Cancer Surgery: What to Expect and Living With One Kidney

Most people who have kidney cancer surgery recover well and return to normal life. Knowing what the first days and weeks usually look like, and how to look after the kidney that remains, takes away much of the worry.

Key points

• After keyhole or robotic surgery, many people go home within about two to four days. Open surgery usually needs a longer stay.
• Most people return to desk work in two to four weeks, and avoid heavy lifting for about four to six weeks or longer.
• One healthy kidney is enough for a normal life. Looking after it is the main long-term task.
• Regular follow-up scans and blood tests are part of recovery.

The first days in hospital

• Pain: controlled with regular medicines. You will be encouraged to walk the day after surgery, which lowers the risk of clots and chest infection.
• Tubes: a urine catheter is usually removed in a day or two, and a drain, if one was placed, within a few days.
• Eating: light food and fluids start quickly, often the same or next day.
• Shoulder-tip pain and bloating: common after keyhole surgery because of the gas used. It settles in a day or two.

At home

Wound and pain

Keep the wounds clean and dry as advised. Mild pain and tiredness are common for the first couple of weeks. Numbness or a pulling feeling near the wound can last for months. After open surgery through the flank, a bulge or numb patch around the scar is possible and usually improves.

Activity

• Walk every day and increase gradually.
• Avoid lifting anything heavier than a few kilograms, such as a full bucket or a suitcase, for about four to six weeks after keyhole surgery and longer after open surgery.
• Driving is usually safe once you are off strong painkillers and can brake suddenly without pain.
• Many people return to desk work in two to four weeks, and to physical work after about six to eight weeks, as your surgeon advises.

Bowels and eating

Painkillers can cause constipation. Drink fluids, eat fibre, and use a mild laxative if needed, because straining is uncomfortable after surgery.

Living with one kidney

If the whole kidney was removed (radical nephrectomy), the other kidney gradually takes over. Kidney function tests typically fall at first and then partly recover over several months. In a person with a healthy other kidney, this is enough for normal life, and you do not need a special diet or dialysis.

If only the tumour was removed (partial nephrectomy), more kidney is preserved, though kidney function can be temporarily affected after surgery.

In both cases, taking care of your kidney matters, because long-term kidney function is affected by blood pressure, diabetes, smoking and some medicines:

• Keep blood pressure and blood sugar well controlled.
• Do not smoke.
• Avoid regular use of anti-inflammatory painkillers (such as diclofenac, ibuprofen) unless your doctor agrees. Paracetamol is generally safer.
• Drink enough fluids, especially in hot weather and during illness.
• Tell any doctor treating you that you have one kidney, or part of a kidney removed, before scans with contrast and before new medicines.
• Have kidney function (creatinine/eGFR) and blood pressure checked at least once a year.

When to call your doctor

• Fever, or a wound that becomes red, swollen, or leaks.
• Severe or worsening pain, or a swollen, hard abdomen.
• Very little urine, or blood clots in the urine.
• Leg swelling or pain in the calf, or sudden breathlessness or chest pain. These need urgent medical help.

Follow-up

You will usually be seen after one to two weeks to review the pathology report, which shows the type, grade and stage of the cancer. This decides how closely you are followed. See follow-up after kidney cancer surgery for what to expect.

If you are still deciding between operations, read partial versus radical nephrectomy and our kidney cancer guide by stage. For care in Lucknow, see the kidney cancer treatment page.

This article is general information. It does not replace advice from your own doctor, who knows your reports and your health.