Problems Following Kidney Removal... Posted: 07-23-04 08:59am
I have a question that I hope someone can
answer. My father-in-law had his left
kidney removed due to cancer in april of
this year. The cancer was contained to
the kidney. A few weeks after being home,
following surgery, he began to lose weight
and his abdomen swelled up. After many,
many tests, and no answers, he went to a
major hospital in chicago. There he was
told it was fluid buildup in his abdominal
cavity due to something tiny(the size of a
hair), that was severed during his
nephrectomy. The drs there said no one
did anything wrong, but that it is just
one of the risks(a very rare risk)
associated with kidney removal surgery.
My in-laws are older and are not nearly as
aggressive as I would be when talking to
the drs. My question is "have any of you
heard of anything like this?" I have asked
several times what was severed and my
in-laws just say they aren't sure what it
was called. They did drain 3 1/2 liters
of fluid off of him and sent him home a
few days later ,but it's been 2 weeks and
he is rapidly filling up again. He can't
eat much, has difficulty getting a full
breath, and has lost 35 lbs. Since april.
I thought if I could maybe find something
online it would help us to understand what
is going on. The drs. Initially said
that it should clear up on its own, but if
not, there is a surgery to correct it.
Now that it isn't clearing up, my father
in-law contacted the Dr. And was told
that he knows of no one that has ever done
the surgery or even heard of anyone doing
it. This isn't some small town hospital,
but a major one that people go to get
answers. Any help or ideas on where to go
for info. Would be appreciated.
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purple333
Extremely EHEALTHy
Joined: 01 Dec 2003 Posts: 1420 Location: Sydney
Posted: 07-25-04 02:31am
This is certainly a difficult one - would
it be possible for you to go with your
in-laws to see the dr in chicago who told
them what had "supposedly" happened
because then you could ask relevant
questions that would enable you (if
nothing else) to look into this on a
search engine & hopefully get some
answers.
If not - then i'd still try say google or
yahoo & type in things like - risks
associated with nephrectomy's, or causes
of fluid build up after nephrectomy or
weight loss & fluid build up after
nephrectomy etc & see what comes up.
If you know of a dr(local or specialist)
who incorporates alternative medicine
& treatments into their practise
he/she may be worth a visit as they can be
more open & informative than some of
their colleagues!!
