On the day of kidney cancer surgery

You normally go into hospital on the morning on your operation. Sometimes you may go in the night before. This can depend on the hospital.

Before you leave home

Make sure you know what time you should be at the hospital. And which department you need to go to. Call them if you have any problems getting to the hospital on time.

You might want to have a shower before you come to the hospital as you might feel too tired for few days after your operation. If you’ve been given special antibacterial soap or wipes to use follow the instructions you have been given. This is to lower the chance of you getting an infection. 

When you get to the hospital

Your nurse will go through a series of questions on a checklist to make sure you are ready for surgery. They ask you to:

• tell them when you last had something to eat and drink

• change into a hospital gown

• put on a pair of surgical stockings

• take off any jewellery (except for a wedding ring)

• take off any make up, including nail varnish

• remove contact lenses if you have them in

• wear a hospital identification band

If you have false teeth you can usually keep them in until you get to the anaesthetic room.

Asking questions

Ask as many questions as you need to. It may help to make a list before you go into hospital. If you have more questions when you’re there, the nurses can answer them or get the doctor to talk to you again.

Preparing the operation area

Your nurse may remove any hair on your tummy (abdomen), chest and side. This is where your wounds will be. They do this with electric clippers. They may do this on the ward, or in the operating theatre after you've had your anaesthetic.

Your surgeon marks your skin over the kidney they are going to operate on.

Medicines you may have before surgery

Sometimes they may give you some medicine to help you relax. This is called a pre-med. This will be an hour or so before you go to the operating theatre. It can make your mouth feel dry but you can rinse your mouth with water to keep it moist.

If you've had pre med, your nurse and a porter take you to the operating theatre on a trolley. This is because it can make you sleepy. You can normally walk to the theatre if you haven't had a pre-med.

Your surgeon or anaesthetist may want you to have other medicines before you have your operation. They will explain what these are and what they are for.

Having an anaesthetic

You have a general anaesthetic so that you are asleep and can’t feel anything during the operation. Your anaesthetist gives you this in the anaesthetic room, next to the operating theatre.

All the doctors and nurses wear special clothes like pyjamas. They also wear hats and masks. This reduces your chance of getting an infection.

Your anaesthetist puts a small tube into a vein in your arm (cannula). You have fluids, medicines and the general anaesthetic through the cannula. The general anaesthetic sends you into a deep sleep. When you wake up, the operation will be over.

Before you go to sleep your anaesthetist might put a small tube through the skin of your back. It goes into the fluid around your spinal cord. They give you local anaesthetic and other medicine through the tube. This will cause numbness and relieve pain after the operation.

You may wake up from the operation with a small machine attached to this tube. This gives you regular painkilling medicines until you can take tablet painkillers.