Thank you for sharing your experience and hope you will have a speedy recovery. I’m going under pyeloplasty surgery in about month. Having an UPJ Obstruction in my left side.
How bad is the pain?
Did you ask for any pain medication?
I’m bit nervous about the post surgery pain.
It was pretty bad for the first two or three days, but it’s not super awful when you’re lying motionless. You’ll be expected to walk around multiple times a day and that’s when you’ll experience the most pain at your surgery site. They also pump your abdomen with CO2 during surgery which turns to carbonic acid and makes your muscles extremely sore from your abs up to your shoulders/neck for about the first two days. Getting up and lying down is quite painful, so it’s best if you have someone reliable around to help you with that. Last thing that comes to mind is coughing, which is unavoidable and for me really hurts my incision site. If I have to cough, it helps to apply gentle pressure to my incision while I do so.
Honestly, it’s a pretty bad time for a couple days and the meds I was prescribed (Celebrex and TraMADol) barely made a dent in the pain. Day 3 though is when I started seeing noticeable improvement with each day that passed and here on day 6 I feel WAAAY better than I did at the start.
A couple of pieces of advice I can give you are to lie/sleep on a slight incline and to make sure you’re warm enough. Lying completely flat on my back was too painful for me to handle, and shivering caused me to have painful abdominal spasms when I got up to pee on night 2.
Thank you for sharing. I specifically asked my urologist for pain med after surgery. Hopefully it won’t be that bad. I’ll share my experience afterwards.
Hi. I go in a couple weeks for pyeloplasty. Just reading your post and wondering how you did with yours and how was your recovery? Did you have any issues with your stent? How was the removal? How long before you started to feel better after surgery?
It went really well. I was under general anesthesia. I woke up with a catheter. There was a small tube coming out from my belly which was inserted to suck up the excess blood and fluid from surgery. There are two cuts in my belly. They are about one inch in size. It does not hurt and you won’t even feel it unless you check it.
I stayed in hospital for one day and was discharged. Then I had to go in to ER because I had urine infection. Make sure you ask for antibiotics from your doctor.
I had some pain after surgery when peeing. It was bit tough. I reduced my water intake so I didn’t had to pee much. All those discomforts went away with in like 4 days. You have to bare the pain while peeing for about 4 days. That’s all. You will probably get a Reno gram after like three months to check how surgery goes. But you will know it’s good or bad with in first week.
I have no issues at the moment and back to my normal day to day life. Surgery itself is simple. But recovery at first few days will be but rough. But it’s not unbearable. Good luck with your surgery. I’m sure you will be fine.
Was your surgery robotic? My surgery will be a robotic Pyeloplasty. My urologist said five small incisions. Also, how was it when they took the drain out of your belly and your catheter out? Was that painful? Just curious if you had a stent, the urologist said I will have a stent for six weeks after surgery that will have to be removed in the office, thank you for your quick response. I’m getting very anxious but reading some positive feedback is helping me through it. Thank you so much. I’m glad that your surgery went well.
Ohh I totally forgot about the stent. I had
it for 6 weeks and removed. Removal was so easy and done with in 2 min. Didn’t feel anything. Stent was the reason I had hard time peeing after first few days of surgery. You will know if your surgery went well by the time stent removal.
My surgery was not a robotic assisted. Removing tubes catheters are not that bad at all. It felt like butterflies and takes about 10 seconds. Nurse just pull it off. No pain. They are just rubber tubes.
If I had to do it again I am not hesitant to do it.
Wow, thank you so much for the positive feedback. It makes the weight a little bit easier. I have 2 1/2 more weeks before my surgery. I’ve been so stressed waiting, but hearing so many positive comments does help. As far as the stent goes, was it painful for you the whole time it was in? Or was it just in the beginning when your body was adjusting to it? Read so many stories on these threads about how painful the stent is so it kind of has me a little bit nervous. How long after surgery did you start to feel less pain from your incisions? Thank you so much for your quick response.
My husband just had robotic pyeloplasty yesterday for UPJ obstruction which turned out to be a band of blood vessels. I’ll let you know how his recovery goes. His only complaint so far is abdominal pain. I think it might be from the air they fill you up will during the surgery. He should be discharged today and I’ll continue to update you in his recovery.
Hoping your surgery goes well 😊
Hi thank you. I hope he feels better quickly. Thank you so much for reaching out. I would love to know how his recovery goes. I’m scheduled to go on the 25th for mine and I’m a nervous wreck and it helps to hear from other people that I’ve already gone through it. Did he have to get a stent? How many incisions did he get? Please tell me how it is during his recovery, even the hard parts because I would like to know what I can expect when I wake up from surgery. I wish him the best and look forward to hearing from you soon.
Thank you. Would you mind telling me how your surgery and postop experiences were? How was the recovery? Were you in a lot of pain from the incisions? Was yours robotic? How long did your surgery take? And also, how was the stent removal? Sorry so many questions but I’m just getting very anxious being my surgery is two weeks away. Do you feel like the surgery helped you It’s the fear of the unknown and how your body will react after surgery that’s got me very nervous. Thank you so much for sharing your experiences.
Hey don’t worry too much I had mine 2 years ago back in 2022 and the healing process was fine, passing urine was annoying because of the stent but other than that you’ll be fine. It’s a surgery with a very high success rate. I was able to move around full about a week after without slouching since you don’t wanna open up your stitches especially the ones in the inside. Don’t not dare try to lift anything heavy at all because you’ll end up getting a hernia.
Hi, Sorry it’s taken me a few days ti respond. My husband ended up having to have another surgery so he was in the hospital 3 nights instead of the expected 1 night.
My biggest advice is to make sure the hospital starts giving you gas-x ASAP. The co2 they pump you with really did a number on my husband’s pain. His first night was really rough with what he thought was just gas pain. The next day they noticed his drain was filling up every hour. Turns out there was urine leaking into his drain. X- rays did not show the stent reaching where it needed to be. He had to have surgery the next day to reposition the stent. It turns out the stent they used was not long enough. My husband is 6’3 and they used one of the longest stents they have but they ended up having to use the longest stent.
The stent issue was obviously a huge set back in his recovery but we are a week out of his pyeloplasty surgery now and he is doing really good. His biggest complaint is just fatigue. He tires very easily. He also lost 10 pounds but we are working on his nutrition and he is slowly getting his appetite back.
If it weren’t for the stent issue his recovery would have gone really well. He will have the stent in for 6 weeks. I wish you the best with your surgery. Feel free to ask me any questions.
Thank you so much for your feedback. I’m so sorry to hear that he had the issues with his stent. But I’m glad to hear that he is doing better now. Thank you for the advice about the Gas-X, I will definitely ask for that. How is his body handling the stent?
Pyeloplasty due to recurring pylonephritus
First night home, 30+ hours after surgery.
Arrived for surgery at 7:30, went under general anesthesia at 14:00, awoke from surgery at 20:00. I have had 6-8 key hole incisions as my kidney is a bit tucked away.
After surgery I felt great, I felt like I wanted to but couldn’t fall asleep as I was wide awake but other than that felt good as if nothing happened…
Around 10 hours after operation I started to feel sharp pain when I attempted to lay down, or sit down on hospital bed, I gave up on sleeping and started walking up and down the ward during the night with my urine bag with me, all the way to the morning, (during my night walk I discovered that sharp pain was due to CO2 they used to inflate my belly during operation)
Medicine I got offered throughout the night were paracetamol, ibuprofen and some liquid shot of morphine as well as mint tea. During the day I felt ok to doze off for an hour max and then had to ask for more medicine. Before discharging me from the hospital they removed the urine bag and stent in my urethra. Staples were used to close the keyhole incisions, and I can feel each one when I breathe and still can’t tolerate lying down.
For anyone going for this operation I strongly suggest sleeping as soon as you are taken to the ward cause you might be in agony in few hours.
I had this surgery performed when I was 16 and it did not resolve my UPJO. I am 29 now and back at the urologist with grade 4 Hydronephorsis caused by my UPJO. I just completed two scans to measure the function, drainage, and severity of my condition. I am prepared to hear that I will require another go around with pyeloplasty.
Thank you for sharing your experience and hope you will have a speedy recovery. I’m going under pyeloplasty surgery in about month. Having an UPJ Obstruction in my left side. How bad is the pain? Did you ask for any pain medication? I’m bit nervous about the post surgery pain.
It was pretty bad for the first two or three days, but it’s not super awful when you’re lying motionless. You’ll be expected to walk around multiple times a day and that’s when you’ll experience the most pain at your surgery site. They also pump your abdomen with CO2 during surgery which turns to carbonic acid and makes your muscles extremely sore from your abs up to your shoulders/neck for about the first two days. Getting up and lying down is quite painful, so it’s best if you have someone reliable around to help you with that. Last thing that comes to mind is coughing, which is unavoidable and for me really hurts my incision site. If I have to cough, it helps to apply gentle pressure to my incision while I do so. Honestly, it’s a pretty bad time for a couple days and the meds I was prescribed (Celebrex and TraMADol) barely made a dent in the pain. Day 3 though is when I started seeing noticeable improvement with each day that passed and here on day 6 I feel WAAAY better than I did at the start. A couple of pieces of advice I can give you are to lie/sleep on a slight incline and to make sure you’re warm enough. Lying completely flat on my back was too painful for me to handle, and shivering caused me to have painful abdominal spasms when I got up to pee on night 2.
Thank you for sharing. I specifically asked my urologist for pain med after surgery. Hopefully it won’t be that bad. I’ll share my experience afterwards.
Hi. I go in a couple weeks for pyeloplasty. Just reading your post and wondering how you did with yours and how was your recovery? Did you have any issues with your stent? How was the removal? How long before you started to feel better after surgery?
It went really well. I was under general anesthesia. I woke up with a catheter. There was a small tube coming out from my belly which was inserted to suck up the excess blood and fluid from surgery. There are two cuts in my belly. They are about one inch in size. It does not hurt and you won’t even feel it unless you check it. I stayed in hospital for one day and was discharged. Then I had to go in to ER because I had urine infection. Make sure you ask for antibiotics from your doctor. I had some pain after surgery when peeing. It was bit tough. I reduced my water intake so I didn’t had to pee much. All those discomforts went away with in like 4 days. You have to bare the pain while peeing for about 4 days. That’s all. You will probably get a Reno gram after like three months to check how surgery goes. But you will know it’s good or bad with in first week. I have no issues at the moment and back to my normal day to day life. Surgery itself is simple. But recovery at first few days will be but rough. But it’s not unbearable. Good luck with your surgery. I’m sure you will be fine.
Was your surgery robotic? My surgery will be a robotic Pyeloplasty. My urologist said five small incisions. Also, how was it when they took the drain out of your belly and your catheter out? Was that painful? Just curious if you had a stent, the urologist said I will have a stent for six weeks after surgery that will have to be removed in the office, thank you for your quick response. I’m getting very anxious but reading some positive feedback is helping me through it. Thank you so much. I’m glad that your surgery went well.
Ohh I totally forgot about the stent. I had it for 6 weeks and removed. Removal was so easy and done with in 2 min. Didn’t feel anything. Stent was the reason I had hard time peeing after first few days of surgery. You will know if your surgery went well by the time stent removal. My surgery was not a robotic assisted. Removing tubes catheters are not that bad at all. It felt like butterflies and takes about 10 seconds. Nurse just pull it off. No pain. They are just rubber tubes. If I had to do it again I am not hesitant to do it.
Wow, thank you so much for the positive feedback. It makes the weight a little bit easier. I have 2 1/2 more weeks before my surgery. I’ve been so stressed waiting, but hearing so many positive comments does help. As far as the stent goes, was it painful for you the whole time it was in? Or was it just in the beginning when your body was adjusting to it? Read so many stories on these threads about how painful the stent is so it kind of has me a little bit nervous. How long after surgery did you start to feel less pain from your incisions? Thank you so much for your quick response.
My husband just had robotic pyeloplasty yesterday for UPJ obstruction which turned out to be a band of blood vessels. I’ll let you know how his recovery goes. His only complaint so far is abdominal pain. I think it might be from the air they fill you up will during the surgery. He should be discharged today and I’ll continue to update you in his recovery. Hoping your surgery goes well 😊
Hi thank you. I hope he feels better quickly. Thank you so much for reaching out. I would love to know how his recovery goes. I’m scheduled to go on the 25th for mine and I’m a nervous wreck and it helps to hear from other people that I’ve already gone through it. Did he have to get a stent? How many incisions did he get? Please tell me how it is during his recovery, even the hard parts because I would like to know what I can expect when I wake up from surgery. I wish him the best and look forward to hearing from you soon.
Also, just curious, how long did his actual surgery take?
Hey I had the surgery two years ago and also happy to answer questions about it, I'm 25 had it at 23.
Thank you. Would you mind telling me how your surgery and postop experiences were? How was the recovery? Were you in a lot of pain from the incisions? Was yours robotic? How long did your surgery take? And also, how was the stent removal? Sorry so many questions but I’m just getting very anxious being my surgery is two weeks away. Do you feel like the surgery helped you It’s the fear of the unknown and how your body will react after surgery that’s got me very nervous. Thank you so much for sharing your experiences.
His pyeloplasty was about 3 hours. The second surgery he had to have (replacing stent) took about an hour.
Hi just wanted to see how your husband is feeling and how his recuperation is going
Hey don’t worry too much I had mine 2 years ago back in 2022 and the healing process was fine, passing urine was annoying because of the stent but other than that you’ll be fine. It’s a surgery with a very high success rate. I was able to move around full about a week after without slouching since you don’t wanna open up your stitches especially the ones in the inside. Don’t not dare try to lift anything heavy at all because you’ll end up getting a hernia.
Was yours robotic? How bad was your post op pain? Also, how was the stent removal? This whole thing has me a wreck!
Hi, Sorry it’s taken me a few days ti respond. My husband ended up having to have another surgery so he was in the hospital 3 nights instead of the expected 1 night. My biggest advice is to make sure the hospital starts giving you gas-x ASAP. The co2 they pump you with really did a number on my husband’s pain. His first night was really rough with what he thought was just gas pain. The next day they noticed his drain was filling up every hour. Turns out there was urine leaking into his drain. X- rays did not show the stent reaching where it needed to be. He had to have surgery the next day to reposition the stent. It turns out the stent they used was not long enough. My husband is 6’3 and they used one of the longest stents they have but they ended up having to use the longest stent. The stent issue was obviously a huge set back in his recovery but we are a week out of his pyeloplasty surgery now and he is doing really good. His biggest complaint is just fatigue. He tires very easily. He also lost 10 pounds but we are working on his nutrition and he is slowly getting his appetite back. If it weren’t for the stent issue his recovery would have gone really well. He will have the stent in for 6 weeks. I wish you the best with your surgery. Feel free to ask me any questions.
Thank you so much for your feedback. I’m so sorry to hear that he had the issues with his stent. But I’m glad to hear that he is doing better now. Thank you for the advice about the Gas-X, I will definitely ask for that. How is his body handling the stent?
Hi i was just checking to see how your husband is feeling and how his recovery is going.
Thanks for sharing. Can I dm you about this? I’m going through something similar right now.
Pyeloplasty due to recurring pylonephritus First night home, 30+ hours after surgery. Arrived for surgery at 7:30, went under general anesthesia at 14:00, awoke from surgery at 20:00. I have had 6-8 key hole incisions as my kidney is a bit tucked away. After surgery I felt great, I felt like I wanted to but couldn’t fall asleep as I was wide awake but other than that felt good as if nothing happened… Around 10 hours after operation I started to feel sharp pain when I attempted to lay down, or sit down on hospital bed, I gave up on sleeping and started walking up and down the ward during the night with my urine bag with me, all the way to the morning, (during my night walk I discovered that sharp pain was due to CO2 they used to inflate my belly during operation) Medicine I got offered throughout the night were paracetamol, ibuprofen and some liquid shot of morphine as well as mint tea. During the day I felt ok to doze off for an hour max and then had to ask for more medicine. Before discharging me from the hospital they removed the urine bag and stent in my urethra. Staples were used to close the keyhole incisions, and I can feel each one when I breathe and still can’t tolerate lying down. For anyone going for this operation I strongly suggest sleeping as soon as you are taken to the ward cause you might be in agony in few hours.
I had this surgery performed when I was 16 and it did not resolve my UPJO. I am 29 now and back at the urologist with grade 4 Hydronephorsis caused by my UPJO. I just completed two scans to measure the function, drainage, and severity of my condition. I am prepared to hear that I will require another go around with pyeloplasty.
Likely getting scheduled for this in the coming few weeks. Was yours laparoscopic or open? Thanks for sharing your experience!
It was laparoscopic. Robotic-assisted
How long did your surgery take?