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Kidney stone surgery

Keyhole, laser or shockwave — and often a stent is left in place

First things firstYour discharge sheet and your surgeon's instructions come before this page. What follows is food, rest, what the medicines do, and the warning signs. Wound dressing, lifting limits and when to go back to work differ by operation and by surgeon — ask them, not a web page.

1Before the operation

The preparation that changes the outcome.

Specific to this operation
Ask whether a stent will be placed and when it comes out — write the date down. A forgotten stent turns into a serious problem.
Applies after any operation
What to stop beforehand
Garlic, ginger, turmeric supplements, ashwagandha, fenugreek, ginkgo, fish oil, vitamin E — several of these thin the blood and can increase bleeding during an operation.
What to do: The full list, and when to stop each, is on its own page. The general rule: confirm every item with your doctor up to two weeks before. Normal cooking amounts are a different matter from taking something as a tablet or extract.
What your doctor must be told
Your surgeon and the anaesthetist need to know everything you are taking — medicines, Ayurvedic powders, vitamins, home decoctions, all of it.
What to do: People often do not count Ayurvedic and home preparations as medicines and leave them out. That is the commonest and most important omission. Carry the packets, or photograph them on your phone — better than trying to remember names.
Stopping smoking
Stopping before surgery cuts the risk of the wound going wrong, of a chest infection, and of a slow recovery. Four weeks ahead helps most, but even a few days is not wasted.
What to do: Stop the day you are given a date. That includes tobacco, gutkha and beedi. Ask your doctor for help stopping — the date of an operation is the best opening you will get.
Building strength beforehand
People who go into surgery stronger and better fed come back faster. That opportunity sits in the waiting weeks and is usually wasted.
What to do: Walk daily, as much as you can manage. Start the deep-breathing practice now — it will feel easy later. Protein at every meal. Get anaemia corrected in advance. If you have diabetes, get it under control — uncontrolled sugar is the biggest single obstacle to a wound healing.
Blood Sugar BalanceAnaemiaBreathing exercises
Practical preparation
Small things that make the hospital day easier and are hard to remember at the last minute.
What to do: Follow the hospital's fasting instructions, not the internet's. Cut your nails and take off nail polish — the oxygen probe clips onto a finger. Leave all jewellery at home. Loose clothes. Carry your medicine list and old reports. Arrange for someone to be with you for the first week back. Clear the path to the toilet, and put water and essentials within reach of the bed.

2After the operation

What to expect in the first days and weeks.

With a stent in, burning, frequency, a little blood and a tug in the flank while passing urine are all normal, and end when the stent comes out.
Some blood in the urine for a few days is normal — more water lightens it.

3What to eat

The raw material for repair — and what is different after this operation.

Specific to this operation
Water is the main medicine here — enough to keep the urine almost colourless. It is the most reliable way to prevent the next stone.
Lemon water daily — the citrate in it prevents some kinds of stone from forming.
Ask what the stone was made of — the diet advice depends on it and is not the same for everyone.
Applies after any operation
Protein, for the repair
Healing a wound means building new tissue, and the raw material for that is protein. The body needs more than usual after surgery — at exactly the time appetite is lowest.
What to do: Something at every meal: dal, rajma, chana, curd, paneer, egg, fish, chicken soup, moong, sattu, milk. If you are vegetarian, eat dal with rice — together they make a complete protein. If you have kidney disease, ask your doctor before increasing protein.
Low Weight / WeaknessGeneral DebilityProtein & muscle
Iron, to rebuild the blood
Every operation loses some blood. Rebuilding it needs iron, and absorbing iron needs vitamin C.
What to do: Green leafy vegetables, beetroot, pomegranate, dates, jaggery, til, rajma. With something sour alongside — lemon, amla, orange — which multiplies how much iron is absorbed. Do not drink tea straight after a meal; it blocks iron. Leave an hour.
AnaemiaWeakness & Anaemia
Fibre and water
Painkillers, moving less and a changed diet all push towards constipation. After abdominal surgery, straining does the most harm.
What to do: Water through the day, a little at a time rather than all at once. Soaked figs, raisins, munakka at night. Papaya, guava, apple with the skin. Isabgol with a full glass — with too little water it does the opposite. Build fibre up slowly or it brings gas.
ConstipationGas & Bloating
Little and often
A full plate in front of you kills what appetite there is. Six small plates get far more into you over a day.
What to do: Something every two or three hours. A share of protein each time. Liquids count — dal water, soup, buttermilk, milk, sattu. When eating is hard, drinks are the easiest way in.
Poor AppetiteWeak Digestion
What to keep away from
A few things work against both a healing wound and a digestion that is only just coming back.
What to do: Deep-fried and heavily spiced food — the stomach cannot handle it in the first weeks. Alcohol — it slows healing and is dangerous alongside painkillers. Smoking — it cuts the oxygen reaching the wound, and is the single most avoidable cause of a wound going wrong. Cut, open street food until your strength is back.
GastritisAcidity

4What the medicines do

What follows the anaesthetic, the painkillers and the antibiotics.

Constipation from painkillers
Strong painkillers — tramadol, codeine, morphine — slow the bowel down. After surgery this happens to almost everyone; it is not a sign that something has gone wrong.
What to do: Sip water through the day. Soaked raisins, figs or munakka at night. Warm water first thing. Isabgol with a full glass of water. And walk as soon as you are allowed — movement wakes the bowel faster than anything else. Ask your doctor for a stool softener early, rather than once it has set in.
ConstipationStubborn Constipation
Loose motions from antibiotics
Antibiotics clear the gut's useful bacteria along with the harmful ones, so loose stools during the course are common.
What to do: Curd or buttermilk with meals — but keep two hours between it and the antibiotic dose. Rice water, banana, khichdi. Keep your fluids up, ORS if needed. Do not stop the course on your own. Watery motions with fever or blood are not a home matter — see a doctor.
DiarrheaRecurring DiarrheaGut health drinks
Nausea after anaesthesia
Feeling sick for the first day or two after a general anaesthetic is very common.
What to do: Sips, not glasses. Dry roti, khichdi, plain rice. Once you are allowed, a slice of ginger or dry ginger in warm water. Stay off fried and strong-smelling food for a day. If vomiting keeps up and even water will not stay down, tell your doctor.
Nausea / VomitingVomitingAcidity & Nausea
Sore throat and hoarse voice
A breathing tube is passed during general anaesthesia. It leaves the throat sore and the voice hoarse for a few days, and it settles on its own.
What to do: Warm salt-water gargles once you are allowed. Warm liquids — soup, turmeric milk. Honey in warm water (not for babies under one). Rest the voice, and do not whisper — whispering strains it more than speaking softly.
Sore ThroatDry morning throat
No appetite after the medicines
Anaesthesia, painkillers and antibiotics together flatten the appetite for a week or two — at exactly the time the body needs the most food to repair itself.
What to do: Less at a time, six times a day. Something with protein each time — dal, curd, paneer, egg, sattu. Jeera or ajwain water before eating. A sour taste opens the appetite — lemon, amla, pomegranate. Six small plates beat one forced large one.
Poor AppetiteLoss of AppetiteWeak Digestion

5Changes in the body

Skin, hair, and the changes nobody warns you about.

Weakness that lasts for weeks
Even a small operation costs several weeks of strength. People expect to feel normal as soon as the stitches come out, and are alarmed when they do not.
What to do: Protein at every meal. Get checked for anaemia. Some sunlight daily. Start walking short and add a little each week — judge it by weeks, not days. On a day you overdo it, do less the next day rather than stopping.
General DebilityChronic FatigueGeneral Weakness / TonicAnaemia

6Days in bed

Lying still carries its own risks — these are what prevent them.

Keep the ankles moving — to prevent clots
Lying still slows the blood in the leg veins and raises the risk of a clot. After surgery that risk is already higher than usual.
What to do: Every waking hour: pull both feet towards you and point them away, twenty times. Do not keep a pillow permanently under the knees. Whenever you are allowed, get out of bed and take a few steps — that beats any medicine for this. If compression stockings were given, keep them on.
Ankle exercisesFor standing jobs
Not a home remedy — see a doctor

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