Mark's Kidney Surgery and Follow-up About the Gout ... We started the 3 hour Houston drive on Thursday at 4 pm not knowing if the surgeon had clearance for Mark's surgery on Friday or not. We were 90 minutes on our way going on faith that the surgery would take place when the surgeon called to say that the surgery was cleared. Traffic was very heavy as we got into Houston but we arrived safely...and too tired to go out to eat so we ate at the hotel.

We were told to report to the VA Hospital at 0530, so we were up at 0415. Mark was in surgery at 0740 and stayed there for four and a half hours. It was a partial nephrectomy, robotic arm assisted. The doc finally came to tell me that surgery went well...they saved 90% of the kidney. The margins around the tumor which was cored out were clean.
After about 25 minutes I was able to go to recovery room and Mark was wide awake and joking with the nurses. He immediately asked me to get his Kindle book reader his sister Stephanie sent him. He was in his room in another 30 minutes, and luckily he got a private room. He retaped all his tubes himself, got up, stood at the bedside and did some dance steps, sent me to get iced tea and candy, joked with the nurses and walked all over the hospital. At one point the nurses thought he was walking the hall, but he'd gone downstairs into the fresh air. He may get to come home tomorrow (Sat) to continue his recovery. More info on the tumor that was removed, when Mark gets a report.
PS Mark's elbow pain and swelling was due to gout. He had a second bout of gout but not as bad as the one which put him in the hospital. See earlier post. The second bout subsided in time for the kidney surgery. Good timing.