Post Surgery

LvGuy1
LvGuy1 Member Posts: 54
in Prostate Cancer #1

Hey all. I made it through thru Surgery so guess i can be considered as a Survivor. Was in  for about 3 hrs and came out with hardly no pain more like an inconvienience than pain. the Cathider sucks, but hey i wont get woke up in the middle of the night to go piss now for about 14 days. have only taken a tylenol with codene (5mg) one time altho he ordered 3 pain meds for me that i can take. Will be up moving around tomorrow and will see the Dr. for his post surgery talk and maybe find out the results of the lymphnode removal. Hey, maybe i will be able to go home sooner than three days but ddont really want to rush it.  just before surgery the Nurse, anesthesiologist and myself were joking around and were talking about my good mood and joking around and i said "Yes your just lucky that i wont have my legs up in the airshowing the whole Kingdom to you.  Strange tho, when i came out of it i actually had a start of a woody. first time in a long time that has happened (7 years). Well thats it for now, hope my recovery stays like this.

Comments

  • VascodaGama
    VascodaGama Member Posts: 3,707 Member
    #2
    Being alive

    Congratulations. This is your initiation as a survivor. I hope that "woody" repeats again and again for the years to come. You will need to be active with all means after drawing off the catheter to avoid atrophy. I favor your staying in the hospital longer for better recovery. Remenber how fragile are the tiny muscles of the sphincter where the urethra was reattached. Let them heal properly.

    Your full story for those reading is here; https://csn.cancer.org/node/306011

    Best wishes for full recovery.

    Merry Christmas

    VG 

  • Clevelandguy
    Clevelandguy Member Posts: 1,212 Member
    #3
    Good recovery

    Hi,

    Glad to see you on the side of the living.  Hopefully your recovery will be as uneventful as mine was, I had very little pain, just bloating from the gas they used during surgery. Woodies are a good sign, hope for many more.   I had Robotic surgery, it will feel great when they pull out the catheter out.  Do your Kegals after the doc gives you the OK, they did help me with my small amount of leakage. Have a good recovery and a great Christmas holiday.  Keep us posted on your progress.

     

    Dave 3+4

  • Max Former Hodgkins Stage 3
    Max Former Hodgkins Stage 3 Member Posts: 3,819 Member
    #4
    Clevelandguy said:

    Good recovery

    Hi,

    Glad to see you on the side of the living.  Hopefully your recovery will be as uneventful as mine was, I had very little pain, just bloating from the gas they used during surgery. Woodies are a good sign, hope for many more.   I had Robotic surgery, it will feel great when they pull out the catheter out.  Do your Kegals after the doc gives you the OK, they did help me with my small amount of leakage. Have a good recovery and a great Christmas holiday.  Keep us posted on your progress.

     

    Dave 3+4

    "Woody"

    Wonderful, Lv. I pray feeling well continues, and that the pathology report is all negative.

    Your "woody" comment reminded me of something regarding my waking up in recovery folowing my DaVinci: 

    The nurses said I was half awake, witnessing a cat fight (girl fight) between Lindsey Lohan and Paris Hilton.   I have no idea where that came from, but no "woodies" for me at that time !  Maybe I had seen a Carl's or Hardee's commercial the night before....

    max

  • Will Doran
    Will Doran Member Posts: 207 Member
    #5
    Great to hear from you

    LvGuy.

    Good for you. Hoping for a good Pathology report.   Keep that sense of Humor.  That got me through all this and still does to this day. As you may remember I had 5 1/2 hours of DaVinci, because of a birth defect and the mesh from a double abdominal hernia repair and the muscle development in my groin from all the Road Cycling I did.    Yes, do your Kegels, after the Catheter is out, and rememeber how fragile those muscle are, as VG reminded you. I was told to not even think of starting back at my Kegel exercises until that Catheter was out. Don't forget your Home Depot Bucket.  :-)  "Woody", Good for you.  Best of luck. I remember that as well.  I think in my case it was from the Catheter.   Sorry for being sort of "blunt" But-----> As time has gone along, I now have what seems to be the pulsing / "pumping" of what would be an ejaculation at times.  Especially at night.   As you would expect. it's dry.   This has gotten stronger as my Testosterone has come back up to normal levels, after being off the Lupron.. 

    Thank God you're finished with the surgery.  Best of Luck

    You're in my Prayers

    Love, Peace and God Bless. and MERRY CHRISTMAS. 

    Will

  • Swingshiftworker
    Swingshiftworker Member Posts: 1,017 Member
    #6
    Congrats!

    Best wishes for a prompt and full recovery!

  • LvGuy1
    LvGuy1 Member Posts: 54
    edited December 2016 #7
    Day two after surgery

    was finally able to pass gas in my stomach finally went from a hard ball to deflated in a few passes , glad i am in a private room. lol, am walking around with my nurse on the floor and will do some excersizes that are  required as you walk about 1 am this morning, They are going to release me tomorrow and have me go in on Tues morning to get an xray and see if the catheter can be removed. Have been keeping up my humor until this afternoon when the pain got too bad  and almost cried but got over it. Well will post again, when news comes in. Thanks for the support

     

  • LvGuy1
    LvGuy1 Member Posts: 54
    edited December 2016 #8
    Got released today

    Got sent home today about 4pm pacific time. a lot of strange sensations in my body and cant seem to get used to the catheter. afraid i am going to pull it out but they said that that shouldnt happen. am drinking a lot of water and my coffee and have been draining my 3500 cc bag every 10 hours or so but just put on a leg bag that should last me for about 1 hr. will post again when i see my Dr.

     

  • LvGuy1
    LvGuy1 Member Posts: 54
    edited December 2016 #9
    Pain standing up from sitting and vice versa

    Can anyone here help me get rid of the pain i have when i stand up or sit down in a chair or will that go away when i finally have a BM. ? been passing a lot of gas tho and thats a good thing. I do understand that some pain will be around after the open surgery and if this is all i have to complain about i think i am doing very well. Merry Christmas to all.

  • Swingshiftworker
    Swingshiftworker Member Posts: 1,017 Member
    #10
    Only time will tell . . .

    Sorry to hear about your pain. 

    I did not remove my prostate surgically so I can't speak about this particular problem but I have had numerous surgeries following which I had to deal w/pain, which all passed with time. 

    Given the nature of your surgery, I would expct the healing time to take awhile.  So, I just suggest that you sit back and let your caregivers (if you have any) attend to you.  Otherwise, just take it as easy and do as little as you must, while you enjoy the holidays.  

    Just be vigilant for any signs of infection or pain beyond what you might normally expect from such a traumatic event and, at any sign of an abnormality, head immediately to your local emergency room for diagnosis and treatment.

    Best wishes and good luck!

  • LvGuy1
    LvGuy1 Member Posts: 54
    #11
    Pain standing up from sitting and vice versa

    Just think i answered my own question. I had a lg BM right at midnight and within 1/2 hr the pain went away, didnt think i would say this but thats a great christmas present virtually pain free at christmas. finally got a 4 hr streatch of sleep without waking up since i got home 2 days ago. Have a great christmas everyone.

  • LvGuy1
    LvGuy1 Member Posts: 54
    #12
    Day 7 Life after surgery with Muscle spasms and little pain

    Well this is Day 7 with Life after Surgery. Have been having Muscle Spasms since Sunday afternoon and got so bad yesterday that i went to ER for a safety Check on the Catheter as it was not collecting urine. Had a couple of blood clots that they had to clear and now it works good again. Urine is clear-to light golden in color and other than the muscle Spasms i have little to no pain. i have been wearing pull-up diapers for the leakage that the spasms cause and they help a lot glad i bought all the supplies BEFORE i went to surgery and that was a smart move. am awaiting the date for follow up date to get catheter and JP out but Dr. went on vacation yesterday for a week and forgot to give the Nurse my post op return date so she is getting ahold of him and will get back with me later today. have not been moving around as much as i wanted for this time in my recovery but i am not used of just sitting around and laying all the time. People tell me to relax and let my family take care of me for once as another opportunity might not come by for a long while. But i am not the type of person that likes to be taken care of and would rather take care of you instead. I am dissapointed in myself tho as i quit smoking on Thanksgiving Day to get ready for this and was doing great until the spasms started and now am smoking again, got to get more control over my smoking again. My wife is a worry-wart and is still scared for me that everything is going to start going wrong and as proof she said "see, Your Dr. dont care about you as he has the nerve to go on vacation right after you had surgery" ... LOL i told her that he probably needs one after all the people that he deals with and some not so perfect patients. I said that he wouldnt have gone if he thought a life was at stake and that i would prefere a Dr. who is relaxed and enjoying life than a Dr. who is uptight and ready to snap at a moments notice.it dont mean that he dont care in fact it shows that he in a way cares more and knows that how a Dr. feels and acts reflects on his patients well being. Back to the subject on hand tho, the DO that i saw at ER said that my stiches are healing great and that there is no infections and that i will be fine. (He is the same DO that i saw when trying to determine the best treatment options for the cancer so he knew my case) The VA Prostate Cancer here is not very big and so not unusual for you to bump into one of the Drs. in the ER dept of the VA.  Will continue to keep all informed.

         

  • Will Doran
    Will Doran Member Posts: 207 Member
    #13
    Making progress

    LvGuy,

    This may be none of my business, but I'm going to plead with you to please stop smoking.  That was the very first thing my doctors ask about as I was getting started with all this three years ago. I had never been a smoker.   That's all I'll say.

    I can't speak to the pain you were / are having.  I had robotic surgery, rather than open surgery.  They sent me home with a pile of Tylenol with Codine and I never took it.  Didn't need it.  You must be making good progress, if you were sent home in two days after open surgery.  Congratulations.  I was sent home the day after surgery, but told that if we had done open surgery I would have been in the hospital three or four days.  So, I'd be rather careful as to what you are doing.  Just my thoughts.    As to the catheter.  Don't panic when you go in to have that removed.  My GP had had surgery had had a Catheter.  He told me that  the worst part of his surgery was the removal of the catheter.  So, the day I went in to have it removed, I broke out the Tylenol with Codine and took two as prescribed.  By the time my wife got me to the office, I was so "spaced out" and in "La La Land" that I was laughing and had trouble getting from the car to the office.  My surgeon saw me in the hall and ask if I was OK.  My wife told him what I had done and why.  He started to laugh.  The nurse got me on the table to remove the catheter.  Of course this was one of the times my catheter bag was in a State Liquor Store bag.  Of course she laughed like crazy.  So, I'm laying there naked to the world holding my hands over my face and cringing.  She was "messing around", and I said, "Let's get this over with."  I looked up at her and she was holding the catheter up so I could see it.  It had already been removed. I never felt a thing.  She had filled my bladder to she that could pass the fluid.   Well, all was well.  She got me off the table and had me start towards the "pot" that they have to measure what you put out.  Well, I wasn't ready for trying to sit and hold the fluid.  Big Spray.  She told me that was normal and that I should get back to my Kegels right away.  So, passed all the fluid plus a little more and all was well.  The nurse told me that control gets hard at first after having the surgery and the catheter, because the muscles aren't used to holding because the catheter is in the way.  By that afternoon all was well.  Just wanted to share that with you, because you have that to look forward to, soon.

    Best of Luck with your recovery

    Love, Peace and God Bless

    Happy New Year

    Will

  • LvGuy1
    LvGuy1 Member Posts: 54
    #14
    Will, Thanks

    Will, Thanks for your feedback. I agree with you that i need to stop smoking again and the sooner the better. You said that it may not be part of your business about smoking BUT I feel that if i dont want someones feedback on something i posted that i shouldnt have posted it in the first place and that when i put in my starting up smoking up again that i in fact made it part of your business, you after all are stateing your opinions and that is part of what has me here talking, asking your opinions and experiences.  

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