Introduction and questions

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  • FloridaTom
    FloridaTom Member Posts: 10
    #22
    Max Former Hodgkins Stage 3 said:

    Somewhat similiar

    Florida,

    When I woke up after surgery in post-op, I had a  terrible urge to urinate. I felt like I was going to blow up.  The nurse said the cath was flowing, no problems.  It continued till I was in my room, in agony. The surgeon's NP came in, and said it was bladder spasams from the surgery, and gave me an anti-spasam med, which fixed it. I did not have restrictive flow.

    IF radiation were necessary post-op due to the biopsy (and let's hope it is not), a few weeks wait would be meaningless, so relax. The wait will mean nothing regarding outcomes.

    max

    I guess the commonness of

    I guess the commonness of full bladder feeling and catheter leakage explains why nobody was in any hurry to help me -- nobody believed I actually had an obstruction.  There was urine in the tube but I could see it hadn't moved (small blood clots) and the level in the bag hadn't increased in hours.  It wasn't really the pain or frustration that bothered me.  I started getting worried there was a more serious complication and they'd have to reoperate or something.  It's not hard to start dwelling on the worst possible conclusion when you are sitting alone in a hospital room.

    -Tom

  • GeorgeG
    GeorgeG Member Posts: 152
    #23
    As stated, try to relax and

    As stated, try to relax and recover. Even if radiation is in your future it would be months at a minimum and that may not even happen. 

    George

     

  • VascodaGama
    VascodaGama Member Posts: 3,701 Member
    #24
    Dwelling with the worst conclusion

    Congratulations. You've become a survivor and with it had the first experience in many to come. As George comments, take it easy, now it is the time to recuperate fully. You need to be active with those kegels and ED affairs. Massaging, pumps, viagra, etc, it all helps for faster improvements. You may also check on diets and on a physical program that can be adapt to your life style.

    The first PSA will be your marker of success. It should be the one clean from the antibiotics. There is no need to hurry for anything. I would recommend you to get copies  and file all those test results and reports.

    It is typical of us survivours to expect the worse, but apart from being educated on the facts we cannot change our karma. We need to learn in accepting the results and act coordinately according to the findings. The best outcome is cure, however, if surgery failure is found, there are a series of procedures to deal with the problem. For the moment you should be celebrating the success of being alive and out of that big operation with no scars.

    For peace of mind please note that surgery failure is declared when the one-month PSA is above remission (typically PSA> 0.05 ng/ml). Recurrence is declared when the PSA increases from a previous nadir and gets above 0.2 ng/ml (you are miles away from this to happen). Both occurrences would be dealt with a salvage therapy that commonly involves radiation (your question). In such setting, earlier salvage treatment is not linked to better survivorship but to a longer period of free biochemical failure. Any radiation should only be delivered after complete healing of local tissues (which case takes over 4 months to occur).

    Let's celebrate. What do you suggest; a whiskey or a whisky on rocks? I like the single malt.

    Best,

    VG

  • FloridaTom
    FloridaTom Member Posts: 10
    #25
    VascodaGama said:

    Dwelling with the worst conclusion

    Congratulations. You've become a survivor and with it had the first experience in many to come. As George comments, take it easy, now it is the time to recuperate fully. You need to be active with those kegels and ED affairs. Massaging, pumps, viagra, etc, it all helps for faster improvements. You may also check on diets and on a physical program that can be adapt to your life style.

    The first PSA will be your marker of success. It should be the one clean from the antibiotics. There is no need to hurry for anything. I would recommend you to get copies  and file all those test results and reports.

    It is typical of us survivours to expect the worse, but apart from being educated on the facts we cannot change our karma. We need to learn in accepting the results and act coordinately according to the findings. The best outcome is cure, however, if surgery failure is found, there are a series of procedures to deal with the problem. For the moment you should be celebrating the success of being alive and out of that big operation with no scars.

    For peace of mind please note that surgery failure is declared when the one-month PSA is above remission (typically PSA> 0.05 ng/ml). Recurrence is declared when the PSA increases from a previous nadir and gets above 0.2 ng/ml (you are miles away from this to happen). Both occurrences would be dealt with a salvage therapy that commonly involves radiation (your question). In such setting, earlier salvage treatment is not linked to better survivorship but to a longer period of free biochemical failure. Any radiation should only be delivered after complete healing of local tissues (which case takes over 4 months to occur).

    Let's celebrate. What do you suggest; a whiskey or a whisky on rocks? I like the single malt.

    Best,

    VG

    Thanks VG!

    I really appreciate the support and detailed answer to my questions.  Thanks!

    I'm trying to do as much recuperation and celebration as I can but it doesn't seem Hurricane Irma is much impressed with my need to rest.  This is really some fun timing.  I've got our landscaper helping my father-in-law and I.  He is doing all the heavy lifting but there are a million small things that need to be taken care of as well.  Interesting times and all that.  ;)

    ps. Before I lost interest in drinking I was also a single malt man.  I'll toast a virtual Lagavulin with ya.

  • Clevelandguy
    Clevelandguy Member Posts: 1,180 Member
    #26
    Keep active

    Hi,

    Glad to hear your surgery was not to bad.  Be sure to keep active and walk but I would not do any heavy lifting or straining.  It took me a little over two years to where the progression of good healing things kinda stopped, so you have a journey ahead of you.   Keep the blood flowing in the groin area by drugs(cialis, ect.) or any other kind of activity, it's important in the healing process.  Hope & pray for many more undetectable PSA readings................

     

    Dave 3+4

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