Out of Surgery

First thanks for all of your wishes as I went into surgery on Monday. I thought I would share some of my experience throughout the last three days (before I forget or need to rest again). I started a full liquid diet two days before surgery and went from hungry to not so hungry. I kept myself real busy on Saturday and Sunday. Monday morning my wife and I checked into the hospital two hours before surgery and I was weighed, measured, had my blood typed, talked with the radiologist and signed consent. I was surprisingly not nervous. Walking into the operating room and the first thing that struck me was how cold it was - I guess they didn't want anyone but me to fall asleep! The robot was in the corner. My surgeon introduced me to the team and I was asked to lie on this narrow operating bench. The radiologist said, "Let me start by giving you some oxygen" and then "ready". I was out. Surgery lasted two hours and I woke up after about an hour in recovery. I was groggy but was able to talk to my wife. After an hour and a half I was wheeled up to my overnight room and had a great three hour nap until 8 PM. Then I was fully awake and feeling fine. I was amazed and thought that was a piece of cake. Since I had slept, I was awake until 3 AM taking to nurses as they came in hourly and listened to relaxing music on my IPOD (this was a good idea to bring). I also listened to a mini recorder that I made of "healing imagery"(I have the book title but not right next to me). I then slept soundly until 6 AM. My surgeon had Ok'd a regular diet and even though I was not hungry, I had some juice, scramble eggs and mandarin oranges. My surgeon made rounds at 8 AM and said everything went well including nerve sparing (we shall see). While he was discharging me and I was walking for the second time, a bit of the surgerical glue opened up on one of the six sites making a spot of blood on my gown. No one seemed excited and they simply bandaged it. So then I started feeling pain in my right shoulder. My doctor said that they distend or blow up my stomach with CO2 for a better view of the area. This aggravates a nerve in the diaphragm which connects to a nerve in my shoulder. This has been painful for the last day but should subside in the next day or so. The incisions are sore and stiff so I move slowly and hunch over a bit. I have to watch getting up as it moves my diaphragm and makes the shoulder hurt taking about 5 minutes to relax. Last night I slept in a lounge chair actually sleeping for about 4 hours. A bit of television and music kept me company. Today I have been up and around, sitting on my patio, watching a movie, eating, sleeping and learning to empty my urine bag. I note of high praise for my wife (and all of our wives who go through this with us) as she has done just about everything for me including my first shower today. I never stop realizing what a lucky man I am to have been in this marriage for 27 years. You are probably wondering about the catheter so far. I braced myself for this but so far hardly know I have it. I'm guessing it will get old soon. I comes out Tuesday. So my experience so far has been pretty good. I’m still waiting for the first bowel movement, my pathology report and then onto bladder control and potency healing. Thanks for listening to all of this. I hope it helps those of you preparing. I'll check back soon.
Bill