Sonny Surgery Plus 2

Good morning all,

It's a lovely Saturday morning, I am in my apartment at Henry Ford and this is the beginning of the second day from surgery.

The surgery went well. The dr. said that from appearances he believes that the cancer was confined to the walnut. We'll know for sure in another 4 days. He said that he was able to save all of the major nerves and quite a bit of the minor. On a scale of 100 he said I was a 94. I'll take that.

Woke up a bit surprised to find no Foley only the Supra Pubic Catheter. He said that the surgery went so well that they didn't see the need for the Foley. Really like the way this Dr. thinks.

There is discomfort for sure. I had one Tylenol #3 the night of the surgery, but have not taken anything else for pain since. Not being a tough guy. But there really isn't what I would call pain yet. Oh wait, forgot about coughing. Now that is a sharpe pain. Why didn't any of your guys tell me about hugging the pillow tight to the belly when coughing. The nurse finally told me yesterday afternoon just before I left the hospital. That really helps a lot, except if you cough in the middle of the night.

So now it is just day to day in the apartment here on the hospital grounds. Little bit of a schedule change though. Don't have to spend as many days here as I thought. On Monday I remove the last of the two thin leads that connect the pain meds pump to my abdomen. Monday I also start the bladder cycling. It's where you turn off the valve from the cath to the bag and let it back up in the bladder for 2-3 hours. Then you go the normal way. Then you turn the valve back on and measure how much is left in the bladder. This lets you know if you are emptying the bladder completely. You do this all during the day for two days. Then on Wednesday they take the catheter OUT.

Since they take the cath out at 8:30am on Wednesday, I should be able to take the plane home at 6:30pm on Wednesday instead of the one I have on Friday. Kinda like that.

There have been a couple of little surprises also.

I was telling the discharge nurse that I had a headache and just plain cloudy feeling in my brain. She asked how much coffee I usually drank each day. I also told her that I thought this would be a good time to quit smoking, so I threw them away on my way to the hospital Thursday morning. She told me to drink one cup of coffee in the mornings and go by a pack of cigarettes. She said I could quit when I got home and had recovered. My body was dealing with enough right now and didn't need the added stress.

The patient liasion came to see me and told me that my four month check-up would be in January. In January Dr. Menon and his staff attend a big conference in Las Vegas. He has all of his patients fly out there for the check-ups. Says it's much better than going to Detroit in Jan. He throws a big gala dinner party for all of his patients. My wife says she is liking this Dr. better and better each day.

This guy is something else. I saw him in the hall a couple of hours before my surgery. I introduced myself to him (it's been 4-5 weeks since he met me)and told him I would see him in a few hours. His first response was to ask about my wife. He remembered tht she had been in the hospital when I came to see him the first time. After surgery when I finally was able to talk on the phone I called my wife. I asked her if anyone had called when the surgery was over and she said the Dr. himself called and talked for about 15 minutes. I haven't see or heard too often about Dr.s going that kind of extra mile. Makes me feel good about my decision.

So today I'll just do a little walking, drink a lot of water and work on that first really good "F*RT". I know it's in there. I gotta start letting the gas out sooner or later. Don't need to add to the body trama by backing up the plumbing any more than it is. Those of you that have been here before no what I mean.

Thank you all for your prayers, blessings and support. You have been a tremendous comfort to me and my wife throughout this process. We have felt secure in the fact that we have not made this trip alone.

Thank you all,

Sonny