The seeds are implanted, no turning back now. We went to Portland on Thursday and the procedure was done on Friday morning. We were told to check in at 5:30am so of course we told our son to pick us up at 5:00am. Our boys live in Portland and we would have stayed with one of them but with the pre-procedure prep my husband felt more comfortable in a motel. Back to the 5:00am story. It only took 8 minutes to get from our motel to Oregon Health Sciences. I think our son knew this but he knows how much of a stickler his Dad is on time. We got there before anyone was there but at least the doors were open. We sat down and felt like we were in a scene from Godfather I. No one there, slient as a tomb and we hear footsteps coming up the stairs. We looked at each other and broke out laughing.
Finally he was checked in and we went back to the "prep" room where his history was taken, clothes removed, blood pressure checked. He was told that the Nurse anethesist would be in shortly. He was ready to be moved so I went to the waiting room and sat down depressed, lonely, and worried. I said my hundreth prayer, stopped feeling sorry for myself, looked around and wondered how many of the people waiting were in some much worse shape than my husband. I swear waiting is worse than the person going through the procedure. At least they're drugged.
I completely read Looking for Alaska and the Dr. came in. He asked me to come to the Patient Consult room and told me that the implant went really, really well. He said the placement was perfect and it couldn't have gone better. They implanted 78 seeds. It gave me a little start that he brought me into a private room so I after he'd told me everything I said, but...? He laughed and said, no, it went great but I like to talk in private.
I went back to the recovery room and looked at a very pale, very drugged up version of my husband. He said the catheter was removed to his great relief. They brought him crackers and apple juice which I forced on him. Drink, drink, drink I said. The nurse said, yeah, it's your ticket out of here if you urinate. We waited about 45 minutes and my husband said he felt like he had to pee. Whoopee, no pun intended. He did and said it didn't feel to bad, just a little burning and blood.
I helped him dress, remember he has MS so he was pretty weak. Our son came to pick us up and took us back to the motel. My husband said he felt pretty good but was hungry. I got him some lunch and gave him a cold pack for his "area." He took one Vicodin, watched the NCAA's and slept good. Got up once to urniate and slept again.
We were worried about the 5 hour drive home but it couldn't have gone better. He said he felt some urgency and had gas and a little watery bowel issue when he urniated. We stopped at four rest stops but my husband drove all the way. He's more comfortable in the driver's seat because of the leg room. Anyway, he had a cold pack on, never took any more Viocodin just Alleve and his antibiotic. Tonight the frequent urination continues but the bowel issue seems to have abated. He says there's no soreness just a little feeling of fullness.
We are so amazed. I know when the seeds start working their magic he may feel some other things but he feels like he can handle it. We feel that with his Multiple Sclerosis issues the brachytherapy was the absolute best way to go. All the prayer he had didn't hurt either.