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Posted 9/27/2009 2:08 PM (GMT 0)
sad  For anyone even thinking about an open prostatectomy, please do yourself and your family a favor and reconsider go robotic/ or atleast laproscopic. MY husband underwent an open prostatectomy on8/24/2009 he needed 2 blood tranfusions  the first he had a severe reaction to, next 3 weeks out he started passing blood clots.

I took him to the local emergancy room on 9/21/2009 at that time he was passsing blood clots the size of silver dollars and in excruiating pain. THen he was transported 250 miles via ambulance upon arrival he continued to pass very large clots and a foley was inserted he was inextreme pain. He was not only passing clots but also just dripping blood outside the cath at the uretha.  Another dr came in and sid that he felt that the baloon was not fully inflated. So he very painfully manually attempted to inflate, irrigate and manipulate inplace he could not. THe a cystoscope was done and it was discovered that the cath was not in the bladder at all but behind it and they feel that the blood clots are coming a hole in the bladder where a suture has not healed. But also a new problem more bleeding and not from old blood but from new. So sometime today they're going to do an angiogram, and hopefully they'll be able to fix it. But the radiolgist came in and said it's a very, very remote possabity that the'll find anything. So please any one who read this pray for us, we could use all the help we can get.

Posted 9/27/2009 2:30 PM (GMT 0)
My prayers are always and daily with my brothers here at HW. I will say a few extra today for your husband. May he quickly be relieved of his pain and struggles.

Sonny
Posted 9/27/2009 2:31 PM (GMT 0)
Dogyluver, I had open on 13 August at Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville and had a tough time. I had to have one unit of blood and the pain for the first few days was worse than total knee replacement. I also developed a big hematoma which had to be painfully drained on 26 August. I am much better now and I'm sure your husband will be in a few weeks. RRP is much more difficult than what I expected it to be but I chose it over the robot because I had a high grade (gleason 8) and wanted the surgeon (27 years experience) to be able to "see and feel" the prostate. I would still chose rrp vice the robot based on what Dr. Catalona says about the robot but we should be forewarned it is not easy. I think the Mayo Clinic was excellent etc. and the problems I had were not doctor/hospital induced whereas your husband seemed to have problems as a result of inadequate medical procedures. Was the RRP performed at a large hospital or a small one?

I am praying for your husbands recovery - believe me, it will get better everyday. Trust in the Lord.

The Old Sailor
Posted 9/27/2009 3:09 PM (GMT 0)

Dogyluver, I am so sorry for the problems you and your husband are facing.  You both will certainly be in my prayers.

Tudpock

Posted 9/27/2009 7:54 PM (GMT 0)
My prayers are with you and your family. Sorry that it did not go well, but I had problems during the Robotic, more with an antesthia error that the actual operation. Hope that things begin to heal up quickly but we are all thinking about you all.

Michael

Posted 9/27/2009 8:47 PM (GMT 0)
My prayers are with you and your husband, we all here pray that things will be ok, and they will. I had robotic on 3-18-09, with Supra Pubic cath and made it through without any major issues. I would say good luck, but its not luck when prayers are answered, its his will.

Bonedoctor

Posted 9/28/2009 2:22 AM (GMT 0)
I am so sorry to hear of the problems. I to will pray that you both get some satisfaction in treatment. On the other side I had open surgery. No blood needed was on pain meds for 2 days post surgrey. Went home on day 2 and all went fine for me. You can see from my stats I am still working on healing. I will be a year post op real soon.

Know we are thinking about the 2 of you. Keep us posted.

Jeff T
Cajun Country
Posted 9/28/2009 12:31 PM (GMT 0)
Thank you all for the prayers and the support, it has been a very rough road over the past 5 weeks. And it doesn't seem to be getting any easier. Last night was a rough night, an I am exhausted, depressed and I feel depleted of any and all strength that I once thought I had. I do find relief in this forum

in just knowing that someone else has been down this road and came out the other end with their heads held high and proud and have defeated this terrible ordeal.  He is in the Cleveland Clinic under the very best team of drs.  I just want to get to the bottom of all of this so that we can move on with our lives.

Love to all who have been and are going there.

Posted 9/28/2009 1:18 PM (GMT 0)
very sorry for knowing you and your husband is going through. We are here, supporting you. pray for you.

Jennifer
Posted 10/16/2009 8:18 PM (GMT 0)
My husband went to the doctor yesterday, they did a cystoscope and determined that where the urethra enters the the bladder is not healed and there is a leak. So he still has a catheter and the JP drain. I feel that if a cystogram had been and the JP drain left in more than 3 days (to obviously drain blood)done prior to the removal of the first catheter, than most of what he has gone through could have been avoided. Not only that the doctors told us that they believe that is where the blood clots came from. Blood had settled there and thus blood clots and alot of them. I absolutley hate this doctor, he had the odasity to call it a minor inconveinence. To me a minor inconveince is a road block and you have to find a different route, a detour if you will. Not a very uncompfortable JP drain, a very sore penis that makes it hard to walk much less do anything else, with a catheter.
Posted 10/16/2009 10:04 PM (GMT 0)
Dogluver, may God bless you and your husband. I will offer prayers for you both.
Posted 10/16/2009 10:11 PM (GMT 0)
I really feel for your husband, that is a terrible situation to be put in. I hope he heals from this soon, and hopefully won't have to go through any more painful setbacks.

David in SC
Posted 10/17/2009 1:51 AM (GMT 0)
dogyluver,
Sorry about all the problems that your husband is going through. As you can see I had the robotic surgery and I can certainly vouch for it. I hope that all the problems are behind now and your husband can continue with his recovery.
Posted 10/17/2009 2:18 AM (GMT 0)
My husband's penis is extremely sore from the catheter, he is so sore that he can barely walk. He is using neosporin and alternating with 1% cortizonide cream. Is there anything else he can do relieve the discomfort? Is there a non prescription lidocaine that would be safe to use in this area? Also can anyone give any tips for attaching the tubing to his leg to avoid pulling? He has tried surgical tape, he has a wide band velcro that can be wrapped around his thigh. We also have secure strips and nothing helps.
Posted 10/17/2009 5:17 PM (GMT 0)
Hi Dogyluver.........sorry about your husband's complications. I don't know about the non-RX lidocaine, but aside from the Neosporin, another trick I found useful was to allow as much slack in the tubing between the velcro attachment on the leg and where it attaches to the catheter; taking off as much tension as possible.......sorta the same thinking as when you're using a power tool and you tie a knot in the extension cord so that it doesn't pull out of the power source while you're using the "tool" :-)...that way, even if the velcro starts to slide down is leg over time, as it always seems to do, it won't be an immediate and painful pull.

                                   Arnie in DE

Posted 10/17/2009 6:04 PM (GMT 0)
I am sorry to hear about the complications your husband is experiencing and cannot imagine his discomfort. Hopefully, this will soon improve. My thoughts are with you both.....

Regards,
Bill
Posted 10/17/2009 7:21 PM (GMT 0)
Where and who did your husbands surgery in Columbus?
Posted 10/18/2009 7:03 PM (GMT 0)
My husband's surgery was done at the Cleveland Clinic. I prefer to not disclose the dr's name just in case there may be legal issues. But feel free to personlly email me. At the time it is a quality of life issue. The only thing he can without pain is eat and watch TV, and unfortunatly there is nothing good on TV.

It hurts for him to move . It hurts for me to even give him a reassuring hug. And it just kills me to see him like this. I can't help but to feel that someone really screwed up. Alot of the compliations could have been avoided if a cystogram had been done prior to removing the first catheter and if the JP had been left in. That way they would have seen ok not quite healed yet,  so let's keep both in "DUH". Then the blood would have been drained instead of clotting and we would be tryin to get on with our lives.

Posted 10/19/2009 12:06 AM (GMT 0)
dogyluver,
I agree with Arnie about adding some slack. I also put a strip of duct tape around the tube so it wouldmn't slide in the anchor. Also I put a little lubricant on the end of my p*n*s and on the catheter where it exited. Somebody suggested it to me and it really worked.
I am sorry about your troubles but this too shall pass - like the clots.
Jeff
Posted 10/19/2009 3:38 PM (GMT 0)
Sorry for all you and your husband have to go through. As for securing the catheter I sent my wife to the drug store and she found the same type of rig the hospitals used. I removed the old one and replaced it with one positioned more to my liking. That way I got the slack that I wanted and a firm anchor point.
Posted 10/21/2009 11:29 PM (GMT 0)
confused   mad , All is not well, the dr called today and asked how much drainage from the JP drain. It was decided that the bladder is not healed yet and the jp drain and catheter remain in for another week. We were initially instructed by the nursed the squeez the bulb before closing. That we did and for 2 1/2 days I was emptying the jpd. every 2 hours 90-100cc, now I emptying it about every 7 hours 10-20cc. We were then instructed to not squeeze the bulb. I do not understand the reasoning behind this. Everything I have read (squeeze the bulb). We were very,very disappointed about this. Will this ever heal or has it already healed with the hole. Kind of like a broken bone that was not set. This is so depressing I don't know what to do and where to go. I can't help but wonder if this dr did screw up. Should a cystogram have been done before removing the first catheter that one was in for 10 days.
Posted 10/22/2009 1:44 AM (GMT 0)
Dogyluver,

I dont know the answers to your questions, but hate that you all have to go through all of this. My own journey has been one of trying to identify what is wrong and move towards healing. Many incorrect diagnosis by my surgeon and a couple of others Dr's have left me feeling frustrated, angry and in more pain. Having said all of that, I feel like I am getting closer to finding the solutions and it cant come quick enough.

So my prayers are with you as you struggle with this and my hope is that soon this will be resolved so both of you can move forward. But hey, here I am 6 months out of surgery still with too much pain. There are a few others on this forum that can identify with your plight. Find good Dr.s and never give up.

Take care and keep us posted.

Michael

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