My experience with robotic prostatectomy - pre-catheter-removal.

Had the surgery 11th December 2009. Removed lymph nodes, seminal vessels, nerve bundle, prostate. No pathology report yet, but we got the account! Out of hospital within 48 hours of admission! Done by Dr Peter Swindle at Greenslopes Private Hospital, Brisbane, Australia. Highly recommend doctor, though not the hospital. BM after 5 days (getting desperate), but a little blood and leakage around catheter seems a bit frequent (like if I blow my nose, or laugh). Stopped losing weight (-5 kg in a week). Di-gesic pain relief made me nauseous and hallucinate, so switched to panadine with codeine (which causes constipation!). Feeling better by the day. Blood PSA test in 7 weeks time. Catheter out in 4 days time.
Problem with one of my 6 incisions not closing up - seeing doctor today about it. Stay tuned for more intimate details!

Kendo,

Glad to hear you are on the recovery side, hopefully it all goes uphill from here, and more importantly, they got all that nasty
cancer out of you

Good luck as you continue to heal, and pleaswe keep us posted..

David in SC

Thank you all for your kind wishes. This forum is certainly a valuable help to me and others, I can see.

Kendo,Welcome to the healing side.Best wishes .

Zach

Hello Kendo


Good luck with catheter removal

Are you getting the path report on 22nd too? If so I hope it provides a few answers.



I found walking helped BM situation, I was already managing about a mile five days after operation. But not too fast while the catheter was in me otherwise the balloon end of the catheter moves around inside the bladder too much and you feel it.

I ate a lot of fresh fruit for my digestion/BM too. (My op was at the end of July so there was lots of tasty in-season stuff in the shops at that time of year like grapes, plums, strawberries, raspberries etc plus imported pineapple, melon, bananas, you name it. And we were eating salads every day, adn I switched to wholemeal rolls and bread too.



And I don't know if anyone else has discovered this, but I find that massaging the small of my back while sitting on the toilet helps BMs.[img]/community/emoticons/tongue.gif[/img]



I was glad my operation was in the summer too, as it was easier to be able to wear loose cotton shirts and baggy shorts. So I guess if you're in Queensland the weather may help you too. (At present we're snowed in)



I also had bleeding and dribbling around catheter, but that was normal.



A couple of my wounds were a bit damp and oozed for a while. I just washed them morning and and night, dried them gently then massaged a little Germolene on to them. (I also wore dark or patterned T-shirts or shirts so the stains didn't show.)



Don't be surprised if the first 24 hours after catheter comes out is a little bit odd. A catheter makes a man's bits and pieces feel odd even when he hasn't had prostate surgery and lost a spincter.



If you have to have a two hour car journey take a break and walk about a bit, or wiggle your toes.



And enjoy a beer or two!



Alfred

Kendo,  Welcome to the other side.  What a treat to get the Cath removed!  As my Dr said you ready to loose that buddy of yours?  Do let us know about you report.  Best wishes for the New Year!

Jeff T

Have a nice holiday!! We could use some of that warm weather in Canada!!

Skeener