S.O.S.! WHAT QUESTIONS SHOULD I ASK IMMEDIATELY AFTER SURGERY?

Paella,

I wish you all the best for a successful surgery and recovery.

The surgeon should be able to give you an opinion about how the surgery went.  You may want to ask what nodes/tissue was actually removed and why.  And why wasn't more stuff removed? 

You will be on the healing side of surgery and as the sedation wears off you will have some discomfort.  This is the day to focus on feeling better and having your pains taken care of.  I remember having a lot of upper body cavity pain.  They all said it was from the gas but I think it was more of a wrong placement of my arms during surgery.  My shoulder hurt worse than the surgery site.

I wouldn't rush a doc's opinion before the final pathology.  Just hang in there for the week and be hopeful.  Concentrate on taking good care of that catheter.  Make sure that you understand all of the instructions for cleaning and use before you leave the hospital.

Get some rest,

Dan

Although I'm pretty sure all of this is in Alf's list somewhere, I'll list additional things I asked the doc / nurses or was told before I was discharged:

-Catheter care?
-Extra big / night bag
-Leg bag (ask for an extension tube for the leg bag, they did not give me one, and it would have been fairly useless without it, although I just stayed on the big bag)
-Cap (a sort of stopper) for the catheter tube - the nurse brought it and said to use it if I was changing the bag and had any delay at all, so that the system could be closed to help prevent infection
-Wound care (what can get wet when) - I asked for some very large waterproof bandages to put over the incisions while taking a shower.
-When can bandages be removed?
-Weight limits and lifting / exercise restrictions
-Pain medication prescription and directions (I needed that, advil would not have done the job)
-Antibiotic prescription and directions (there will be one for several days after)
-Stool softener suggestions
-Contact info for the hopspital, physician, night numbers, etc.
-Diet suggestions
-Driving rules
-Symptoms that if seen, merit an immediate call to the doctor.

I'm sure there was something else, so I'll likely add some later.

Paella

It's not in the list, but I guess the very first question you need to ask is:

"Did everything go according to plan?" (ie did you find anything you had not expected to?"

Then perhaps:
"how long was he under?" (the longer you are under the longer the immediate recovery takes that first day.
and
Did he need a blood transfusion?

Mac may be connected to "tubes" if so, then ask what they are for (It wasn't a major issue for me or for my wife as a spectator, but when I came out of recovery to the ward I was on both a saline drip and had an oxygen tube in my nose as my blood pressure had dropped, but both were soon removed.
There will also be a drain attached to his belly probably on his right hand side, make sure this is comfortable and ask when they will remove it (probably about 24 hours after the op)
The catheter will also be emptying pee into the bag hanging from the bed, the pee will be full of blood at this stage so feel free to ask if this is normal both in terms of quantity and colour. The nurses should come and check it and empty it fairly frequently as part of the business of monitoring his recovery.

On the care front ask when he can have a drink. And when he can start drinking he should drink plenty, the catheter will take care of all the pee that results and it will speed up how quickly the bladder is flushed out.

The catheter itself may itch, tickle or just be plain annoying. modesty gets ignored for best results as you and he together with a nurse's help may want to adjust it. The thing is rubbery and can bounce and flex with a mind of its own if you don't tell it you're the boss. Even a slight adjustment of quarter of an inch can make the most important difference in the world. (and this is true for the next week as well)

The pain issue differs a lot per person. If Mac has any pain he must mention it. Pain relief is a must. But don't just think about pain in the area he has been operated on, include headache, back ache, leg ache whatever, it should not be ignored so mention it to someone. I felt nauseous and said nothing about it for ages and the nurse said I was naughty to have kept quite. She gave me a tablet and it went away. he may also have a sore throat from the tubes that get put down there. My throat didn't feel sore, but it felt different for a few days, and my voice was husky for a few hours till I was drinking plenty.

In the immediate coming round from general anaesthetic phase Mac may be half awake for an hour or so, so talk even if there is no response, hold his hand, give him a kiss etc. (I came round for real in my room with a view out the window and my wife there etc, but a few days later I had a memory of being pushed out of the lift and people talking as the bed was pushed along a corridor and we bumped into something. I also thought that that oxygen tube in my nose was the earpiece for my MP3 player as it had a spongy end so I pulled it out of my nose and stuck it in my ear.

I also only remember the surgeon coming to talk to me about the operation just once that afternoon whereas my wife says he came twice. So after a couple of hours (or even the next day) it might be helpful to give him a little account of everything you have seen and done etc as there may be bits that he can't recall 100%.

It may not feel like the thing to do in the first few hours after an op, but ask when he can sit up and get up too as moving about soon is important for the whole recovery process. To start with I just stood up and then sat again, but while walking round the bed seemed like it was going to be awful, and awfully difficult to do I felt a great deal better for doing it. BUT remember the catheter bag is attached to the bed, so don't let Mac move off without taking it with him. (Walking around connected to a bag of pee may feel like it's the most ghastly thing he's ever done, but the guy I shared my room with was doing it too, as were all the other men in the same corridor.

And don't fret during the time he is in theatre, try and eat, drink, rest, go for a walk, read a book, talk on your cell phone to someone. or if you do feel bad then just shut yourself away and tear a newspaper into small bits.

And my very best wishes to both of you.

Alfred

At some point I would ask for a copy of the surgical report (what went on during surgery) as well as the path report.

Looks like Alf covered most of the things I forgot.

One last thought - I have a small light shoulder pack - I put in the cellphone, phone charger, tape recorder, a notebook (so you can be keeping a diary), pen/pencil (2 so you won't be concerned if 1 goes missing) a "belongs to" card with your name and his just in case, snack and a bottle of water, etc.
I forgot the glasses case - the hosp. had one, but it would have been easier if I'd remembered it.
They will want you to keep watch, wallet, keys, etc., so he should take just what he needs.
You will have a bag for stuff for the hosp. stay and they will provide one for his shoes/clothes, but a small separate bag keeps all that stuff at hand and organized.

And add on top a bit of space for my best wishes and hopes for a totally uneventful recovery.

You might have already found this--it's nice to have a pillow to sit on for the drive home, preferably the donut type. I didn't have one myself, but it sure would have been nice. My surgical scars felt every bump on the road.

DJ

My 2 cents worth is take as few drugs as is required. They had me on a morphine drip,{ I was informed }, being a love child of the 60's I couldn't refuse. BIG mistake, my second nite in hospital, the last, I totally freaked out, depression,sadness, despair and that was with the good news that they felt they got it all. Path report confirmed, at least to the extent ,they can. Glad I didn't have bad news. Surgery, catheter, all the post op stuff, I"m 8 mos out, reallywasnt as bad as you think it will be. Being human, you will have a roller coaster ride. Recovery is not a straight line, but as compiler knows, the shortest distance, may not be. Aloha!

Pain management is a crucial part of any surgical procedure. There are men that somehow feel that they are to tough it out, or to endure pain. Some pain meds can cause short term constipation with some patients, but not all. Those made with synthetic opiads are less prone to do that. It's a trade off though, pain that is not being controlled, just slows and retards the general recovery process. Each person's pain tolerance and level is certainly different, but if it hurts, then don't hide it. Take your pain meds as prescribed and as directed, and you will find your overall recovery from surgery a whole lot more tolerable. That's my take on it.

David in SC

It's now 16 hours until surgery and I can't thank everyone enough for all the good thoughts and the help. We're doing well. Our son (he's 25 and lives about 1.5 hours away) is much more stressed out than we are since we've been able to talk together about everything (EVERYTHING!)and become as well informed as can reasonably be expected. Phone calls with him have helped but we asked that neither he nor anyone come to visit during the week pre-surgery just to make no new germs than usual come to visit, too.

Talk to you on the flip side

Best!

Paella

dave, you are quite right in your reply of my pain med advice. any good nurse would agree in a heartbeat. one reason i needed all 4 days post op after my open surgery, was strictly dealing with severe post op pain, and the drugs they administered could only be done in a hopsital setting. when i needed them, and i was almost out of my mind with pain at times, they were so good at the hospital to keep close tabs on my pain levels. i never had to beg
to have the meds, they knew. once i was sent home, my wife (a very qualified nurse, aside from being a great wife) had one of our spare bedrooms set up like a mini-hospital suite, with eveyrthing close by. she took a full week off of work to nurse her one and only patient, so that when she returned to work, she didnt have to worry as much about me. after my 10 day point, they removed my staples, and i was ok during the day to be by myself.

perhaps i am an exception to the consitpating rule, but long term use of pain meds, i.e. loratabs and even longer term use of ditropan for spasms, has never caused me any kind of consitpation problem. but in fairness, i have always had a nervous constitution, and so consitpation isnt anything i have had much experience with in my life. again, everyone different there.

post surgery, the single best advice i think we all agree on: is walk as much as you can comfortably, drink loads and loads of plain water, use stool softeners often - until that part of your returns to normal, and take pain meds as prescribed and needed.

david in sc

On the other hand, just take a few moments, maybe a day to just relax and go with the flow. I think sometimes we are so overprepared that it becomes too stressful. Just see how the surgery was tolerated, how the pain is, and how his bowels are working. I found that Flowmax was a nice med to take along woth the pain meds, because the assault on the bladdder and urethra will cause spasms.

You most likely won't have quality time with the doctor. After surgery is usually a few minutes, and when he visits during his tounds, he is not able to spend an hour with you. He won't have pathology for a while, most likley after ypu are discharged.

Good luck.