Had my surgery! On to recovery...

Perineal pain/pressure - I remember it well. I had a foam doughnut cushion from dealing with some past colo-rectal surgery. It turned out to be the best purchase I'd made in years. I used it for almost a year out from surgery when I had to sit in a hard chair. I strongly suggest it.

Welcome to the other side. You'll be happy to be rid of the snake, but in the meantime, keep up the water intake. It will help the bladder deal with all the irritation.

Congratulations on getting through the surgery. Did you have robotic or open surgery? I don't specifically remember pressure but I had memory issues after surgery and that time period is pretty hazy. My most notable issue was with the tip of my penis from the catheter. It got very raw and sore so I felt pain with every little movement. It was a long time waiting for that catheter to come out.

I felt "bruised" in that area for 4 or 5 weeks.

Congrats on the recovery and welcome to the other side. Ok, now, here's the deal- rather- maybe mantra. Walk, drink, walk, drink. Now's the time to get active, and to hydrate. Walking speeds healing and builds strength and endurance back and drinking hydrates the cells and speeds healing of incisions, and flushes out the toxins, leavings, dregs and drugs from your surgery. So drink water as much as you can (think of it as a period when you don't have to worry about bathrooms and such, you can pee anytime you wish, maybe for the first time since infancy. Take advantage of the catheter. Walk several short periods, building up each day, adding more distance as you regain strength. Walk several times a day, rather than one big long one, keep adding to the distance and speed. After another week or so, find some stairs to begin climbing. The effort you put into the walking and drinking in the next couple weeks to a month will make a big difference in the speed of your recovery and healing. Yeah, it may hurt a little at first, but that's ok, pain means you're doing something, as opposed to sitting still on the recliner or the bed, right? It should help the butt discomfort, too. Also, now's the time to begin planning to build a do-able exercise program for your future, your now healthier life that you have ahead of you. Good luck, and walk, drink, repeat...

Welcome to the recovery side. Like 142 said get a doughnut pillow, I preferred the oval one. Still sit on mine!

Neal

Good luck dude. That pain and sometimes penis pain was sometimes intense for me. But it went away slowly with time. I remember the snake well and had a lot of cramps- motrin helps.

Thanks for all the quick replies. It's good to know that it's a common post-surgical thing, not an indication of some problem. The ring sounds like a great idea. I am also dealing with pain from the catheter. I will have it removed Friday at 9:15am, so I have less than 48 hours to go.

Snowbound: it was robotic.

Yes: That is very common. It felt like I had been sitting on a large rock for too long. Started about 4 days post surgery and lasted about 10 days.  No one told me about this either, but on my return to have the catheter removed, my surgeon said this was indeed common. Good luck with your pathology report and hopefully you will get lucky like I did and have 100% urinary control as soon as the catheter is removed!

What a relief to be free of that tube!

Bill K. New Jersey

Dzierga,

Been there, done that. Ten weeks out now. Up until about 6 weeks, it was like having sat on a cold stadium concrete bleacher for about four hrs. w/o break. But a little higher up, like in the levator muscles "basket" for the guts. I kept doing my walks regularly, even if just a 10 minute jaunt around the bldg at work and up and down some flights of stairs. Keep the blood etc flowing.

Interestingly, today I sat pretty much through from noon to four, hammering on a cranky program, and really paid for it. Gonna take my tylenol now. Dang.

The catheter was described by one of our generals (recent ralp) as "evil incarnate".

Get well soon. Take care and keep walking moderately.

Bobbie