What to expect day of surgery?

Thanks for the posts everyone!
Knowing what lies ahead, does make it a little more palatable, at least for me. I never have liked surprises.

On another note.
I finally got some good news today! Not about my PCa , but my AFLAC cancer policy check came in the mail! OMG...WOW
A financial burden has been lifted!

Nick, I have learned a lot about PCa since my diagnosis in December. The members of this community have been a wealth of information and assistance. In some ways, they are telling me things I really don't want to hear, but they are things I need to know and want to know, so I know what I am facing. Like you I am scared out of my wits and the more I learn about this disease and its impact just makes my stomach churn. It is so ironic and rather prophetic as my wife and I were talking some months ago how families seem to be doing fine and then something such as cancer enters the picture and your whole life changes. Everything else comes to a stop as you deal with something you hoped you would never have to deal with. Good luck to you as well!

What's the best underwear to use? Briefs, boxers or none?

I've thought about wearing nothing until the cath is removed.
Coming home and going back to the docs office may be interesting. lol

iSpark

  Don't worry about the catheter.  No big deal,  Before my 5/9/12 surgery, I wore a catheter for 7 weeks because of retention problems.  Just strap it to your leg, wear loose athletic pants, and forget about it.  Wear boxers. Make sure it hangs over the bed at night for better flow.  You'll even get used to the discomfort in a few days.  The post surgery incontinence is more of a problem.  Do exercises before surgery. I had 12/12 positive cores and Gleason 9.  Robotic surgery then salvage radiation and now continuing monthly Degarelix.  Feel great.  Stay positive.  pmikey

 

Spark,

No underwear for me with the catheter in, I came home from the hospital and wore for that week baggy lounge type shorts and pants with loose elastic waist band. For that first week your belly will be swollen and extended which will make wearing any pants or regular underwear very tough to impossible. I walked my street during the day in the shorts carrying the pee bag as a badge of honor as after going through PC and surgery I find nothing embarrasses me any more.

I read that you got your AFLAC check, I got mine too the month before surgery and then the balance after surgery. That insurance policy was  one of the smartest buys I ever made. I used some of the money for our last cruise in Dec. 2011.

Terry

Spark,

If the policy was for cancer rather than just disability, AFLAC pays one amount for the diagnosis (Biopsy) and then after the surgery they pay a set amount for the surgery, hospital room and the anesthesiologist. The hospital room coverage was $200 per day which was my co pay with BCBS. They pay even if the expenses were covered by you primary insurance. They also pay for any follow up radiation or chemo and travel expenses related to them. I think they would have paid for my travel expenses if I had to go out of town for the surgery as well. They also pay me $40 per year for and PSA tests and I went back for the years before my biopsy and got reimbursed for them too. In total I got about $7000 from the policy. My total out of pocket expenses for my PC was about $1000 so I got way more than that from the Duck.

Terry

Spark,

I guess this means you will be on the cruise in December with all of us zanies.    

Terry

Ok brother, your stats and mine look very similar...I was a 7 and 3 of four on biopsy and I am now 57 and my robotic surgery was July 23rd 2011 at 7am...The cliffs are as follows..

Woke up at 5a from a fitful sleep.  I showered, and you know washed way more than usual, and used the TWO packs of antiseptic soap that I was given at preadmission.  They insisted I use both packs and make sure you clean your tummy and belly button.(no worries it will soon look like a vagina).  After millions of prayers up to this time wife and I take our previously packed stuff and drive the 20 miles to the hospital.

 We get to admissions and them its wait some more...They wanted us 30 minutes before so we were there 630a sharp.  We signed a few more papers, now hovering at 3 million and counting.  Next is trying to be cool and looking at all the others and wondering what THEY are there for passes the time like molasses.  After about three days (20 minutes) your name gets called and there you go.  You get the gown in a little room with a curtain and instructions to change into it and what is going to happen next etc...  Then into another room where this big guy comes in and shaves your tummy.  He is talking up beat and is very nice and then he turns and you see he is holding TWO enema bottles.  He looks you directly in the eye and says "I can do it or you can do it".  Well after you gulp for air you say I'll do it and he says you can go to the bathroom across the hall. So I skip right over(and since you had a biopsy you know how that enema thing works) to the bathroom and look around and well, I had to make a decision. I decided I had to elevate my ass like I did when I self administered it at home for the biopsy.  That meant knees and elbows and insert and then on the toilet...ahhh fun stuff.  I did that twice and managed to stab myself on the second one but well who cares lol at that point.  The irony of all the cleaning before hand at home wasn't lost on me as I was on all fours on the bathroom floor of the hospital.

Then I am back on a rolling bed and a pretty nurse hooks all the ports for iv's etc and you get a moment with you wife and then you're rolling down the hall into a very cold room.  Action picks up and they move you to a warm form fitting bed and strap you down. You are trying to take in all you see, I remember seeing the robot and thinking about the bed how warm it was and they had to adjust me to get my butt in the butt depression on the bed and I'm looking at a masked nurse and people are moving in my peripheral vision.  She is talking comforting and confident and its noisy and things are speeding up and then she disappeared like a camera shutter slowly twisting shut.   That is all you get for the next two/three hours you're out.

I wake up, I see my wife, decide I am alive.  After deciding yea I'm still here nurse asks me do I need anything.  I say I need to take a crap.. They say ok and wife helps me out of bed and just before that I see FRED for the first time and I notice the nylon thingies on my legs..So after a relatively big struggle I get to the toilet and I am sitting there and I am holding FRED and sorting through what the hell is happening. After a few minutes I decide after all I did with the enema this morning there was no way (this was about 1100a from my 2.5 hour 7a surgery)I really needed to take a dump and FRED was getting all my pee pee so I headed back to  the bed.

After that it was trying to sleep in the bed that kept moving and walking around the hall with my wife carrying fred for me as I kept ringing up laps.  So ringing up laps/sleeping/eating jello over and over.  I made my 24 hour lap count by 3 am the next morning. (don't think you have to do that I and regret it now lol) 

The doc finally shows up the next morning and says..."Everything went well and margins were free and clear" Wonderful words,that in my other fears, had never even considered.  He did give me some stout medicine as I almost upchucked up while he was in there. He didn't want me gagging with all those holes in my tummy and everything down there held by a thread.(and that really hurt)..Half hour later I'm off for home.(which I'll save that story for another day)

After getting home I slept and emptied Fred and prayed jello would finally turn into a real DOO DOO so I could eat solid food.  Jello went from best tasting thing ever to sickening as did Gatorade after a few days.  As for pain, it felt like I had ridden a bicycle without a seat.  Just  a raw feeling down there and really not that bad at all. Fred was more an annoyance than pain and having to alternate sides of the bed sleeping was not fun when you were on the "other" side lol. I was also amazed that they could get a full size garden hose shoved up my now even more tiny pee peer hole. whew...

Recovery is a whole another chapter brother but you be fine...Oh, my first solid food came on Saturday from Wednesday before and I ate one small Hardees cheeseburger and I will die with it being the best thing I've ever tasted.  I missed two week from work but recovery took longer...I had Fred one week and one day and three minues...;)

Good luck to you and prayers going out and before you know it you will be updating us with good news.

Hawk

Post Edited (hawkgfr) : 2/9/2013 8:51:21 AM (GMT-7)

Spark,

One other pre surgery tip, make sure you return your prostate with an empty tank and flat tires!!

Since I'm 11 days out from my RALP, I have been reading over the replies again.

I do have another question though, and you can also probably sense the anxiety and "sacredness" from it.

But just HOW SAFE is the DaVinci procedure, and the way the surgery is performed (Trendelenburg position)?

I don't won't to wake up blind because of detached retinas and/or other issues that could come from it.

I may need a pill or a shrink...

Thanks Water Guy,
I'm not too worried about the robot per say, but more so on the patient positioning. :-|

I'm trying to relax. lol
I also hope to be on that cruise in December.

iSpark said...
Since I'm 11 days out from my RALP, I have been reading over the replies again.

I do have another question though, and you can also probably sense the anxiety and "sacredness" from it.

But just HOW SAFE is the DaVinci procedure, and the way the surgery is performed (Trendelenburg position)?

I don't won't to wake up blind because of detached retinas and/or other issues that could come from it.

I may need a pill or a shrink...

When I was considering DaVinci surgery, I had thoughts running through my cranium of Hal the Computer taking over the operation as in "2001: A Space Odyssey." Or thoughts of other sci-fi flicks where robots run amuck & destroy everything in sight.

I was assured by both of my urologists that the DaVinci robot does NOT do anything on its own. It is simply a super-mechanized extension of the surgeon's hands, fingers & foot. In fact, when the surgeon moves a knob on the machine [s/he actually sits at least 10 feet -- or sometimes across the room -- from the patient as the robot works from remote control], the corresponding move by the machine is scaled down a great amount so no accidental moves are likely.

Also, the micro-tremors normally present in a surgeon's human hand are filtered out by the robot. Also remember that the DaVinci also gives the surgeon a 360 degree view around the prostate -- something not available to the surgeon in an open procedure. That is why the surgeon must "feel around" behind the prostate.

The viewscreen is also 3-D, in color and magnified around 10x.

So be assured that the robot is extremely safe. As for as breakdowns, it is very rare. In the event that something could malfunction, there are technicians on standby to help immediately get things going again. Or, as my doctor at Mayo said, "we have SEVEN DaVinci machines here, so we'd just roll in another one."

So the robotic assisted surgery is really very safe. One thing I did not realize -- but found out through the soreness in my legs, thighs, etc., -- is that the table you are on beneath the robot actually tilts you to all kind of crazy angles to accommodate the surgical procedure. Nothing you are aware of during the surgery, but probably a sight to behold to any observers. LOL

In closing, you will be just fine if undergoing the DaVinci procedure.

Chuck

Resident of Highland, Indiana just outside of Chicago, IL.
July 2011 local PSA lab reading 6.41 (from 4.1 in 2009). Mayo Clinic PSA Sept. 2011 was 5.7.
Local urologist DRE revealed significant BPH, but no lumps.
PCa Dx Aug. 2011 at age of 61.
Biopsy revealed adenocarcinoma in 3 of 20 cores (one 5%, two 20%). T2C.
Gleason score 3+3=6.
CT of abdomen, bone scan both negative.
DaVinci prostatectomy 11/1/11 at Mayo Clinic (Rochester, MN), nerve sparing, age 62.
My surgeon was Dr. Matthew Tollefson, who I highly recommend.
Final pathology shows tumor confined to prostate.
5 lymph nodes, seminal vesicles, extraprostatic soft tissue all negative.
1.0 x 0.6 x 0.6 cm mass involving right posterior inferior,
right posterior apex & left mid posterior prostate.
Right posterior apex margin involved by tumor over a 0.2 cm length, doctor says this is insignificant.
Prostate 98.3 grams, tumor 2 grams. Prostate size 5.0 x 4.7 x 4.5 cm.
Catheter out in 7 days. No incontinence, occasional minor dripping.
Post-op exams 2/13/12, 9/10/12, PSA <0.1.
Semi-firm erections now happening 14 months post-op & slowly getting a bit stronger.