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Surgery in 36 hours...

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Posted 7/19/2013 10:12 PM (GMT 0)
Congrats on heading home. Don't be ashamed to let your friends and family help you out.
Drink,walk, and empty the cath bag. Rinse, wash, repeat! :)

-Gedman
Posted 7/19/2013 10:54 PM (GMT 0)
Great to see you are doing ok....keep us posted on how you are doing...some of us can certainly relate to what you are currently going through.

Cheers,

Curt
Posted 7/20/2013 12:41 AM (GMT 0)
Home!!
Posted 7/20/2013 1:05 PM (GMT 0)
Congrats! Just remember, the first hours and the first day of recovery are the worst - it only gets better after that. Be sure you ask about bladder spasms. I had one about 12 hours after I got home. Didn't know what it was but the pain put me on my hands and knees. My entire family (including me) thought I might be dying. The Dr eventually said, "No big deal." What? They have drugs to prevent that from happening - but I was never told.

Good luck!

kcragman
Posted 7/20/2013 2:49 PM (GMT 0)
is a low-grade fever (100.2) somethng normal?
waiting for the dr to call back,,,
Posted 7/20/2013 3:13 PM (GMT 0)
dr called back, I should take tylenol, if the fever goes over 101.5 I need to call back...
Posted 7/20/2013 4:16 PM (GMT 0)
Hi dd -

Congrats on getting through the surgery - I'm about 3 1/2 weeks post, and doing well. I called my doc with the very same question about temp at exactly the same point as you, and got the same response - 101.5 seems to be the magic number. Your system has been through a lot, and a slight temp is a normal response - if you're like me, you'll feel much more like yourself in a couple of days. Best thing I did was to take short walks a few times a day - they really help to keep things moving, which is partly what causes the temp to rise (fluids settling, etc) - and when you're not walking, try to get comfortable and relax.

Once the cath comes out, you'll be starting a whole new chapter - it is a nice milestone and you probably only have a few more days to wait!

Hang in there!

DougInLA
Posted 7/20/2013 4:42 PM (GMT 0)
thanks. temp is now down to 99... pee in the catheter still looks like cherry kool-aide..
but overall it's what we expected... thanks again
Posted 7/20/2013 6:15 PM (GMT 0)
Glad to hear the temp is down - my doc told me it would see-saw up and down for a few days, and it probably did (I never felt the need to take my temp again after talking to him because I was feeling pretty good). The cherry-kool-aide color sounds normal - just follow your doc's instructions and you'll be fine. I tried to focus on one day at a time (and still am) - when the cath comes out, I felt much less like a patient and more like my old self. By the way, getting the cath out is no big deal - very quick and painless - not something to spend any time worrying about (not that you are)...

Enjoy the weekend - how's the weather where you are? Sunny and warm here in LA - love the summers here...

Doug
Posted 7/20/2013 8:09 PM (GMT 0)
It's in the high 90s here on the east Coast... Today is the first full day at home, so it's getting used to things and the "new normal"..

My bug surprise is just how stiff the rest of my body is.. and getting up from the couch is an ordeal in itself...

And I'm praying to the greek gods of porcelain and B.M.s...
Posted 7/20/2013 9:03 PM (GMT 0)
ddayglo glad to hear your doing ok.
Posted 7/20/2013 9:41 PM (GMT 0)
You will probably sweat some at night also, I woke up with wet sheets often the first week or so. Do not forget to stay walking and drink lots of water but do not overdo the water. Every time you walk the pee will be come cherry even if it is clear prior to walk. Do not be concerned with some nasty looking bits of debris in pee, unless a blockage of catheter results. Use that pillow, you will also get, for lack of a better phrase, a penile ache when urinating after cath is out. Mine lasted 8 mos, very tolerable but, there. Surgeon explained it thus; internal pain from slicing and dicing gots to go somewhere. Gongrats.
Posted 7/21/2013 5:55 PM (GMT 0)
Best wishes for a good recovery. You'll figure out the catheter care and other adjustments pretty quickly, then you can get rid of it.

Everybody else pretty much covered the cath. I had some nasty gas pains the first night home, which I think were complicated by the colace. Colace always gives me nasty cramps. A rocking chair helped me get through the gas pains (old OB-GYN trick).

Make sure you hydrate well. As for bowel movements, I switched to prunes after a couple of days, because I had enough of that colace and I hated the way it made me feel. The prunes were the ticket, and they tasted good, anyway.

The prunes probably qualify me for official old fart status now. ;-)
Posted 7/21/2013 7:44 PM (GMT 0)
I have prune juice at home and strained prunes to make me a Captain in the local Old Fart Army. Just waiting to take them -

Dr said to wait until I had any kind "activity" down there (air,gas,etc) before I take colace or prunes....
Posted 7/21/2013 7:52 PM (GMT 0)
So, you'r bag looks like cherry kool-aide. Nice. Mine looked like gumbo at that point - not a pretty sight.
Posted 7/22/2013 2:14 AM (GMT 0)
Any tips on cleaning the catheter bag? How often? with what? etc?
Posted 7/22/2013 5:47 PM (GMT 0)
I just cleaned mine once a day with warm soap and water.

Curt
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