I had robotic prostate surgery on Monday afternoon. Any words of wisdom to speed up recovery?

I just got home from hospital yesterday at noon. I am so very sore. I walked on treadmill 5 times yesterday for 15 minutes at each session at very slow speed. Doctor told me to walk and stay active.
My abdomen is very very sore. I just started eating this morning (1 egg). Can any of you guys give me some advice and how this recovery will progress? Thanks a lot for your help.

FromSC, take heart, next week you can advise me! Mine is scheduled for the 19th. Keep active and lots of water is what I've been told. We can compare stories!
Cheers, Doug

YES.
Sleep. Healing occurs during sleep.

Walk. Keep the nerves jangling gently as you move.

Clean. Take every caution in personal hygiene, using alcohol wipes when handling the penis and catheter. Anyone assisting use gloves and washing religiously.

Follow. Doctor's orders. Take medicine as recommended. Stay ahead of problems, do not try to catch up later.

Relax. Care not for "speeding" recovery. Allow time to work within its own pace.

Listen. To your body. Give no orders to yourself.

you will feel exponentially better every day.

don't eat heavy and/or spicy foods. Drink a lot of water and keep walking as you are. Don't push yourself too much. You need to recover physically and mentally.

You might need diapers after cath is removed, you might not. Although a minority, plenty of folks are either dry or only have minor dribbles upon cath removal.

Be kind to yourself. Beware of your first bowel motion - if you eat the wrong things it can be very painful.

Those donut cushions to sit on can be very useful.

Don't overdo it but do try to stay active.

An

hi sc,

 the worst is behind you, the first couple days I felt like I was hit by a truck it gets better fast after that. I agree with what others have already said about walking but not overdoing it. I've always done a lot of walking with my wife and I believe it helped with my continence after the cath was removed. I may be getting ahead of myself here but I felt so good after a couple of weeks I wanted to do more than I should, thankfully somebody here posted in someone else's thread about a guy taking his garbage out and having to go back for more surgery. So no matter how good you feel in a couple weeks take it easy you don't want to pull apart any of your new plumbing.

good-luck

carl  

Welcome to HW, sorry you need to be here.

Just do the common sense things, rest, drink water and walk. Listen to your body and don't over do the walking but that's the best exercise right now. It takes a long time for the body to heal but before you know it this will all just be a bad memory.

Hang in there and keep us updated on your progress.
Andrew

Do nothing and REST!

Wear a nappy and just to make sure put another pad on the inside. Its a bit traumatic but let the pee flow easily into the bag and make sure you clean it regularly. Also make sure that the catheter is strapped securely to your leg and to you dick. For the latter make sure that it has restricted motion, there is nothing more irritating to a dick than a catheter that moves and inflames the tip of the penis.

Pain and the use of pain killers is a double edged sword. Its helps with pain and it also makes you constipated. Dont worry to much about your crap - literally. I took me a few days (think it was 3 days) before I laid a cable and it was a good one at that. Every time I pushed I had blood coming out on the side of the catheter.Dont push, your crap will come!

Get yourself some of those bendy straws so that you can recline without having to sit up to drink water. I drank lots of water -- I bought 24 bottles of water from my supermarket and made sure that I consumed the right amount. Do not worry to much over the colour of you piss, it changes over time back to its original golden colour.

Most of us were incontinent post RP, so be gentle with yourself. I was told not to do any kegels whilst I still had my catheter in place. Your continence nurse will advise you what to do post removal of the catheter. Oh yes, and develop a good sense of humour. I pissed myself and my jeans and the toilet seat and floor and everything was wet that first time I went to the loo post catheter removal.

This is a new journey, you'll find many co-travellers on the road. You'll definitely find some champions amongst the group here.

One last thing -- go to the big shopping centres and ask them to put Pad-disposal units in the male toilets. The female toilets have them; its time to be treated equally when it comes to pad-disposal. You need a crusade!

Enjoy - watch your favourite TV programs; read some books and lots of stuff on the net about post RP recovery.

...

On other thing, right before you get your catheter out strap on your leg bag and make a trip to Walmart (or your favorite deep-discount retailer) and buy a pack of Depends (the pull-up undies, not the pads -- there's a good chance the pads won't be enough at first.) When you get to the store, don't take a shopping cart. Just stroll back to the incontinence aisle, pop a pack of old-guy diapers under your arm and wander the store, browsing, for at least 20 minutes.

You will find that nobody pays any attention to your pack of waterproof shorts. The cashier won't notice them when you check out. It will be a non-event.

By running the incontinence aisle gauntlet first thing you can spare yourself months of skulking around the store with a cart full of bulky items that you don't really need but that are useful for burying your Depends so no one will see them.

I found a big glass of whisky in the company of a good friend to be a tremendous help. Most of us have the obligatory support of our family and friends, but there is nothing more reassuring than getting back into the swing of social interaction.

Don't get carried away though. Post-catheter you want to work on being attentive to the signals, and holding off as long as you can. And too much whisky is not going to be any help at all.

This may be a bit contrarian, but I found that avoiding diapers, pads, and such made me much more attentive. Post-catheter, attention and control. Hold it back as long as is comfortable. Kegels of course, but kegels won't help until you learn to pay attention enough to apply the strength that you've gained through the kegels.

When it was me in your spot, I put a big fluffy towel under my seat, the challenge being to keep that towel dry. I found that diapers and pads gave me an infantile freedom. I didn't really have to pay attention to what was going on down there because the consequences were trivial. But when I'd wet my towel I felt like a spanked puppy.

SC:

Good luck with the pathology results. That's the next big hurdle!

Mel

Never had surgery but wanted to wish you the best and offer my ignorant advice: patience.