Positive Attitude And Recovery After Robotic Surgery

I had surgery for prostate cancer in June. I'm writing this post today in a healthier state of mind and body that did not come easy. I suffered with complications from robotic surgery. It was not the "text book" procedure I expected. My recovery required the use of a catheter and JP drain for 7+ weeks. During my recovery I developed sepsis and went back into the hospital for another 14 days. I almost died twice. It was an experience that taxed myself and worse, my family. What got me through everything was two things. 1. The family I loved and 2. The will to get my life back to normal.

There's no proven way to will your body chemistry to make yourself better. There's no medical way to find the light at the end of any dark tunnel you may find yourself in. I'm not sure what impact one's mental attitude has on your body being able to heal. But it works. For me, my outlook on life and my recovery was all I had to hang on to.

Almost five months after a horrible surgical procedure and ensuing bout with sepsis, I'm at 80% of where I was. And getting better every day.

I'm no different than you. I suffered from incontinence and the fear I'll never get through this. I suffered from depression. I wrestled with the cancer I was diagnosed with. I lived a part of my life second guessing what I did, and how much better I'd be if I did something else. If you're worried about your recovery and when will things get better, you're no different than me.

What I have to offer you is:

1. Stay positive - It's hard to do at times and easier said than done
2. Accept nothing less than getting your life back to where it was before your ordeal started
3. Be patient. Take small steps.

Stay strong. Stay positive and may God bless.

Way to fight!

Elgin_IL1 said...
What I have to offer you is:

1. Stay positive - It's hard to do at times and easier said than done
2. Accept nothing less than getting your life back to where it was before your ordeal started
3. Be patient. Take small steps.

Stay strong. Stay positive and may God bless.

Inspiring words and an inspiring story. I thought I had a tough go of it. So glad you are headed in the right direction.

Jon

Glad to hear you're still with us! These complications do occur, fortunately they are rare. We've had similar discussions in the past about how important attitude is.

Keep us posted about what is happening as things move forward.

Saw your age 61...one G6 core out of 12 ??? Who did this surgery and where?

Saw this post, and thought I'd add my story about robotic surgery.

After my biopsy diagnosis I did a lot of research on the disease and the two types of RP. I got 3 second opinions, and finally chose to have robotic surgery. I chose Dr. Arieh Shalhav and the U of Chicago, a major teaching hospital. I knew several people who had used the same doctor. Shalhav has done the procedure more than 2,000 times. I was comfortable with my choice, and expected to have a "normal" surgical experience.

Well, I can't say things were normal. I woke up in recovery and when one of the residents came in to check my JP drain, he discovered I was still bleeding. (Risk of bleeding is very low with robotic surgery; except for me.) I was still bleeding internally a couple hours later. My red counts were being monitored, and they kept dropping. Shalhav finally came in and told me he would need to go back in to clean up the blood and address any bleeder. It was another surgery, although only an hour. I was weak and didn't want to go through another operation. He said there would be one more blood test, and unless the count stabilized or went up, he was going back in.

Luckily, that count went up slightly, telling them the bleeding had stopped. No further surgery was needed.

During that post op period, I had fainted twice; probably from panic, etc.

I got 2 units of blood the next day, started to feel a bit better, and was discharged.

A couple days later I showered for the first time, and fainted again after drying off. Went to the local ER, and found my vital signs were normal. They told me my red count was rising and that patients with that level normally don't faint.

The fainting spells, combined with the weakness from blood loss, made me hesitant to get up and walk that much. I did a little but not that much.

Two weeks post surgery, my internist ordered an ultrasound of my legs just to rule out any clotting. Well, they found clots in both legs, and a small clot in my lungs. I was admitted to my local hospital and put on blood thinners, and ultimately on warfarin. I was hospitalized for 5 days until my INR was at a therapeutic level.

Now I will be on warfarin for about 6 months. That's the standard protocol after post surgery clotting issues.

As soon as I was discharged I felt good enough to start walking in earnest. Since that time I walk at least a mile a day outdoors. I feel myself again 8 weeks after surgery.

Bottom line is this is major surgery, and there's nothing routine about it, or the recovery.

My continence has been good, and I'm just starting viagra therapy for ED.

Elgin, and Tennis, glad you guys got thru it. There is always risk in any surgery. It could be RP, heart surgery, or hernia. Doesn't matter. Thank goodness we've all gotten thru it ok in one way or another. (Those that are here at least)

You and this "fellow traveler" — someone with nearly identical case characteristics to you, diagnosed a mere 6-months before you — should share notes with each other...

www.healingwell.com/community/default.aspx?f=35&m=3528051&p=4

The article linked below seems worthy of attention, in view of this thread's topic. Its title (and subject matter) is "Hospital Readmissions After Surgery Associated Mostly With Complications Related to Surgical Procedure."

From the article:

"The unplanned 30 day readmission rate for 498,875 operations was 5.7 percent. For the individual procedures, the rate of readmission ranged from 3.8 percent after hysterectomy to 14.9 percent after lower extremity vascular bypass. The most common reason for unplanned readmission was surgical site infection (SSI; 19.5 percent), ranging from 11.4 percent after bariatric surgery to 36.4 percent after lower extremity vascular bypass." (Boldface mine)

(Unfortunately no commentary in the article specifically about prostatic or other urological surgery).

media.jamanetwork.com/news-item/hospital-readmissions-after-surgery-associated-mostly-with-complications-related-to-surgical-procedure/

I guess if the "preponderance of evidence" is such that there is absolutely, positively no other way to ensure the best results, surgery is it. But almost everyone who has any cancer diagnosis thinks they should have had surgery yesterday to "get it out"..as compiler alludes to...not good. This surgery is sufficiently complicated that when it goes bad it really goes bad. Doing a lot of surgeries seems good on the face of it, but the surgeon may have done thousands of mediocre surgeries ..if you do what you've always done, you'll get what you've always gotten". I don' mean to imply I am against surgery...but I am severely biased against it.

Sheepguy:

There are many reasons pro and con for any tx and for AS.
I'll leave it at that.

Jackh -- I chose my words carefully. Yes, I said NEEDED and RECOMMENDED.

If your only reason for surgery is to "get it out," without any other consideration, then more thought is needed.

After more thought, then it is an individual decision.

Mel

compiler, I was very deliberate in saying I agreed with the "jist" of your comment. I did not agree with all of your comment...specifically the "recommended" part. Needed is the important part.

You can find a variety of physicians ready, willing and able to "recommend" just about any variety of treatment paths that are available today...they will typically recommend an approach which aligns exactly with what they specialize in... (This is where Gomer says, "Surprise, surprise!")

Many men learn this lesson the hard way...by talking to only one clinician.

Patient education has been repeatedly shown in studies to lead to the highest satisfaction with the outcomes...and far too frequently, Active Surveillance does not surface as the (obvious) choice for favorable risk men until it is too late due to inadequate patient education and time/diligence spent...often leading to "regret."

Post Edited (JackH) : 11/30/2016 1:14:17 PM (GMT-7)

compiler said...
Jack:

I'm not going to parse all conceivable aspects of "recommended."

Mel

"Surprise, surprise!"