HealingWell
Search Close Search
☰

Day 60: Operation/Procedure Completed - Back Home

Support Forums
>
Prostate Cancer
✚ New Topic ✚ Reply
12
❬ ❬ Previous Thread |Next Thread ❭ ❭
Posted 1/13/2009 9:45 PM (GMT 0)
Hello one and all,

Just got back home not long ago.  The trip to the hospital and the operation/procedure went well according to my dr/surgeon.  Was in a holding pattern for about 2 1/2 hours in pre-op that was starting to get old.  But they put something in my IV to chill me.  Was taken into OR, and put completely under, what bliss. Took the dr. about 40 minutes to do his thing.  Recovery room time this time around was actually a pleasant experience, wonderful nurse.  Soon as my head started clearing the pain hit hard, and was quickly given 3 shots of morphine spread out over an hour.  Soon on the way back home (gentle drive) by lovely wife, stopped at CVS drugs to pick up some newly prescribed meds, now home.

Dr. gave my wife some color photos from the procedure, interesting really, the urethra near the bladder was about 5/6th blocked by scar tissue, which explains why I have been going through all this after 2 months.  He used some kind of balloon thing, and expanded it and trimed away some of the blockage.  The last photo in the set shows an opening probably 5 - 6 times larger.  They did put in Catheter #5, even larger then any of the other ones, to keep it open while it heals, next Monday, in theory, he's going to take it out and it should be good to go.  That is the game plan.

Hope everyone is doing well today, I am glad to be on the other side of this one.

David in SC

If this post sounds weird, it might be the morphine talking still, sorry.

Posted 1/13/2009 10:00 PM (GMT 0)
Purgatory,
I'll bet you are...........glad to be on the other side I mean and I am pleased to read the experience was a little easier this time around. The photos will make for an interesting addition to the ol' family album. To say you've had an interesting story so far is an understatement. Well, here's to the procedure turning out well and putting out a horizontal stream. yeah
Bill
Posted 1/13/2009 10:03 PM (GMT 0)
Sounds like strong 'objective evidence' (per my ISO auditor friend's way of thinking) that the root problem has been solved.  It always is what it is, but high high hopes that catheter days will soon be behind you, David.

Posted 1/13/2009 10:03 PM (GMT 0)
Glad things went well today.  Hope you can finally begin to heal for real.  I look forward to reading your progress this week and especially anxious to read about a successful catheter removal next week.  I hope you'll pee like a race horse.   Good luck,   Allan
Posted 1/13/2009 10:04 PM (GMT 0)
Thank you, my friend, Bill. Like many things in life, fear and apprehension can be worse then reality.
Posted 1/13/2009 10:11 PM (GMT 0)
Yeah Allan, I dream of pissing like a rented mule when this is over with.
Posted 1/13/2009 10:17 PM (GMT 0)
David,

Sounds like a much better experience this time. It is great that you have photos which can give you some assurance that things are actually improved. May you do well flowing both on and off next week!
Posted 1/13/2009 10:17 PM (GMT 0)

Hey, David

Glad to hear all went well.  Now if you can make it next Monday and keep your fingers crossed.  I guess the flap theory was right.  Anybody else who reads this with the same problem may benefit from your experience(painful as it was).

Bob

Posted 1/13/2009 10:18 PM (GMT 0)
Wow David...what a ride. I really hope that this will be the last of the catheter come next week. I (and I believe most here) have honestly felt every pain, agravation, fear and misery you have gone through by just by reading your posts...but in reality I know I have no real idea what you have been going through except for what my imagination would tell me it would be like. And I hate to say this...that imagination is like a bad nightmare and yet you live it for real. Your story is very unique and informative all in the same post each and every time. Hang in there bud and keep us informed.

Thanks for all the posts and updates you have given us despite what you are going through.
Posted 1/13/2009 11:28 PM (GMT 0)
Alright! I bet at this point you can't wait until Monday . . .

Cheers,
Rich
Posted 1/13/2009 11:34 PM (GMT 0)
Welcome Home, David

I sure do like the sound of what you are saying. Get some well deserved rest and we all look forward to Monday and a succesful conclusion to this nightmare you have had to endure.
Posted 1/13/2009 11:44 PM (GMT 0)
Thanks, my friends, one and all, if my experience with this helps someone else here one day, all the pain and suffering will be worth it. That's why I love how we all share the good and the bad here, I wish we were able to sit and talk some place at the same time in real life, but this is the next best thing. I feel more sincerity here with you guys and girls here, then I do with a lot of people that I really know in my real life. I appreciate each of you, as we wage our wars and battles with the PC beast.

As I see more and more newbies join us here, it saddens me in one sense, because it means more and more men are getting dx. with pc. And we are only seeing the ones that randomly or steered here. That's why I enjoyed the thread on the "good cancer" argument. Only someone outside our battlefield would say something that stupid and cold.

David in SC
Posted 1/14/2009 12:22 AM (GMT 0)
Thanks Mike, but even in my peak days pre-PC, couldn't get much more than a country mile, but would settle for that right now.

David
Posted 1/14/2009 1:34 AM (GMT 0)
hurray hurray I hope this does the trick david you deserve it. Todd
Posted 1/14/2009 1:43 AM (GMT 0)
I surely hope so, Todd, it certainly hasnt been for the lack of trying. lol. Hope you are doing well.
Posted 1/14/2009 2:26 AM (GMT 0)
Hello Dear David, What a time you have had......but you are on the up side now!! You have a wonderful wife....lovely as you noted.....and you will be better each day... .Great that you have photos. I also think that new people can learn and profit from each of the different stories that they hear about on this site. I especially identify with you because you and Pete had the same scar tissue problem.. and catheters in for so long. Good luck to you feeling better in the coming days. xxDi
Posted 1/14/2009 3:15 AM (GMT 0)
Thanks, Diane. Was hoping to hear from you tonight. I hope Pete is healing well on your end. The photos were a complete surprise to me, it is easy to second guess, but it's too bad they didn't "scope" me after the first blockage, would have saved me some serious wear and tear. But I still stand by my doctor's abilities and level of patient care. Once again, St. Francis in Greenville, SC is one first class hospital. Everyone today that had any contact with me treated me with the upmost respect and tender care. The thought of being off the catheters for good (hopefully) in 5 more days is almost too good to be true at this point, but my dr has a high level of optimism that this op today will do the trick. Give my best to Pete, as he heals and gets use to those new high tech hips. Was reading about that recently, and didn't realize they were so hardware intense.

David in SC
Posted 1/14/2009 3:24 AM (GMT 0)
Well,
We have to hope for the best, and we will. And I really hope this does it for you. Geez.

Tony
Posted 1/14/2009 4:23 PM (GMT 0)
David, glad to see you return, and hope you are now on the road to full recovery...
Posted 1/14/2009 4:25 PM (GMT 0)
Thanks, Tony. Despite some low level pains, managed to get pretty decent sleep but disapointed that no sooner then I stepped out of bed, had a major, painful bladder spasm. So back on the ditropan for me, was hoping to avoid it. I guess my poor bladder is just so sick of catheter contact after 2 fulll months, and perhaps because the dr yesterday after the op put in the largest diameter cath in me. Was hoping to make it till Monday without the spasms. I will be a new man with a new attitude if this procedure works in the end, and I can be freed of catheters. Actually have a lengthy job interview in the morning, hoping to hide that leg bag under my best suit again.

David in SC
Posted 1/14/2009 4:34 PM (GMT 0)
David-
5/6 of the way blocked. No wonder!! So glad that things are cleared up and hoping this recovery is a speedy one and the final one. All the best in your recovery.

Chayna
Posted 1/14/2009 4:42 PM (GMT 0)
Hello Chayna,

Yeah, with that kind of blockage, when they did attempt twice to get me off the caths, it would quickly swell shut in a few hours. With the neat photos the dr showed me after the op, it looks really positive, that even allowing for some new swelling, should be able to flow freely. I will believe it when I see it, but hoping he's right. Not much else it could be in that part of the plumbing. lol.

David
Posted 1/14/2009 4:50 PM (GMT 0)
Did your Dr. say why there was so much scar tissue to begin with? I know some people produce more scar tissue (like myself) and anytime I have a procedure done I have to let them know. It's not a big deal, they can just prevent the additional scar tissue from forming.
Posted 1/14/2009 5:41 PM (GMT 0)
No, he didn't specifically the reason, he has said, all along, that he had a very difficult time joining the urethra to the bladder neck after the prostate was removed, said it was the toughest in his 26 years.
Posted 1/14/2009 7:40 PM (GMT 0)
 

So glad to hear they finally found the cause of your problems and hopefully now you will be able to heal and be able to put this behind you.  glad to hear all is well you are in our thoughts and prayers for a speedy recovery.

Jerry & MJ 

✚ New Topic ✚ Reply
12