HealingWell Update 2010-09-03
www.healingwell.com/community/default.aspx?f=35&m=1657552&r=rUpdate
PROSTATECTOMY on 12/30/08.
Less than 1 pad per day. Tried the new Kegel exercises 6 months ago, but still dripping.
8/12/10 Day surgery to install the ADVANCE MODERATE SLING (the one that doesn't require screws).
Arrived at hospital 5:45. Left hospital ~3:00 PM.
The nurses weren't listening to me when hooking up the Foley bag before discharge.
ME: I don't want a thigh-bag, I want it on my calf.
Nurses: Everyone gets a thigh bag, so you can wear shorts.
That's when I realized that was all they had, and to just shut up.
We called the drug store across the street from the hospital to ask about
an extension, so the bag could be worn on the calf. First stop, the drugstore.
Because of NO EAT/DRINK after midnight, my bladder didn't start working until after 4:00 PM. What an ordeal to empty the bag.
I was able to get my foot up on the side of the commode.
I could barely reach my shoe when it was on the rim of the commode.
That’s when I noticed that my cheapest of bags, didn't have a valve. Instead, it had a cap over the plastic tube at bottom of bag. I had to remove the bag from my ankle to empty it.
My wife helped my get it all back together. (If it wasn’t for her, I would’ve assumed the fetal position – and tried to die on the bathroom floor – that would’ve taken weeks...)
Jan made another trip to the drugstore, for the best bag they had, one with a valve (~$12).
It was nice to be able to sleep without getting up to void.
PURGATORY, I often thought of you, and wondered if I could get away with emptying my bag outside in the grass, without the neighbors noticing. But, I realized I was too sore, I had trouble reaching that low, and it was too dang hot (100 degrees) to venture outside. But just the many thoughts of the experience you shared lightened my days.
8/16/10 CATHETER REMOVED. Along with being sore, my testicles felt like they were chapped – like I had a rash, and they still do, for over 3 weeks now. They had a blue tint to them, and I asked the doctor if they were radiated during the operatiion, and if that meant I was sterile. I followed that with, oh.
STILL SORE BETWEEN THE LEGS. During that week, I called the office in tears because my underwear was wet from urine after voiding. (I was wearing a paper towel in my underwear as a leak detector.)
After a week, soreness was down to the point where I could 'milk it' down to get the last drops out after urination. Everything was too sore to touch before, and there was this hard piece of something (the front edge of the sling) that prevented me from milking it down (just quickly running your finger along the urethra, from start of sling, to end. Performing that simple step once or twice, seems to take care of any post-drip.
WHAT AN OPERATION. I could barely walk; I couldn’t touch my toes, and my groin muscles (inside thigh) were stretched.
I called the doctor’s office and talked to the doctor’s nurse. I asked her:
Me: Was I put in stirrups?
Nurse: Possibly.
Me: Was I stretched like a Christmas turkey, wide enough to break the wishbone?
Nurse: Possibly.
Before calling, I realized there was no way for them to get to all the areas they needed to get to (3-areas of sutures) without stretching me into a split – OUCH! I was put in stirrups and stretched WIDE! (I’m glad I didn’t look for a video of this operation to watch prior to the surgery. I might not have gone through with it.)
POST OPERATION OBSERVATIONS
After the sling operation, I can still ‘PEE LIKE A RACE HORSE.’
CAUTION: Now, voiding is instantaneous. It doesn’t take a few seconds for the stream to start, for the urine to run down the length of the urethra. If you’re not aiming by the time you sit down or bare skin, plan on sticking around a few minutes to clean up the mess you just made.
And, if I ‘milk it’ to get the last drops of urine after voiding, I don’t drip.
Heavenly Father has answered prayers, in guiding the hands of the surgeon, and in helping me heal. It is one less thing I have to deal with.
I have a body full of pain from Adult’s Stills’ Disease. I have degeneration throughout the spine.
A surgeon told me my total hips were solid, but that the hip pain I had was from BURSITIS.
How cool is that? What a relief to know the hips weren’t loose. PT will help.
Hope you guys are doing okay. Sorry it took so long for an update.