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Post-op RaRP - Day 3

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Posted 3/6/2011 1:44 PM (GMT 0)
A gift from God this am.....3 massive farts!

I can't tell you how good that felt.

No pain meds yet and I feel much improved. Sore, but not too bad. I still cannot figure out where in the hell all this liquid is coming from to fill up my bag so quickly.

Observations that I was too loopy yesterday to note:

I was given a short tour of the DaVinci as I walked into the OR suite (Yale has 58 operating rooms). Tres cool! No meds given until I was strapped onto table. Last memory was of a white liquid (propophol (sp?), the stuff MJ killed himself with) going into my IV line.

I annoyed my night nurse by asking her if the morphine she was giving me was a placebo. Never having had the drug, I was expecting it to hit me like a tidal wave. Frankly, I could not notice the drug at all......until I stopped taking it and it wore off. Then I became aware of its effect! The tiny little dilaudid pills also have none of that heavy narcotic effect I was expecting.

Signing off for now. Hoping that this little blog is encouraging the men whose surgery is imminent. And heed the advice in the stickies. This info is GOLD!
Posted 3/6/2011 2:56 PM (GMT 0)
Yeah. I'd fill the large bag in six or seven hours at night. I think much of it is stuff that you get at hops. IV drips and so on. This will decrease, but stay well hydrated.

If you can avoid the pain pills, that's good. They can also contribute to constipation. The few occasions when I felt really achy, a few Tylenol did the trick.

W-O
Posted 3/6/2011 3:01 PM (GMT 0)
GTO, Thanks for this thread. My surgery is scheduled for Monday March 14. I will be going under Dr. Abaza's robot at the James Cancer Center in Columbus, Ohio. I'm feeling a little less anxious the more I read. Good luck and good healing. Your posts are greatly appreciated!
Posted 3/6/2011 3:25 PM (GMT 0)
great, now you can eat properly but without over doing it. Nothing spicy of course. Next hurdle is BM. You'll notice that doing that with cathete rin is annoying and can cause some minor bladder spasms. I quickly figured out a routine to avoid this.

my bag was filling up quickly but I was drinking a ton of water. It was my way of making sure I wasn't retaining anyting which was my biggest concern.

I think that in the vast majority of cases, the strong pain meds are needed first 12 hours after operation but that tylenol xtra strength is fine after that.

Although I filled my pain med prescription just in case, I never touched them. Rush Limbaugh can have them for all I care.
Posted 3/6/2011 3:30 PM (GMT 0)
Sounds like a better report there, GTO, glad you are feeling better

As far as the pain med, dilaudid, when you get it in IV form, it will put you in a state of bliss immediately, I remember that well after my open surgery, was in hopsital 4 1/2 days. When I have it in pill form, i.e. after my last surgery, at home, you feel nothing but pain relief. Whiich is the only reason to be taking the med, right?
Posted 3/6/2011 3:38 PM (GMT 0)
Purg, I'd welcome a little bliss right now thank you very much!

Has anybody else had the catheter slide in and out of the penis like I have? It is moving almost an inch and I'm terrified of bursting it

Lowandslow....I woke from the surgery starving and asked for solid food. My bad. I had mac and cheese, and 2 days later, its still in there. If you can stay on the liquid diet, you will feel MUCH better on day 2. The bloating pressure is indescribable. More than anything, I want to poop.

Over and out.
Posted 3/6/2011 3:43 PM (GMT 0)
I have three words of advice:  Ducolax Stool Softners.
Posted 3/6/2011 3:43 PM (GMT 0)
I was told that a lot of the urine was generated by the IV (mine was in for two and a half days (I was in the hosp. for four days total). Once I got home I tried to drink a lot of water. It helps the bladder to keep it flowing.

If I got up in the morning and the bag was not at least three-quarters full, it was a problem.

And, when they pull the catheter, you will almost certainly react by drinking less if you are leaking. In may not make sense, but drinking less increases the problems.

I could certainly tell the effect of the IV pain meds - push the button, happy land.

Sounds like good progress so far!

Posted 3/6/2011 3:45 PM (GMT 0)
GTO,It all sounds good so far,as David said next is the Big BM!. My body decided it was not gonna do that while the catheter was in. It just said NO!
A couple of days out of cath, I introduced my body to caster oil for the first time and golden the next day. With caster oil you have no gassy cramping.
They gave me vicoden for my pain med,which I only took at home for 1 day. The hardest part is really sitting up,and that gets easier each day. Walk all you can at home, I just walked the circle from the living room to the kitchen a lot.
Welcome to the club!!!!
Posted 3/6/2011 4:24 PM (GMT 0)

GTOdave said...
Has anybody else had the catheter slide in and out of the penis like I have? It is moving almost an inch and I'm terrified of bursting it

I had the same thing. It was normal. Several times a day, I would apply this antibiotic cream that the hospital gave me to the tube and the tip of my penis which helped keep the tube sliding freely in and out. And at the same time I would clean any build up off of the tube with a q-tip and these little antiseptic wipes the hospital gave me, being sure to only brush the q-tip and antiseptic wipes in the direction away from my penis.

Sounds like you are having a good recovery. Keep it up!

Dan
Posted 3/6/2011 8:35 PM (GMT 0)
Same as april, but I kept mine clean with a damp wash cloth with a bit of soap, being carefull not to get soap where it would cause pain. I lubed the tip of my peins and about the first inch of the catheter with neoprorin ouintment and then I slid the penis up and down the catheter to be sure the ointment was spread around. Cleaning the catheter tube clean is a must if you don't want constant pain, there is a crust that forms on it from the dried mucus and urine and sometimes some blood. The crust will irrate the tip of your penis as it slides and you will have pain everytime you move. The clening and lubing was done at least 3-4 times a day or more if needed. My nurse at the hospital recomended all this and it worked. Nurses seem to have better real world advice about these type of things. My advice is don't try any exercise or walking more than just around the house, your catheter won't like much exercise, just wait till they pull it before any serious walking, plently of time for that later, it's only 1-2 weeks of down time. Glad to hear you are doing well.
Ron
Posted 3/6/2011 8:52 PM (GMT 0)
mine also moved up to an inch in either direction. At first I saw it moving out an inch and I was so stupid I thought those stories of penis shrinkage were true ( they're not if surgeon is good with urethra). Then when my wife applied the lidocaine (?) ointment to the tip of my penis I would notice that I could push that 1 inch of catheter back in. Don't worry about it.

I also walked around the house a bunch the first two days but I honestly laid in bed more than they wanted me too. I was tired, physically and emotionally. Watched a great 6 hour BBC series one day, that helped.
Posted 3/6/2011 9:16 PM (GMT 0)
For soap, I used Dove unscented for cleaning my un-mentionables which have been mentioned to often. This soap does not sting like others. Keeping real clean is also key. You don't want an infection.

My orders when I got out of hospital were to wash up and use that bacterial goop four to five times a day.

W-O
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