Now starts the Upswing!

That should be more than enough time to be with him.

Make sure he has plenty of easy to cook food in the house... And that he walks around a good bit.

EDIT: Make sure he has some "briefs" and not boxer shorts for when he gets the catheter out.

Post Edited (Steve n Dallas) : 12/17/2012 8:36:07 AM (GMT-7)

A week home with him should be plenty -- more than enough. I assume he is expecting to be in the hospital and go home the next day. That's typical but don't let it throw you if they keep him for another day or two. He may need an extra book to read.

Be sure there is a side table by the recliner where he can sit a drink and a snack and the TV remote. He won't sit comfortably for several weeks but reclining is OK. Walking is good but when he isn't walking he should recline or lay down. After a few days he will get bored and want to get out of the house. He won't be allowed to drive until the catheter comes out so you will have to act as chauffeur. Keep the outings brief then take him home to recline for a while.

My favorite thing while I had the catheter was some "convertible" pants that I bought at REI. They have zippers at the knee that let you convert them to shorts by zipping off the legs. With a leg bag taped to my thigh and my convertible pants I was good to go. The zipper is in just the right place to access the drain on the bottom of the leg bag. I could pee standing up in a crowded men's room and nobody would notice that I was whizzing out of my knee. It was very liberating.

All the above is excellent advice.

I'm going to weigh in on this one because you say your husband will have hernia surgery at the same time as the DaVinci. I was in a similar situation when I had my surgery. Last year I had simultaneous TURP surgery on my prostate along with repair of an inguinal hernia which was discovered during the pre-op physical they gave me in preparation for the TURP. (TURP=Trans Urethral Resection of Prostate: removing a portion of the prostate to alleviate a problem that it has caused by being enlarged, urinary obstruction in my case).

Actually, this surgical procedure is pretty common: the surgeons can take care of things like hernias as long as they're going in to do the prostate surgery.

Let me just add a comment or two about the addition of the hernia surgery to the prostate surgery. In my case I did think the post-op pain from the hernia surgery was worse than any from the TURP. I don't know if that translates into a similar situation for a DaVinci, but both are prostate surgeries, so I will assume that it does. The main thing I remember was that I was having to deal with the aftereffects of two surgeries at the same time, such as more restricted movement for a longer period of time, since there were now two things that could "ding" me if I moved the wrong way. I got waked up by some of those "dings" a few times during the first few nights at home, as I rolled over in my sleep after I had made sure that I went to sleep laying on my back. That situation lasted for about a week. After that, things seem to start getting back to normal pretty quickly. I did take a little bit of prescription painkiller during that week. Patience was all I really needed to get through it, though.

Actually, it wasn't that big of a deal. Just make sure your husband follows all recuperation instructions he will be given to do following discharge, especially the "no lifting of objects weighing more than 10 pounds" one (really stressed to me by the nurse during exit interview) since he will be recovering from hernia surgery.

I learned after my surgery that my two surgeons had done a number of these "double-surgeries" together before, so you might want to ask if the two your husband will have have experience working together.

But it's really not that bad. To answer your question, a week's time seems about right, and you just need to make sure he doesn't overdo anything, or want to get physically moving earlier than he should.

Good luck.

Tim's Girl,

I agree with the others, that will be plenty of time to be home with him.
My diet was pretty bland the first week. Lots of water and walking asap. I took my cell phone with me on the walks in case something happened I could call my wife. Never did.

Two surgeries at one time may slow him down a little more than just the Da Vinci.

Good luck tomorrow.
We'll be ready to welcome him to the otherside.

Bill

Well the surgery didn't go exactly as planned, they had to do an open surgery, but they feel the cancer was enclosed in the protate and with that and the nodes gone we should be on a full course of recovery. They tried the DiVinci, but because of the last sigmoid surgery the colon was attached to the scar tissue. So they cleaned alot of that up and repaired the two hernia'a and removed the prostate. Surgery started at 4:35pm and he was in his room around 9pm. He had regular diet from that moment on (which he declined the first night) and sat in a chair at around 11pm. Wednesday, Up the next morning walking a full track in the halls. Eating light as he really hasn't eaten much even before this and had control of his own pain pump. Both surgeons came to see him and said if all went as planned, out by Thurs. We got home at 6:15 pm Thursday night. I am still sleeping in our sick room, due to a cold, and he is sleeping well. Using a walker to pull himself up out of a chair and bed due to the hernia surgery. He goes back in two weeks for each surgeon and hopefully will have staples and catheter removed. I'm looking forward to the next six months. If we have what we expect (two below 0 PSA's) he can begin his Testerone treatment. Thank you all all the help and prayers. Wishing each of you a wonderful holiday and a very happy New Year!

These things seldom go as expected but it sounds like it went OK. He's lucky to have you to help him. Take care of that cold. If it's the one that's going around here (in NC) it's a lingering one.

Welcome to the other side!
Now good luck with the pathology report.

Good news so far, thanks for the update.

Bill

He had a lot of surgery so the pain is understandable. The sleep problem is likely due to the pain meds.

It was a good three weeks after my hernia surgery that I finally felt like the pain was mostly gone.

Still, sounds like he's improving.

All the best,
Andrew

I am so sorry to hear this news, Tim's girl.  Prayers that all will go well on Tuesday.  Please keep us posted.

Good luck,

Aimzee