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Posted 1/1/2015 1:29 AM (GMT 0)
Prato,
I lost 8 lbs. between the surgery and having the catheter removed. Between the bowel prep the day before surgery and diet the week after surgery I loss that weight so you may not be done yet loosing weight.

As far as you keeping an update on your progress, we had a couple of forum members a little over a year ago keeping us updated all the way through the surgery. One guy even posted by IPad IN THE RECOVERY ROOM! See if you can top that. I don't even remember the recovery room. I came around being wheeled into my hospital room after leaving recovery.

I posted up to the day before during the bowl prep phase and then posted the day after surgery and days after. It helps the newbies understand the process.

Now go kick some Prostate Cancer **s!

Bill from Florida cool
Posted 1/1/2015 5:58 AM (GMT 0)
Yeah Bill, that was Gedman who posted from recovery. I'm gonna try to at least match it, but I'm twenty years older than him, so doubtful. Plus, if I tell my wife to bring my iPad into recovery, she'll probably wait till I'm fully recovered and then have me committed to a mental institution. On the other hand, Gedman used the same surgeon I am using, so maybe I'll get lucky
Posted 1/1/2015 6:30 AM (GMT 0)
Hopefully after surgery they won't "lose" you like they did Bob. Your wife may panic like I did. Seriously, no one knew where he was after surgery. He was lost!!! Interesting that many mention a bowel prep. Bob didn't have to do any of that, just no eating or drinking after midnight. Thank the Lord for small favors.
Posted 1/1/2015 2:17 PM (GMT 0)
ARangel14 - You wrote: "Hopefully after surgery they won't "lose" you like they did Bob. ... Seriously, no one knew where he was after surgery. He was lost!!!"

Are you talking Bob or little Bob (in Elvis speak)?
When I woke up from surgery I had 2 navels: the usual one and a second one about 10 inches lower that had a tube coming out of it. My little guy was gone! G-o-n-e!!! smhair
The head was only visible if I pulled on the catheter and you can imagine how many times I did that! (I didn't see the guy for days.)

Jeff
Posted 1/1/2015 2:24 PM (GMT 0)
Ok Jeff now you are getting me....well...worried. What are you talking about? Do I need to expect that willy wonky will not even be visible after the surgery?

Miki, Re the prep, the sides fasting, they've got me drinking 10 oz of Magnesium Citrate the day before a,d doin a fleet enema day of. Should be fun
Posted 1/1/2015 2:42 PM (GMT 0)

ken said...
...when I was put in my room they had me hooked up to one of those morphine machines, that you press when you feel any pain...

I had one of those when I had a prior abdominal surgery (hiatal hernia repair and nissan fundoplication). The machine was great! Push the button and it would give you narcotics. Didn't have to put coins in it or anything.

Prato,

You will definitely be able to find it after surgery; not to worry. Just start at the bag and follow the hose upstream.
Posted 1/1/2015 2:59 PM (GMT 0)
Very interesting guys....what fun we all have to look forward to. I note several articles I've seen that observe that with RP (open or robotic), it's not uncommon for the penis to be shortened by up to an inch..they think it has to do with removing an inch of urethra with the prostate and having to reconnect it...Some of us don't have a lot to lose to begin with ;)
Posted 1/1/2015 3:03 PM (GMT 0)
T-5 days to liftoff
New Years eve at the neighbors was ok. I didn't drink, wasn't in the mood, so just had one beer. Drifted off into deep thought a few times. The other three couples that were there are all good friends that I've known for 30 years +, and they didn't act any different toward me, except at the end of the evening when we were saying gnite and they all were like, "2015 is gonna be a good year for you " or just said goodnight a little,differently than they usually do. Subtle, but It didn't make me feel good.

One of the wives saw me drifting off in deep thought, and asked me "do you ever stop thinking about it? " my response was "nope, I try to but nope" and it's true,, when I wake up in the morning the first words that come into my mind is "I have Cancer" . I hope that goes away at some point.

Deep down I feel like this is gonna turn out fine. But I still worry, because the truth is , I don't know that. I told my wife the other day that I'm actually afraid to laugh. Hope that goes away too.

On a more practical note....
Two things I have not been able to find that I think I need for after surgery....
One is the donut thing you sit on. The other is , I don't know what you call it, but something waterproof to put on the bed, or recliner in case I leak at night while sleeping with the catheter in, or even after the catheter.

What do you call this and any ideas where I can find it? I've been to CVS and a couple of other drug stores. I Don't think I've got time to order it online and get it delivered fast enough.
other than that, I have bought what I think is everything.
1 package of Depeneds Real Fit Briefs (hope it's the right one, bought one package for now, after I know it's good I'll buy more)
1 package guards
9 pair of Hanes regular briefs
Wipes
Latex gloves
5 gallon oval shaped bucket to hold catheter
Prep for pre surgery clean out (ugh)
Recliner (being delivered day before surgery
Stool softener. I have Konsyl, it's psylium fiber powder you mix with water. Is this a good stool softener for post surgery or should I buy something stronger?
Posted 1/1/2015 3:08 PM (GMT 0)
Pratoman, Halbert,

Hey! Today is Thursday so it's my turn to worry! But, Yes! It was absolutely not visible while I was on my back in bed. And I have flat stomach - no beer belly here! In my drug induced stupor I panicked and thought I had a penisectomy instead of a prostatectomy. Surely, a surgeon who has performed more than 1600 operations and stacks up guys like cord wood in the office and operating room, can get bored, lose interest and forget which patient is which. I am just a number!!! Patient #1689 was supposed to have his winky wonked! I am patient #1688! I'm here to have just the tumor removed, leaving both nerve bundles and Cowpers gland intact! Maybe he couldn't read the nurse's hand writing! Or he forgot! Or... his urology partner, who does reconstructive penis surgery, needed a new car!!!!

Actually, your belly will be inflated with CO2 to give the doc room to root around. Also your penis will likely fall back into the void left by the scooped out prostate and tissue. Mine was 56 grams Call it 64 grams for easy math. That means a 4 cm cube of material at the base of your penis was taken out. Where did you think little Prato would go? Nature abhors a vacuum.
The combination of those 2 factors produces a shockingly depressing sight for members of the length-challenged set.

No man comes out of RRP with a longer penis.

Make sure to empty that prostate, buddy.
Jeff

Post Edited (Worried Guy) : 1/1/2015 8:11:26 AM (GMT-7)

Posted 1/1/2015 3:14 PM (GMT 0)
Halbert,

For the most part the size of the erect penis is determined by the corpus cavernosa erectile chambers that are anchored in your pelvic bone at one end and run down all the way to the end of Mr Happy. None of this is touched by the surgery and a bit of tugging from a shortened urethra will make very little difference. If you can avoid atrophy of the erectile tissues your size shouldn't be that different when you have an erection ... which sometimes requires a bit of help after surgery.

Where the shortening is noticable is that the flaccid penis tends to be drawn up slightly more into the fat pad. This can require a bit of extra fiddling at the urinal to avoid peeing down the front of your pants.
Posted 1/1/2015 3:20 PM (GMT 0)
Pratoman, this is a great thread, so many other guys will read this and relate to what they are going through. Thank you for adding this to the body of knowledge here

As far as post surgery constipation, you want to avoid that, or so I hear. I did not have the problem, I drank a ship load of water, to the point where I was filling the cath bag pretty frequently. I also was drinking alot of prune juice and taking stool softeners. Smooth sailing... : ) I was also off the pain meds in a few days. The first few days you may need them but after that I found it was pretty easy to get off of them.

Keep posting


Pat
Posted 1/1/2015 4:08 PM (GMT 0)
Prato,

My bowel prep was the same as you. I took the Magnesium Citrate at 10:00 a.m. the day before surgery. I had to drive to Orlando for surgery which was a 3 hour drive. Nothing happened for a couple of hours. My wife and I left So Florida in my car at around 1:30 p.m. for the drive and I began to feel a rumbling in my stomach. I ran back into the house and had my first bowel movement. Then I had to pace myself to get to the next rest stop on the Florida Turnpike. Rest stops could be 50 miles apart. I made it to the hotel without any accidents and had the enema that evening.

I bought a plastic mattress protector at the Dollar Tree for $1.00 but I ended up not needing it. Got the donut at Walmart. I ended up putting a bed pillow on top of the donut to make it even softer. With my AUS surgery, I used a u shaped neck pillow that worked even better than the donut because the "business end" of the u shaped pillow was open.

As far as finding Willie Wonka, no problem, you will have a leash on it for the next week. Just give it a tug and you'll find it.

A week or two after your surgery, ask for a copy of the Operative Report as well as your Pathology Report. They will give it to you. The Operative Report tells everything they did to you in surgery while you were in LaLa Land. It was very interesting. I was put on a Gel mattress on top of a bean bag before the table was tilted so my feet were higher than my head. I didn't think to ask for it until a 1 1/2 years later but they gave it to me with no problem. I did the same when I had my AUS surgery this year.

My surgery was on a Tuesday also, got the catheter removed the following Monday then leaked for the next 22 months. I hope you dry up in 90 days like most of the guys.

Bill from Florida cool
Posted 1/1/2015 4:40 PM (GMT 0)
Thanks Bill.
I seriously think I would not want to see the operative report. The post surgical pathology is something I want a copy of. But I'm actually afraid to read what they did to me while I was out. Maybe that's crazy.

I found out that the thing you put on the bed is called a chux. Hopefully I'll find it at a surgical supply place, otherwise I can always order it online and if it doesn't artive by Monday I can ask the hospital to send me home with a few.

From the list of the things I already obtained, does anyone see anything I might have missed?
Posted 1/1/2015 4:48 PM (GMT 0)
Prato, one thing I found invaluable post surgery was Voltaren Gel. My shoulders really ached as the gas was coming out of solution. The gel worked great and quickly.

Cheers, Doug
Posted 1/1/2015 5:06 PM (GMT 0)
PratL

A CANE!

Mel
Posted 1/1/2015 5:52 PM (GMT 0)
Got one
Posted 1/1/2015 5:59 PM (GMT 0)
Prato...GasX meltaway strips will be invaluable for post op gas pain (throughout your chest and shoulders).  You can find these at WM.  They are unlike any anti-gas I've EVER used.  I go nowhere without them.  I keep them in the console of my Jeep, my husband's FJ, and tucked all about the house...even 20 years post-surgery.

Keeping you in my thoughts and prayers as your surgery approaches=)

Hugs~~Dixie

Posted 1/1/2015 6:19 PM (GMT 0)
@Pratoman they sent us home w/ pads from the hospital (that you can put on your chair or bed in case you leak. They also have these at wal-mart in the section where you buy the guards etc. Walgreens also carries them. If you cannot find those go to the pet section and get puppy pads (they are the same thing, we use puppy pads for everything around here).

@Worriedguy (I don't want to scare Pratoman but will tell the story anyway so Pratoman close your eyes haha) They actually LOST my husband and couldn't tell me where he was. Doc came out told us how surgery went said he'd be in recovery for about an hour and then I could see him. I waited for nearly two hours went up to the woman at desk and asked why they hadn't came to get me, was something wrong because he shouldn't be in recovery that long. She calls to the "back" asked for him looks at me and says "We have no record of him being here, maybe they moved him to second floor, but he's not here". So I go up to second floor, same thing, no record he's been there don't know where he is, then my redneck, hissy fit ensued w/ me demanding to know where my husband is and how they can LOSE someone that just had surgery. Finally, some coordinator comes, makes multiple phone calls, and the WHOLE time they had already moved him up to a room. How can a hospital lose track of a person?? It's a scary thought. Some people they were leaving for hours out in the hallway because all the rooms were full. I like Bob's doctor but will never use that hospital again.
Posted 1/1/2015 6:43 PM (GMT 0)
Pratoman - you are going to be just fine, and in a few weeks your life will begin all over again, and the emotional roller coaster that you have been on will begin to subside. Best wishes for a speedy recovery and you and yours will be in my prayers.
Posted 1/1/2015 8:37 PM (GMT 0)
Miki, title, Dixie, thanks for the helpful info and encouragement .

And Miki, of course I read your message to WG even though you said don't read. Sorry, I iniw it wasn't funny at the time, but reading it cracked me up.
Posted 1/2/2015 10:09 PM (GMT 0)
4 Days to being Prostate-less!
Went to work today, a day I would ALWAYS take off. But wanted to be busy. So left the house at 8:30, stopped at Rite Aid, to pick up a few last minute things i'll need, like a donut to sit on, some GasX strips (recommended by a member here), Colace pills. This stuff makes me nauseous just thinking about it.
I was also told by someone whose husband went through this, to get a commode and shower chair. The Rite Aid store had both. I almost bought it, but 1. I can't imagine not being able to stand up in the shower, or get off the toilet, and 2. the thought of buying this stuff made me want to vomit. So I looked at the wallpaper on my phone, which I recently changed from pic of my kids to a Superman logo (temporary till after the surgery), and walked away, i'll tough out the shower and the poop chair.
Not as nervous today, maybe I'm calming as it gets closer, with the realization that I will make sure to be wasted on Xanax the day before and will surely be wasted when I get to the hospital, within 5 minutes of meeting the Anesthesiologist if he truly values his life. I was thinking of wearing my Walter White T-Shirt (for the Breaking Bad fans among us) to the hospital, I have to try to make a joke out of this or I'll scream, or chicken out at the last minute, or something. But my son told me it would be highly inappropriate, and followed up by saying "besides, Walter White died at the end of the last show. So I'll just wear my NY Jets t-shirt. Equally depressing.
I can't find Basketball warm ups with snaps down the sides, anywhere. Found one place that said they could order it for me. Dicks doesn't have it, Modells doesn't, nada. 'm sure I can make do without it. I'll wear gym shorts around the house, and to go out, I have a pair of sweats with snaps that go from ankle to just below the knee, should work.

I'm rambling I guess its because I have nothing worthwhile to say. The one thing I keep saying to myself when I get nervous, and any newbies who read this should say the same thing, over and over again, is "millions have gone before me and survived".
Got plans to go out for dinner with friends the next two nights. Tonight with a friend from business, and tomorrow night with a close friend who had RALP 4 years ago and had an amazingly good experience, including total continence from the day the cath came out. Perfect guy for me to have dinner with this weekend.
Posted 1/2/2015 10:21 PM (GMT 0)
You can get the pants with snaps waist to cuff as "basketball pants" online at Adidas. That's where I got mine, no one had them locally.

I did not want / need the toilet riser. Just kept my cane nearby to help steady myself as I got up.

Avoid laxatives. You want "stool softeners". My colo-rectal guy would swear by docusate calcium products.

Check with the surgeon and anesthesiologist before taking anything, OTC or Rx, the days before. They might mess with what they administer for surgery. I've heard of guys sent home because they took an aspirin or shaved themselves the day before. Do only what they tell you, assume nothing, ask questions.
Posted 1/2/2015 10:27 PM (GMT 0)
Good call on the toilet and shower accessories. You won't need them. I didn't have a doughnut cushion or feel the need for such a thing but your mileage may vary.

Be sure to examine the sight-lines from the recliner to the TV and make sure you have some sort of streaming and/or on-demand video available. You don't want to have to depend on broadcast TV when you are recuperating.

You'll do fine.
Posted 1/2/2015 10:37 PM (GMT 0)
Poop chair and shower chair totally unnecessary. Good move on your part.

You can always buy some cheap sweat pants and cut them about hip high, wide enough to pull the catheter bag through. Then sew some Velcro to close them up so only the tube comes out. I wore the break away pants and the large catheter bag the entire time with nothing on underneath and it was summer in Florida. The large bag will go for hours without having to empty it. You can throw it in a canvas tote for your walking. In fact my surgeon provided all of us with PC Blue canvas totes to use.

By all of us, I mean I was surgery #3 of 7 my surgeon performed that day. But that's another story.

about the clothes you will be wearing the day of the surgery, it really doesn't matter because as soon as you get in pre-op, they will all be coming OFF!

My anthesthesiologist checked my BP in pre-op and said "Your BP is a little high". I told him, let's switch places right now and I bet it goes down!

Keep a good relaxed sense of humor and go kick some PC a**!

Bill from Florida cool
Posted 1/2/2015 10:42 PM (GMT 0)
Thanks 142. Yes, I'm figuring the cane will be good enough for me.

As far as the pants, I don't want to order them online, they might get delivered too late, or when I am in the hospital with nobody to take delivery at home.

When you say stool softeners, you mean like psylium fiber, like Konsyl, or Metamucil?

Asked the Nurse Practitioner at my surgeons office, she emailed me back that I could take a Xanax the night before, and even that I could have a light breakfast the morning before as long as it was light and before 8 am. I stopped all supplements 2 weeks ago, on her instructions, so only taking BP meds
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