Preping for surgery?

Northerner...welcome to HealingWell and on behalf of every here, we wish you all the best for your husband's up coming surgery. Please report back and let us know how he did.

Northener-- Good luck today! The surgery is major, and things can happen. Most patients do fine and recover well. It seems like a long road when you get home from the hospital, but in about 3 weeks you should be doing better, and after 6-8 weeks you feel like yourself again. So be patient.

Lots of good advice here. I just went through much of this (surgery 10/31) and had my catheter for 4 weeks. Here are some things i did or suggest doing -

I slept on the couch because it reclines and was more comfortable and because i knew i would get good drainage. I hooked the bag on a piece of furniture - they recommend not laying them flat on the floor.

I had some leakage around my catheter tube, so i used light pads during the day. They have adhesive to stick to the inside of briefs.

I used the leg bag all day. Easy to empty in the toilet - it has a drain valve. Usually 1 - 2 hours.

When you switch bags, be sure the tube is well connected. Coming loose is not good.

Some days i was at the computer for several hours, so i kept the big bag on and hooked it to my desk.

I used vaseline at the catheter / penis exit. It kept me from chafing and provided some lubrication because the tube will move in and to a little. The doctor recommended against anything that was an ointment or medicated - said to use plain vaseline.

I went where ever i wanted after about 3 days. Walked daily. The leg bag is pretty well hidden with sweat pants, fitness pants or looser jeans. I had to attend a funeral about a week after surgery and it was fine - suit pants are pretty loose.

At night, i tried to sleep in sweat pants or loose shorts and no underwear to let everything breath and avoid getting rashes.

You can shower with the leg bag or the bigger bag. I made a rotation for towels. I would use a towel to dry, and then that towel became a floor towel for when i stepped out of the shower the next day. I used a new towel for drying every day just to help make sure i wasn't spreading anything around.

I used the same leg bag the whole time. Easy to rinse and keep clean. I had two of the larger bags. I would recommend buying spares, or asking for spares at the hospital before you leave.

Find what works for you.

Will be putting this great advice to use soon . Surgery is on Monday. I had my pre-surgery meeting with Dr. Klein this morning. He told me not to party too hard this weekend. I told him that he's the one that has to rest up for Monday. All I need to do is lay on the table.

Halbert,

Yes, on the main campus but now they have a surgery center- an entire building with a parking garage just for surgeries. Then they move you over to one of the other hospital buildings to a hospital room for the overnight. It is crazy how it is becoming like a small city there, but it is great that all of the buildings are connected by skyways so once you are there you never need to go outside. Especially now that our 14 degree ice and snow days are here.

Way to go schoolpsych! Keep moving and walking. Make sure to focus on your fluid intake and work on getting your bowels functioning normally. Take stool softeners. I had a day of constipation that I could have done without. Keep your catheter, incisions and JP drains clean. The soreness should start to subside in a day or two and your energy level will pick up quickly. Pretty soon you'll start to get bored sitting around and bothered with having to lug the catheter around but it'll be over soon enough. Hang in there. Good job!

Great! Best wishes for a speedy recovery!

Thanks for starting this thread. 3 days behind you. Robotic surgery scheduled at Cleveland Clinic this Thursday with Dr. Robert Stein. Will use all the tips here. Wish I would have found this forum earlier.
Dx Sept. 2016
PSA 6.38
Biopsy 8 of 12 cores positive
Gleason 3+4
MRI EPExt suspected, Negative elsewhere
PiRad 5 and 4

What's worse than having a folley and not being able to have a bowel movement? Having the trots while dragging around the bucket and bag!

I was rather relieved (literally) to have finally had a bm on Thursday three days after surgery. My wife had what seemed like a good idea to add a glass of prune juice to my two a day prescribed colace stool softener tablets to make things even easier. Turned out not to be so good an idea. Spent most of Friday morning running with bucket to the toilet. Boy does the cath and bag become a pia when you've got diarrhea! Cut out the prune juice, went down to one stool softener per day, and happy to say I am having a comfortable and "solid" day today.

Anyway, faring pretty well I think for the size of the cut held together with fourteen staples in my pubic area. Down now to just one prescription pain pill at bed time with Tylenol during the day. Going to strap on my leg bag and go to my sister's house for Christmas dinner tommorow. Realitively comfortable sitting in my recliner now watching my Cleveland Browns possibly winning their first game of the season and having spent a great deal of time with my beautiful wife constantly by my side this week. I'm having a merry Christmas after all. 😜

school...a question...where are you in the greater Cleveland area? I grew up in the southwest burbs, and my mother still lives there....