What to expect after surgery

Can anyone give me what to expect the first couple days after surgery?

Grunt,

Here is my journal starting the day before surgery to a couple of days after surgery. Everyone is different but I believe that I was fairly typical of those that have the Da Vinci.

Pca Friends and Supporters,

Life is Good!! Here is a rundown of my week.

Tuesday - Began bowel prep. No fun but what the heck! Got a call from my surgeon's office at 5;00 PM. My surgery has been moved up from 10:00 AM to 8:00 AM because the 8:00 AM had an EKG problem. The drive to Nashville is two hours. I have to check in at 6:30 AM that means leaving at 4:30 AM. All in all, between the schedule change, anxiety and apprehension I do not get any sleep Tuesday night.

Wednesday - Check in for surgery at 6:15 AM. Taken to holding area at 6:30 AM. Meet many people: anesthesiologist, tech prep, nurse anesthetist, two recovery room nurses. Was asked by all what procedure was being done on me. They want to make sure that no mistakes are being made. My surgeon's assistant then comes in and places her initials on my abdomen where the main incision is going to be and shows me where the others will be located at. At 7:30 AM was told they were ready. Kissed my wife. They said here comes the valium and I was gone. Wake up at 11:30 AM in recovery. Although several men that have had the Da Vinci said they did not have any pain I was surprised to wake up and not have any. I did have a bladder spasm and they took care of that right away. Waited in recovery until a room opened up. It was a very busy morning and there were a lot of men in recovery. At 2:30 PM was taken to room. My wife had been told at 11:30 AM that I was in recovery and I would be there for two hours. As I was being taken to my room they were going to stop by and get my wife on the way. We met her as she was coming donw the hall to check with the recovery nurse. I can tell you that was one of the moments when my wife looked like an angel.

In room at 2;30 PM and leg air bags are hooked up and turned on. One thing of note for those that will be going through surgery the air bags pulsate every few seconds and they also have a warm and cool setting. I did not know this until later that night. The nurses are used to patients coming out of surgery cold and they have the bags set on warm. I am a warm nature guy and they leg bags were really heating me up until I found out about the cool setting and they switched it. Had another bladder spasm and they gave me a pill for it and it immediately went away. The side effect of the bladder spasm medication is a severe dry mouth. Given that you are already dry from surgery and I was not allowed anything by mouth incuding ice chips I felt like I had chewed cotton. They did bring me a sponge on the end of a plastic handle and allowed me to take some water and wet my mouth. This was the last spasm that I had. I felt really good and had no pain or nausea. I began calling relatives and giving them an update. Needless to say, they were all surprised to be talking to me just a few hours after surgery. At this point I began to survey my abdomen and the catheter. First impression was that the catheter was a lot bigger then what I was expecting. The incisions were about what I expected. Since I was already out when they shaved me this was the first time I saw that I was shaved from just below my sternum to right above the pubic bone and all the way across. I am a fairly hairy guy so this was somewhat a contrast. I do not know if they give you anything to wake you up but I was pumped and not sleepy. The nurses came around about 4:00 PM that said that they would be getting me up to walk. I told them I was ready to get up now. At 8:00 PM they did get me up. I did fairly good but got nauseous and dry heaved. Felt better and did not get nauseous again. As Dawgfan noted you cannot sleep with those air bags going so I just got up and walked all night. I would do three laps around the area and then rest for about an hour and a half and go again. Kind of got a kick out of it! One of the male nurses kidded me that I was going too fast and I needed to slow down. I challenged him to a race if he would insert a catheter and hook up an IV and grab a stand. He said that no way was he going to do that.

Thursday - Allowed a liquid diet. Ate some of the liquid breakfast. I am not a big fan of cream of wheat. The coffee though was great!! Kept walking. They set up a video on the room TV that showed my wife and I how to take care of the Foley(hang!!). This was a big help. The only problem I was having was that the Statlock that clamps the catheter onto my leg was not in the right position. It was okay when I was laying dwon or standing up but when I was sitting it pulled and has made the end of my penis sore. My abdomen was fairly sore and they provided an abdomen binder that helped supply support especially when I was walking. My surgeon came. Good news in that he did not see any evidence of cancer in the lymph nodes or seminal vessels are the margins of the prostate. Path report will be back on the 13th and will know more then. My prostate was enlarged and he said because of that he took some extra time making sure that he did the best he could. He has done over 800 Da Vinci's so I feel that I got the best that I could. His nurse practitioner then began the discharge procedure. The last thing that was done was the removal of the JP drain. She told me that men said that it did not hurt but felt weird because it came across your abdomen. She told me to take a deep breath and blow it out and she pulled it out. As I was blowing out it did hurt and I was telling her that the other men had lied. Despite that the pian went away quickly. Checked out and discharged at 2:30 PM exactly 24 hours after I had gone to my room. We stayed that night at a local motel. I did eat some soup. I started passing gas this day right after getting back on liquids and had a BM which made me feel a lot better. Thursday night had another BM, passed a lot of gas. After two nights of no sleep I was ready for a decent night. A couple of Tylenol PM's and a few pages in the novel I am reading and off I go to have a good night's sleep.

Friday - Got up and cleaned up. A little dizzy. Ate breakfast at the motel and headed home. Surgeon's nurse practitioner calls and checks on me. Home and on the computer letting you guys know my experience.

This is a little long and detailed but I wanted to provide as much as I could for those that follow in my footsteps. Now it is on to getting rid of Hang on the 13th and seeing what my level of continence will be. Already have the prescriptions for Viagra and the schedule for penile rehabilitation which will start three weeks to the day from the date of surgery.

Step by step - here we go!!



Tamu

Hi Grunt,   I deleted my previous post on this thread!!!    We invite you to read our personal thread…   "Our Journey” with Prostate Cancer by Buddy & Lee   (direct link ~ just click on the title below!   Reminder to click on the REFRESH icon once there) Our Journey ~ Sharing is Caring   A few excerpts from it…..   Items to have on hand before surgery: Head Brace:   I  took 2 very soft ankle socks and stuffed them with soft material. The pillows in the hospital are really not very good.   I placed them on the sides of Buddy's head so when he slept his neck was not strained, as his head would roll to the side.   This really helped!!   Neck Pillow:   Used while I slept in the chair at the hospital and Buddy continues to use it today while recovering in his new lounge chair J   Helps relax his body while he reads.  It was a lifesaver coming home from the hospital too! Donut Pillow: Used when sitting at the computer (not in the lounge chair)… this really helps take the pressure off.   We have since…found that placing a soft pillow over the donut gives it an extra soft cushion. Prescript ions: Ask doctor for “all” prescript ions ahead of time so you have them at home before you head out the door for surgery.   (Pain med, stool softener, bladder spasm, antibiotics, etc.)   BE PREPARED:   Coming home with a catheter? The catheter was our best friend….   We let the catheter be our priority!!!   We did not go out to dinner, we did not go out to visit friends…   we took care of each other during this time and let the catheter do its job .   Giving the body time to heal properly on the inside. Ø        We kept the large bag hooked up except for 2 occasions ~ when we went for our appointments with the doctor.   The small bag will cause you problems if you let it fill up and you get backflow…   Why take that chance… Ø        Extra big size PJ bottoms with a drawstring….   I slit the side seam from waist to mid thigh.   I re-strung the drawstring so it could be adjusted to the tightness that is comfortable for walking and sleeping. * The idea is to have the catheter tubing from the penis to the bag being a comfortable angle for walking and sleeping. A better idea from Wittler is use Velcro… to secure the top… J   I agree this would be better.  This is one of the reasons I posted OUR JOURNEY  hoping to help others. I did not find the forum until after our surgery. Ø        Expect mucus to appear on the tip of the penis…. This is normal and should not be removed.   It’s a natural body reaction with having a foreign object in the body… if cleaned off the catheter tube will be dry and will agitate the penis and infection could occur.   (Pus means possible urinary infection that is treated with an antibiotic… this is very common with a catheter.   So be aware!)   Ø        With catheter in ..... push l ots of liquids during this time to help flush out system. After Catheter Removed: we used… Ø        Depends Adjustable Underwear (there are several brands out there… they are easy on the incision areas)   Ø        Depends Pads for Men (there are several brands out there… they have adhesive so they don’t slip) Ø        ** Liquid Intake After Catheter Removed ……….. Back off on the intake of liquids once catheter is removed     ** Until your urinary control has returned to an acceptable level, don’t force fluids .   Reminder: Caffeine in all forms is a powerful pharmacological agent that increases the frequency and urgency with which you need to urinate.   We also stopped intake of liquid between 6-7 p.m. to help in the number of times we had to disturb our sleep.   (We still do this and will continue to do this) “Our” Personal Journey February – July 2006 papa bluebird 53   “Buddy” Retired  &  mama bluebird 51 “Lee”   At Age 50, 2003     Complete Physical PSA 3.9   January 5 th, Thursday   2006 ~ Age 52 Routine Physical PSA 5.1    January 24 th, Tuesday     DRE indicated something going on PSA 4.6 Age 53 on February 2, 2006 February 7 th, Tuesday   Consultation with Urologist February 20 th, Monday        Biopsy (day before…started 5 days of antibiotics) February 23 rd, Thursday       

grunt,

I am not sure what you may mean as problems. Yes, I was incontinent but I knew that would be the case going in. With pads it does not impact what you can do. In my case not knowing what degree of leakage I would have after the cath came out I started with male undergards which are high absorbancy pads that fit inside of brief underwear. After about a week I was able to go to the poise type of incontinent pad with a medium level of absorbancy. After about another 2 to 3 weeks I went to a thin poise pad. You will want to change the pad very frequently as the moisture can cause skin irritation. As your bladder and uretha heal and develop the new sphincter you will find that you can go longer and longer between trips to the bathroom. It took about 5 weeks after the cath came out for me to get my full bladder sensation back. Now it is as it was before the surgery.

Others will respond with their experiences.

Tamu