Day After Da Vinci

Just got back to hotel from hospital about an hour ago. Had my Da Vinci done here in Austin yesterday at 7:30am. (I live in Dallas, about a 3-4 hr drive). Surgery went well (so far anyway). I had a kinda rough night in recovery only because I coulgn't keep any of the yummy liquid diet stuff down that they brougnt me.They kept giving me diff. combos of IV anti-nausea and pain meds
and I finally got about 3 hours of sleep. I'm feeling better this afternoon and walked around the hotel grounds some . I'm figuring the catheter stuff out,
they got the leg bag on me when I left but I guess I'll switch over to the biggie tonight.
I'll find out how the biopsy went when I get the catheter out. Please keep me in your prayers.
Thanks to all of you for all the advice and help I've gotten from the forum the last 3 mos. It was a true blessing during this stressful time.

Hello laswell,

Glad to hear you are up and about after only 1 day. I think this is a good sign that you'll be one of those gifted & talented quick-to-recover guys. We'll all be praying for a clean biopsy report for you. Till then just get as much rest as you can, and don't lift anything heavier than a 1/2 gal. of milk. Oh by the way protein is a good thing to help your body heal so if your doctor says it's OK maybe BBQ'd beef brisket would be good medicine.

Glen

Welcome to the other side, laswell!
You will be in our prayers well after your pathology report. you are doing just what I was doing and in no time at all you will feel great. If you can start with small walks and expand thm daily. It sure does help with the healing process and you will feel better quicker. Don't over exurt, but don't under excercise either. I still walk up to four miles a day now and it has becaome a great past time for me. Next weekend I will be heading to Zion and will walk a good 10 miles over the weekend. Good luck next week on your doctors visit. I am sure you'll be glad to lose that catheter. But as you can see it's only a nuisance, and not a tragedy.

Tony

I certainly concur with the take it easy. A half gallon of tea almost did a friend of mine in. Your body feels better than it is so watch out for sure. I am 9 weeks past Da Vinci and yesterday I was pulling wrenches ( sizes 2 1/2" and 2 3/4" ) for about 9 hours on a paper mill shutdown. Today I'm fine, and slept well last night. Good Luck and God Bless, Uncle Dan

laswell

Good to see you made it to the other side and that you are doing so well. The first couple of days were kind of rough but then it got much better for me, in fact I felt too good and over did it and set me back a couple of days so as the rest of said take it easy and work up steady and slow. Good luck and our prayers are with you for a good patholgy report.

norskie

Good to hear you're done, Las. One word of advice: Load up on pain meds before you head home - that's one bumpy Interstate between Austin and Dallas! We were there on Wednesday, for our "all clear-undetectable woo-hoo" PSA results and the roads haven't improved any.

I used Dr. Randy F*A*G*I*N* here in Austin for my procedure. He seems extremely involved and totally committed to the Da Vinci procedure. He is very responsive via phone and email. We really had a good feeling in consulting with him. We also decided that going to Baltimore or NY would add to the stress and be much less convenient than Houston or Austin. I was gonna go w/ Dr. Slawin in Houston but he doesn't take insurance at all, which posed an additional financial strain since we're already paying for food and lodging for 11 days. We found a hotel suite w/ 2 bedrooms and a tiny living room plus 2 bathrooms for a very decent rate on the internet. Everything is very convenient - drugstres,grocery stores,etc. which helps since we seem to be needing some little item everytime we turn around.
I made 3 laps around the courtyard (about a half mile) this morning. Still very sore but very blessed with supportive wife who helps me w/everything.
I am getting use to the catheter but not sleeping very well. I really miss real food!!!! I'm still only eating soups,cream of wheat and gatorade. Oh well that too will pass.