Another quiet day around the house, which is a good thing.

The drains continue to do their jobs, and the flow from each is steadily decreasing (just look at the trendlines on my charts to be sure).  Hopefully, when I fax the charts to the surgeon on Sunday night, he’ll see them first thing Monday morning and call me to bring me in to have them removed on Monday or Tuesday at the latest.  (It took me about an hour to configure my computer to fax documents yesterday.)

While I was in updating my drainage flow chart, I thought I’d create another one to see how long I can go between voiding my bladder.  I’d like to see that number go up over the next week so that I can be more effective when I return to work.  That means I’m trying to hold things a little longer without jeopardizing a major accident.

One other silly exercise that I’m doing is that when I do get the urge to run to the bathroom, I’m making several laps around the house to simulate the distance between my office and the men’s room at work.  I want to make sure that I can make the distance without having an accident if I get a sudden urge.  So far, only a couple of minor leaks as I walked.

I’m remaining religious about taking my antibiotics and they, along with the drains, are doing the trick.  My temperature has remained normal since gettng out of the hospital.

Now that I’ve worked my way through a lot of the food that was brought over, I’m beginning to get back into a more regular and new pattern of eating.  One that includes much more fresh fruits and vegetables, more whole grains, less red meat, and less animal fat. 

I only want to go through this cancer crap once, and if improving my diet helps prevent something like colon cancer (closely related to prostate cancer), then I’m going to make the change.

Does that mean that I’m forgoing the Pollo Loco at Acapulco’s for ever and ever?  No.  I just want to be more sensible as I go forward.

So that’s it for this cold, overcast Friday.

There really isn’t much to report today.  I spent a good portion of the day just organizing things around the house–clearing all the post-surgery stuff from the bathroom; filing medical bills and statements; taking the trash out (for the first time in three weeks!); running a load of laundry.

After having a good incontinence day yesterday, I shed the full-blown Depends and opted for the guards in the underwear today.  No problems so far; just the occasional stress incontinence.

I shared (in spreadsheet chart format, of course) my drainage numbers with the surgeon today.  He was pleased that they’re moving in the right direction, but wants to keep the drains in through the weekend and to call him Monday morning. 

That’s okay, I guess. They’re more a nuisance than anything else, but if they help get all that bad “juice” out of me–along with the antibiotics–I can tolerate them for three or four more days.

He asked how the incontinence was going and when I told him that I was in underwear with guards, he was pretty amazed given that the catheter came out two weeks ago tomorrow.  He was very pleased with that, so that’s a reassuring sign.

So that’s about it.  The last of my W-2’s arrived in the mail today, so maybe I’ll begin working on my taxes while I’m still sporting the drains this weekend.

Simple Gift #1:

OMG.  What a difference a real shower makes!!

The nurses wouldn’t let me take a shower with the dressing over my drain outlets (even though it’s covered in plastic), so I asked the surgeon as he discharged me and he said it wouldn’t be a problem.  So this morning, just to be extra protective, I grabbed a gallon Ziploc bag, taped it over my abdomen where the dressing was, and stood under hot, streaming water for about 15 minutes.  Heaven.

Simple Gift #3:

Sleep in my own bed.

My first night home was a good one.  It was a lot easier to figure out what to do with my drainage bags that I thought it would be.  I just created a little nest with an old towel on the mattress beside me, and the tubes leading to the bags are long enough where it worked out just fine.  (These bags operate on a vacuum system and don’t rely on gravity to drain, so they bags can be at the same level as my pelvis.)

I was able to sleep quite soundly and only ran to the bathroom twice in the middle of the night compared to about once every 60-90 minutes in the hospital (I guess without the IV fluids, there was less to void.) 

A great rendition of the old Shaker song:

Finally, I think I hit one of my lowest moments in this whole experience a couple of nights ago in the hospital.

I had turned out the lights at 10 PM and managed to fall into a deep sleep very quickly.  The urge to pee hit me, so I started my 10-step process to get to the commode.  When I got to step six, stand up, I instantly started filling my diaper with one of the hardest and strongest streams that I had felt since being admitted.  And it kept on to the point where the diaper overflowed and pee was running down my leg onto the tile floor and my little hospital booties.  And there wasn’t a damn thing I could do about it.  Nothing.

I called the nurse and she got me and the room cleaned up.  When I looked at the clock, I was astonished to see that it was 10:50 PM.  I had only slept 50 minutes when this happened.

About two hours later, the urge hit again.  I vowed not to have a repeat experience and made it to the bathroom.

Just as I sat on the commode–and before I could get “things” aimed in the right direction, the damn burst again and I’m peeing on my hand, the toilet seat, in the bowl, on the floor. 

That was it.  That was the low point of this whole experience.

The nurse was extremely compassionate and listened attentively as I vented my anger and frustration. She reminded me that the pockets of infected fluid were putting so much pressure on my bladder that it’s no wonder that I couldn’t control it.  

At one point during one of the episodes, I barked out, “Where the hell is all this coming from??”  She reminded me about the IV fluids being introduced into my body as one source.  The next morning, she talked to the doctor and, because the fever had broken, he agreed to take me off the IV fluids altogether.  That helped considerably.

In the day that I’ve been out of the hospital, the incontinence issues have been only minor–occasional stress squirts–so I hope the days of peeing down my leg are well behind me.  I think they are.

When telling the surgeon about this, he said that guys don’t realize that the weeks after the catheter being removed is the worst part of the whole experience.  He described what most go through, and based on his description of where most guys are at at this point, I really do feel as though I’m ahead of the curve.

Still, he said that regaining continence is like riding a sine curve–there will be ups and downs. 

I just want to be confident that I’m not going to stand up in a staff meeting and have a major incident, or that I’ll have enough time to walk between my office and the nearest men’s room.  I’m not sure when that will be.  Soon, I hope.

Yes, I’m home.

I was discharged late this afternoon and arrived home about an hour ago, thanks to the chauffeur services of a friend.

I spent a little bit of time getting the stinking black bananas out of the kitchen and organizing after my five day absence. 

The drainage bags that I was given are the same kind that I had for the surgery itself–a small, football-shaped plastic container that’s slightly larger in size that a large lemon.  They fit nicely into the pockets of my sweat pants, so getting around the house will be much easier than I expected.  Sleeping, however, might be another story.

The large bags clipped to the bed linen away from my body.  I’ll have to figure out a way to keep these smaller contained away from me so I don’t roll onto them during my sleep.

One thing that I need to do before going to bed is create my fluid output rate spreadsheet.  Those numbers will determine when the drainage bags come out.

Hopefully I’ll be up for a more detailed update tomorrow.  G’night! 🙂

today was a really good day.  my temperature was near normal the whole day.

the surgeon stopped by early this morning to check on me.  we reconfirmed that we wait on the culture results and how the fluid is draining before we make a decision on the next step.

i was able to spend a good part of the day walking the halls, entertaining the staff.  in the afternoon, i was liberated from my iv for four hours until the next antibiotic treatment.  no more iv fluids to overtax my beat up bladder.

i should know more about what is next when i see the surgeon tomorrow.  he  was here at seven today and around eleven a couple of days ago.  it appears his schedule is anything but routine.

more when i know it.

today was a much better day.

it started with not having a fever and got better when i got out of bed.  up until today, every time i stood up, i would instantly void my bladder into my diaper.  today, that did not happen.

the fluid that was drained was putting so much pressure on my bladder that there was no way i could control it.  now with the fluid gone, i can.  and that made my day.

i still have the occasional stress squirt, and that is okay for now.

my temperature has been at or below normal all day long.

my surgeon wants to wait for the culture results before making any decision about discharging me.  i may have to have another ct scan to confirm that the fluid is gone.

mybest guess is that i will spend monday night here.  things are looking up.

The day started with a bit of confusion.  My nurse said that the team that normally performs the procedure to drain the fluid does not work on the weekends and that I would have to wait until Monday.  She did not realize that my surgeon had made a special request to have them here today.

The procedure was quick and easy.  I was awake throughout, interacting with the team.  They installed two drainage tubes with separate drainage bags.  More hardware to lug around.

This evening, three visitors popped in for an hour and a half or so.

We will learn more of what the next steps are tomorrow.  if i were to guess, i would say that they chances of me still being here on Monday are good.

so i had my ct scan this  evening and it showed a build up of lymph fluid from where the lymph nodes were removed.  they will do a pro@edure tomorrow to drain the fluid and install a drain.  they will use a ct scan to guide the needle to drain the fluid.  i should expect to be here at least one more day, maybe longer.

i am back in good sam and will be admitted while they try to figure out the cause of my fever.  they will keep me until i am fever free for twenty four hours.  fun.

This morning I woke up with chills and a fever that hovered between 100.4° and 101.6°.  The surgeon has ordered me to return to the hospital so we can figure out why.  He even thought that there would be good chance that I’d be readmitted for observation.

I’ll try to let you know what’s going on as the day progresses.