First things first…  Two Percocets do not make you perkier.

All along, I had been managing my pain with one pill, and it was doing its job quite well.  But last night I slept through my 1:00 AM dose and could definitely tell this morning that the pain was there.  I popped 2 pills after lunch to try and get it back under control, but learned that two pills gave me a bit of a buzz.  Not fun.

I was up at 7:30 this morning and managed to stay out of bed all the way until 11:30, which was good.  Being up and around is definitely better than spending the day in bed.

I continue to do laps around the house (inside, of course) and this morning I added the stairs to the basement to my route.  That took a little more effort and energy, and by midday I was ready to go horizontal for a while.

A little nap in early afternoon and I was ready for my first visitors by 3:30 PM.  It was good to spend some time with them again.

Dinner tonight was more of the homemade soup that was delivered by my neighbors–thanks!  My appetite is slowly getting better with each day and I’m beginning to return to a better eating pattern/schedule.  Part of the reason that it’s been so slow to return is the bloating after the surgery.

When they poke holes in you for the robot arms to enter your body, they fill you will gas to essentially inflate you to get your body wall away from where they’re doing the surgery.  When they’re done, they sew you back up and some of that gas is trapped inside you.  Eventually, it filters its way into your digestive tract and causes a lot of pressure.  There’s really no room for food.

The surgeon told me to expect to be bloated the first 3-4 days after the surgery, and he was right.  The first two days, I was in agony from the gas pressure–it caused more pain than the incisions did.  For biological reasons unbeknowst to me, getting rid of the gas in those first days is very difficult.  (You remember the old joke, “How do you spell relief? F-A-R-T”??)  It’s amazing how expelling that gas made my comfort level go way up.  The new simple joys in life…  🙂

I still find it difficult to sit for any extended periods of time, so I’m actually standing at the kitchen counter typing this out on my laptop.  It’s getting better, and the more I’m up and about, the more it will improve.

When I started this blog, I was just using it to vent and keep people in the loop on what was happening.  But, over the last 60 days, I’ve viewed this as an educational tool as well.  It’s certainly not meant to replace the advice of proper medical personnel, but I hope that it gives others going through this insight from one patient’s perspective.  It’s the silver lining in this cloud.

So keeping with that educational theme, you may start to see more very detailed and very graphic descriptions of what I’m experiencing after surgery.  I’ll identify those descriptions in advance to allow those who don’t want to know to have the opportunity to skip reading that part of the post.

So it’s near the end of my first full day at home, and things have been going well so far…

It’s still difficult for me to sit up normally–the pain in my belly gets intensified–so I spend most of the day in bed.  The new plumbing makes that an adventure, too.  Normally, I like to roll around in my sleep, and now I can’t without risking pulling on the catheter.

During the day, I do get up and wander around the house for 30 minutes or so every 3-4 hours.  That helps prevent blood clots and pneumonia, plus it really does make me feel better.

My appetite has been slower coming back than I expected, and I’ve been eating a little more each meal.  I’ll have to wait a week or two to get to that ribeye that I asked for in post-op.

Earlier today, I brought my laptop into my bed and tried using it off to my side.  (Putting it on my lap with five incisions and additional plumbing isn’t an option right now.)  As I rolled onto my side to get better access to the keyboard, I sprung a leak.

That’s the side that my drainage hole was on–a hole in my abdomen to allow fluids to drain while in the hospital–leaked fluid onto the gauze covering it.  No signs of infection–just the geometry allowed it to leak, I guess.  I was told to expect that to happen.

I’m getting back into a more normal sleep pattern, even though I was wide awake around 3 AM today.  A little catnap this afternoon helped me get caught up on some much needed rest.

It is good to be back home.  The hospital was not a place for rest.

It’s funny how the universe puts things in perspective.  There’s always someone with a worse situation than yourself, and that was the case with my roommate.  From what I could tell, he had advanced lung cancer that was to the point where his body couldn’t prevent the food or drink that he ate from entering his lungs.  Of course, that made him cough, moan, and gurgle day and night, and the nurses were in the room nearly every hour attending to his needs.  That made my getting the rest that I needed for my own recovery next to impossible.  I know that’s a selfish perspective, and I really tried to direct my frustration more at the hospital and nurses than at my roommate.

As far as upcoming events are concerned, the pathology report is scheduled to be available on Monday.  We’ll know whether the cancer was confined to the prostate or if it has spread beyond.  The catheter will come out a week from today.  Lori and I will have to figure out how long she’s going to need to remain here, but having her here has been a great help.

So that’s about as much typing as I can do for now.

hi  everyone.   blogging from my hospital bed.

yes, as lori said, i am spending a second night here.  they want to make sure that the plumbing is working as it should.

having fun annoying the nurses, which probably isnt wise as theyre the ones with the needles.

hopefully ill get outta here tomorrow.  anyone want to bring me a six pack to drink so i can pee more…

This is Lori again…..

Some things don’t always go as planned. They said Dan should be able to come home today around 2PM. Well, that isn’t going to happen. Apparently his urine output is not as good as it should be considering all the IV drips. Also, they asked him if he takes oxygen at home. They said your “oxygen” level is low, we have to put you on oxygen. So, he will not be coming home tonight. I ran back to his home to pick up his cell phone and run it back up to him. I thought I would blog an update before I leave to go back.

I don’t know how to read or post any of your comments out there, so that will have to wait for Dan’s return.

A last comment before I run out the door. Dan looks and feels good (a 1000 times better than last night), so hopefully, this is just a hiccup!

We both appreciate all the support and prayers being sent our way!

Lori

I left the hospital at 11:15 PM.  Surgery was delayed for several hours due to an emergency.  Dan was scheduled for surgery at 12:30 PM, but they did not take him until 3 PM.  I was given a pager and started the long wait. Waiting is not one of my stong points.

At 3:50 PM I was given an update that they started the robotic operation.  At 5:30 PM an update came in from the Doctor that “it was in the bag”….meaning that they removed the prostate???  After that, I didn’t get anymore updates until 8 PM when the Dr. came out himself to talk to me. He said it went as planned, but took all of 4 hours.  He was a very nice Doctor…. even asked me if I had dinner.

By 9:30 PM, I was still waiting. Actually, by now, I was the ONLY person in the waiting room. I decided to pick up a phone on the reception desk (all workers were now gone) and behold, a voice at the other end said “recovery”.  I told them that I was Dan’s sister and was still waiting. They told me to come back.  I made my way through a few double doors and then I spotted my brother.  Well, he sort of looked like my brother. They had to invert the table when operating, so his face was now swollen. He was awake, asking for a rib eye steak and water. He reminded all of us every 15 seconds or so that he had not eaten for over 50 hours now! He also told us “cancer sucks!” The nurses were great and Dan kept up his humor..even though he was clearly in a lot of pain.  He reminded me of our Dad…always joking around. It was another hour before he got up to his room. His nurse in the room gave him the morphine pump and told him to use it!!!  I left him there at 11:15 PM and drove back to his house. I’ll return in the mid morning. He is expected to come home tomorrow afternoon.  I expect Dan will continue his blog this evening.

Well, this is it.  All the preparations are done.  The sniffles seem to be abating (yea!) or at least not getting worse, and I’ve take 2 of my 3 doses of antibiotics.  The kicker–just as with the colonoscopy–is not having any food!!  I’m freakin’ starving again!  Nothing to eat since 8 PM Sunday night.  That’s 22 hours, 3 minutes, and 22 seconds ago.  Ugh.

My sister arrived about an hour ago.  She’s still unpacking.  🙂

One more round of antibiotics for me at 11:00 PM, and then off to bed.

I’ll show my sister how to update the blog after the surgery, but I wouldn’t look for anything until late tomorrow night.

The adventure begins…

I spoke with the surgeon’s nurse this morning, and Dr. Cincy didn’t seem to think that my sniffles would cause much of a problem for the surgery.  I should plan on coming in tomorrow.

The one caveat to that is if the anesthesiologist thinks there might be a problem, but we won’t know that until I’m there.