Hey ~ Walt & Diane,
Your question doesn't sound strange at all.... Not knowing is very scary!! The mind can sure conjure up some "stressful" images...
This posting is a very personal posting and in no way takes away from the way others walked along their path.
I’ll give you an overview of how Buddy & I feel about having major surgery. It will definitely differ from most but we are different in many respects to most! So ~ here goes.
Our 1st and foremost thoughts were allowing our bodies to heal and giving the time necessary to do so. Now ~ I realize with Buddy being retired… this was an easy thing for us to do. And not everyone is going to be able to do this. We gave ourselves 8 weeks recovery rather than the 6 weeks. Excessive? Yes in many eyes… but not for us!!
The most important thing for healing is sleep. And the things we were cautious about were food intake, pain, constipation, and bladder spasms. After reading Dr. Walsh’s book ~ we had every answer to any question we had. We read the book together before surgery (except Chapter 12) and after surgery if something happened that alarmed us ~ we went back to the book and it eased our minds…
We went in asking to have a 2 night stay in hospital... We are quite aways from the hospital and live on a gravel road... and felt the extra day there would be good for both of us!
1st day home… Ahhhh it's nice to be home!!!
Changed from the leg bag to “Mr. Hang” and then we both laid down for a nice long nap!!! The wedge pillow was perfect for not having to lay down flat. It helped when getting ready to get up too! We had practiced with me standing beside the bed and Buddy holding on to my locked arms as I pulled him to sitting stance. This worked beautifully and had no strain on his incision area at all. He is a side sleeper and the wedge pillow kept him on his back. And Mr. Hang did a wonderful job. We used the big bag 98% of the time. And would have come home with Mr. Hang (big bag) if we had known what to expect "which we didn't"
Medication: We did take pain medication mainly to allow for the extra sleep and I did not want Buddy to have any pain so I may have given it to him more for me than him! It worked for us!
Exercise: 1st day home…. his daily routine was walk/eat/sleep/walk/eat/sleep/walk/eat/sleep
The day we saw blood in the urine with some particles floating around ~ told us he had over-done it a bit in the walking department…this was on a day he decided to walk a little further up the inclined lane… so he went back to his normal route and in a few days he tried the incline again and was fine!!!
Buddy is not a big eater of heavy foods even before surgery so again ~ our routine will differ greatly from other… but hey ~ it might be something you pull from so will continue to share.
Food: We had lots of chicken noodle soup, crackers, Jell-o, and Gatorade!! We did not eat any heavy meals for a week (our choice). Hoping to help with constipation and allow the gases to get out of our system.
Constipation: You don’t want to have to deal with this…so start on the stool softeners as soon as your doctor tells you that you can. This was a scary time because you don’t want to strain. Your mind can do crazy things at times!!! And you don’t need the stress that it causes… so ~ head this off early on! We did need a stool softener. The one that worked best for us was not the prescription one!! I went to Wal-Mart and talked with the pharmacist… he suggested… equate natural vegetable laxative and this worked like a charm…
Bladder Spasms: We had medication prescribed. Our doctor said to take them all ~ so we did. Better to not have one at all. Rather than have one and then take the medication. We decided to play it safe. And this worked for us.
During the 1st Week at home we kept the same routine ~ walk/eat/sleep/walk/eat/sleep/walk/eat/sleep (a.m/noon/pm) and we continued this through out our recovery weeks but obviously as your strength returns you do a little more.
Your body will heal and your mind will begin to heal from the past many months of “turmoil”… but you must still take precaution not to over do it! You will feel great and will push it and your body will tell you that you’ve over done it. Give yourself time to heal and recover. And the best advice we can share is...
Listen to your body!
I've updated "Our Journey" as of today.... hope you have a chance to see it!
Sending extra strength to wrap around you and Diane as you move forward.
If you find a wobbly stepping-stone ~ just reach out because we are all here for you!!
In Friendship ~ Lee & Buddy
Here's a little rainbow to help you to the other side.....
http://i206.photobucket.com/albums/bb179/mamabluebird1955/Waitingontheotherside.jpg
Post edited to add message to picture ; )
mama bluebird - Lee & Buddy… from North Carolina
v We invite you to visit our personal thread: Click Here: “Our Journey” ~ Sharing is Caring
April 3, 2006 53 on surgery day
RRP / Radical Retropubic Prostatectomy
PSA 4.6 Gleason 3+3=6 T2a Confined to Prostate
3rd PSA 08-07-2007 Less than 0.1 Non-Detectable :)
Post Edited (bluebird) : 10/7/2007 1:58:45 PM (GMT-6)