@MikeF congrats on being home from the hospital, I hope you continue to do well. As TroutMan says, the pain ramps a bit over a couple of days, so you definitely want to stay ahead of it. Take the Tylenol/whatever doses continuously per directions, even if you feel fine at that moment. It’s much better than a really bad pain day when you didn’t plan ahead.
Huh, nobody gave me a spirometer when I had surgery in 2018. It measures lung capacity, so what’s it for post surgery? Exercise the diaphragm?
The way a nurse explained it to me, they tell you to use the spirometer after your hospital stay to encourage you to use your full lung capacity so you’re less likely to get bronchitis or pneumonia. It’s really common to breathe shallowly when you’re in pain after surgery, and you don’t always notice you’re doing it. My mom used to use hers during allergy season to be sure her asthma wasn’t creeping up on her.
The sore shoulder may be due to having had carbon dioxide pumped into your abdomen, so they could see all your organs better. It sounds like you’re doing even better than expected.
I discovered early this morning that a heating pad on low across my belly while snoozing helped a lot. Still waiting for first bowel movement just about 48 hours after surgery. I haven’t eaten much solid food - a couple servings of yogurt and high fiber cereal. I just don’t have an appetite. Lots of fluids, however.
I’ve been out of the house every day, increasing the distance each day. I just got back from a 3/4 mile walk and it wasn’t too bad. Slow but steady. I had two (yes two!) bowel movements yesterday. Nothing to write home about but it led me to eat some chips and salsa (with beans and avacado). An hour later I felt like I was blowing up again. More gas released yesterday and overnight and I was actually hungry this morning. I’m limiting myself to scrambled eggs and yogurt for now. My lower right abdomen seems to more sensitive/swollen than the rest of my belly. Maybe more trauma in that area? I’ll have to ask. All in all, I seem to be mirroring the experience of others so that’s a good thing. Catheter comes out Friday. One thing I thought was unusual - I’ve never met the surgeon. The initial consult was over the phone. I thought he might pop in pre or post-op but - nope. I have a telephone follow-up two weeks post op. I assume a check up and pathology results. A PMSA PET scan prior showed no spread but the needle biopsy showed some in the adipose. With any luck, I won’t have to get radiation/hormone therapy down the road. Same road but a different bridge. BTW, yesterday I was hitting 2500 on the spirometer but confess I’m not using it much. All things considered, I fell pretty good.
Two days later and I sent the following to my co-workers. It sums things up pretty well.
Imagine, if you will, waking up one morning a few days after surgery that removed some basic, internal “man parts”. While conducting a systems check, you are a bit surprised to discover that, where your external man parts used to be, there is now a grapefruit. Only instead of being yellow, it is purple. There is a tube running from a small bump or something on the grapefruit to a bag hanging from the side of the bed. The grapefruit appears to be losing juice that is being collected in the bag. The thing is that, no matter how much juice comes out of the grapefruit, it doesn’t get any smaller. Plus, the juice isn’t the color of normal grapefruit juice. Then again, who knows what is considered normal-colored juice from a purple grapefruit?
After getting over the initial shock and delicately drinking a cup of coffee or two, you recall being warned about the grapefruit phenomenon. Apparently, it is quite normal and nothing to be worried about. Easy for them to say. Over time, the grapefruit will morph into an orange, then a lemon and ultimately, some kind of a prune. It may go through a rainbow of colors while this happens. None of this will impact the removal of the juice tube in a couple of days which, as it turns out, isn’t actually a citrus juice tube at all. But you knew that all along, didn’t you?
Meanwhile, whatever had been growing in your right flank, looking and (especially) feeling like it might do an “Alien” bit at any moment, seems to have died. Or is, at least, well on the way to doing so. It may have a few days of life left in it but that should do it. Apparently, walking kills these things slowly but surely and you have been keeping up with that part of the program.
Yeah, my man bits swelled quite a lot as they imitated a sausage on a stick/catheter and turned so purple they were black. It was quite alarming but I was told quite normal. After some number of days the color was better but that was not a fun time.
The grapefruit situation has resolved and the catheter came out a few days ago. I’m going back to work tomorrow. I am getting some “dribbling” at unexpected times and that’s pretty annoying. A friend was telling me that another guy he knows has to put up with this for two years but it finally stopped. I live in swim suits on the weekends in the summer and, not infrequently, jump over the side of the boat to cool off or just go for a swim. I’m hoping to get by the “pad period” quickly but who knows? Pathology report is to be revealed on Friday.
I had to wear pullups for a couple of months, then pads in the underwear for quite some time, maybe 6-8 months. However, even after that any unexpected thing might cause a dribble - being startled, getting up suddenly, sneezing - and I’d get small liquid in my shorts or even down my leg. You learn to clench up, but sometimes there’s little warning. To this day, five years later, if I need to push out a fart I’ll stand over the toilet to do so, just in case.
Do your kegles, they really help.
I have a doctor I see who has also had a prostatectomy. He quips: “never waste an erection, and never trust a fart.”
Now 7 weeks post-op. The incisions are barely visible. I went to gym yesterday for the first time, took it easy and no real problems. Maybe a little leakage when exerting. My right side is still tender if I do pull downs so its one-handed for now. I also went for a road bike ride today. An easy 8 miles just to test things out and again, no issues. One more week until first PSA level. And FWIW I don’t trust farts, sneezes, coughs or even getting up from a chair sometimes. I did stumble upon an incontinence forum and there is a thread specific to post-prostatectomy issues. Some people have it way worse than me or the other people in this thread.
My bladder spasms are 90% gone, but some colitis/proctitis persists, which is (inherently) a real PITA. I go for colonoscopy next week to see what’s what. My PSA was 0.03 last month after the rad/hormone rx so that’s nice.
Know that this may be an endless battle – it gets good but never perfect. I’m 5 years post surgery, I thought very continent, and I just went on a 2 week Euro vacation that included some upper respiratory issues - sneezing, drip, a nagging cold. I’d end up clearing my throat a bunch, and there was leakage sometimes, v seldom. BUT! if you clear your throat a few dozen times a day, things get icky/sticky/smelly down there. I hated it so much, and started washing my underwear in the sink and changing frequently.
Lessons learned:
I’ll start doing my kegles again – I’m so surprised I’d need this 5 years on!
I’ll travel with a small supply of pads that stick inside my undies in case. I wish I’d had these for the last 2 weeks. Also a small supply of soap for washing undies.
Yeah, even though its early, I’m facing the fact that this could/will be a long haul. FWIW, I woke up at some point in the middle of the night after my prior post with internal pain in the area of the perineum. I went back to sleep and woke up the next morning and everything was fine. I might have re-think biking. Which sucks because its great exercise.
I tried riding a bike 8 weeks after surgery. I was OK on my wife’s cruiser with a squishy seat and upright stance, but I was hurting after 1/4 mile on my road bike and had to quit.
Then last weekend (3 months post-surgery), I rode my road bike 20 miles and felt fine, other than general saddle soreness, to be expected after a long time off. So hang in there, it might not be as long as you think before riding feels OK again.
Good for you! I’m due for a PSA (and multiple other labs) later this week. I also got my 6 month booster dose of long acting androgen blocker shot a few weeks back. I’ve now lost most of the hair on my body, while the hair on the top of my head is getting thicker and thicker where I used to be nearly bald.
Damn, I was hoping for the head hair regrowth, but nope, just the body hair loss.
Squeegee, you can get waterless soap that foams up and doesn’t require rinsing, just wipes away. It comes in a small pump bottle. It can be useful. Keep an eye out for fungal infections.
And keep up with the Kegels. Fun fact, the good Dr Kegel pronounced his name to rhyme with the German philosopher Hegel, not with beagle.
Did a 20 miler yesterday at an easy pace and no problem. I did a few 10-15 miles rides leading up to that Fist post-op PSA was back at the end of June and was .012. Next one is in October. I REALLY need to get more serious about the Kegels, I guess. The has been little to no improvement in that department. Bone dry at night and one pad a day but its absolutely necessary. Given the pathology report, I thinks its just a matter of time before radiation/hormone therapy is on the table but I’m keeping my fingers crossed.
