Had my open RP on Wednesday at noon. 3 hours. Done well and got to go home next day around 1pm.
Has gone much better than I anticipated. Getting better day by day. Awaiting biopsy and looking forward to getting this cath out! Thanks to everyone getting me prepared for this!
Bill
The cath coming out is good and bad. The good is you don't have to get up all the time to pee. The bad is you are tied to a plastic tube. Make sure you do good cath care and keep it clean. I didn't change mine regular bag to the "walking" bag to prevent possible contamination which can lead to a UTI. You don't want that on top of all this. I assume by your title you are 55. That is my birth year as well. I am only 3+ weeks out. Stay mobile as much as you can while you have the foley. Good luck on your pending path report. Mine actually came back better than they originally thought. So far the incontinence is the worst part. Pain is minimal and tolerable.
Thanks mcg2! Trying to keep the cath clean. Yes same year! I'm ready to tackle the incontinence part, but nice not having to run to the bathroom to pee.
Good to hear you're recovering well. Surprising however to hear you had an open RP, which presumably means you have a larger wound to contend with. Good advice to keep the catheter clean, showers and mild soapy water should do it. Change bags minimally and use new ones each time if you have them.
I had a massive Klebsiella infection and was bleeding for 4 weeks. Admitted to hospital for IV antibiotics. However that particular infection could only have occured during the surgery itself. It's unlikely you'll get that.
Don't assume that incontinence is automatic or inevitable. Hopefully you did Kegel exercises before surgery and will do when the catheters out.
It's very variable, it's highly likely you'll have poor control at first and it may take time to achieve the best you're ever going to achieve so need to be patient.
Think of it this way, it's not the only problem you'll have. My boiler broke down, the cat disappeared, my lawnmower needed mending, I have spinal arthritis etc. Put it in perspective. You have problems, some you solve, some you live with.
I was lucky, I was continent in six weeks.
Hello Bill,
Just curious about how you chose an open vs. robot procedure.
Sometimes the choice of doctor CAN be more important than the particular flavor of surgery. It was for me. I could have opted for robotic, but I really wanted my surgeon and while he does robotic it was clear that non-robotic laparoscopic was his forte. My brother's surgeon literally wrote the book on prostate issues and I probably would have gone with him were he still operating. My brother's RP was open (about 2010 or 2011), though in fairness he was something like 15 years younger than I at the time of surgery, all I can say is I should do as well as he has.
Thank you.
Chose open because I know 2 people who had the procedure with him with great results.
When I met him he went over both procedures in detail. He only does open, said he would refer me to someone if I wanted robotic. He said he averages about 120 a year and has done well over 2K of them.
I was in the OR just before noon and was released by noon the next day.
In my humble thinking one big hole was better than 5 small ones and also a robot can't feel like an experienced hands can when checking lymph nodes that might be suspect. Just my opinion.
I had two inguinal hernias, the left side in 1995 was an open operation, 6 weeks of recovery time and a lot of scar tissue left over. The right side was done in 2000 and was laparoscopic, 10 days of recovery and little itty bitty scars. That was why I chose R.A.L.P. for my PC surgery in 2011. 10 days later the catheter came out. It took 3 months for me to figure out how to pee again, even with kegal exercises. I have been dry ever since. However, your relationship to the nearest bathroom will change from what you were used to pre-op. You are down to one sphincter at the bottom of the bladder and it is not used to doing the heavy lifting the one in the prostate used to do. If you try to hold it back too long, it will just give up on you and let it all flow. It is usually when you stand up that you will realize you have to pee. Heed that feeling. Passing up an available bathroom for a potential one in the future is bad bathroom policy. You will regret it everytime you pass a up a perfectly useful bathroom.
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