It was an ordinary day. Struggling to sit since I have a rather large bag hanging on my side. My Cryosurgery, aka Cryoblation or Cryoprocedure, took about two hours on Monday, March 6 according to witnesses. Wasn't long before I was in my room in Lancaster General Hospital attempting to recognize my wife. The rest of the evening is rather fuzzy as I slept off and on until the next morning. Every hour a nurse would check on me, take my vitals and close the door on the way out. At 6:30 am Tuesday morning, an associate of my urological doctor/surgeon peaked past the curtain and introduced himself to me. Said he was going to go to the nurses station and sign my discharge papers. In FIVE hours I was sitting in the passenger's seat of my youngest son's Toyota pick-up truck, headed home. Most everything went as expected and as I described to you over the past 6 posts. It is now time for recovery which seems to be OK so far, but with a few discomforts. Besides having to have a catheter attached to me until March 21, I also must navigate the deep black and blue parts of my body. Easy to rest laying down, but don't want to do that all day and night. My appetite is returning which means more frequent visits to the bathroom. Only trouble is that my bladder is now rejecting the catheter since the anethesia has worn off. I have a call in to my urologist to try and get a prescription that will stop the bladder spasms. The call came an hour later and I was told to take the pain medication that my urologist, Dr. Seiber, prescribed for me on my last visit. Not gonna happen since I never had it filled. I hate to take narcotics so I thought I could get by with over-the-counter pain meds. My wife thought otherwise and headed to Walmart to fill the prescription. Wasn't long before she returned, telling me that the doctor didn't write the prescription accurately and they wouldn't give her the pills. They did call the doctor on call at my practice and he prescribed a non-narcotic over the phone which she had with her. Took one and before long I was dizzy and nauseous. Bed looked inviting and I was asleep in no time. As of this posting I still have a week before my follow-up visit and hopefully the removal of the catheter. Still tough to sit because of swelling, but my bladder spasms seem to be controlled by simple Tylenol. Really getting bored with sleeping, sitting and eating. For those of you who know me, you can imagine how terrible I feel not being able to do something.
UPDATE: I am beginning to feel better and find it easier to sit, walk and get my catheter caught on just about anything in the house that protrudes. Yesterday got the hose caught on the kitchen cabinet pull which caused some bleeding. Heading out for the morning paper causes stares from the people sitting in their cars, waiting for the doctor's office across the street to open in the morning. Made another call to my coach, Bill, whose name was given to me by Dr. Seiber, my urologist, as someone who has gone through the procedure and was willing to answer my questions. He told me he could only sit and sleep in his lounge chair for the majority of the time before he returned to the doctor after two weeks. We had a nice conversation and during our talk told him about my stories I am posting on my blog in hopes it will help others going through the same procedure. He said he wishes that someone could have helped him with his anxiety and recovery after the procedure and that having stories to read would have certainly helped. So, until hopefully my final story in a week or so, I hope at least one of you will benefit from the frank, but true, stories I have posted about going through prostate cancer surgery and the resulting recovery. It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.
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