It must be my turn

Peter , yes the Morphine is helpful . Some. guys get away with just over the counter stuff , but for 2-3 weeks after surgery I was on morphine and for 2=3 days after surgery I was also on fentinol , then back on morphine. I had a high fever after surgery so I spend about 10 days in hospital under observation at 58 ! Now im 61 - time flies ! he morphine helped a lot and got me walking early and many time per day , this helped with recovery . My surgery did not bring the PSA to zero but about 4.0 to 0.11 then went down a bit more ....then started to climb to 0.014 at the year level . Had 22 sessions of External Beam radiation - that was 2 years ago now ( EBRT) . Its didnt work at first , but after 10 months it started to . I went from 0.14 , to 0.11, to 0.072, to 0.056 , now at 0.041 ... ( last week reading) . Progress ! . Looks like the EBRT is finally working . Has anyone else had this profile ? James on Vancouver Island .

Peter - forgot to mention ... In Canada , at least in BC , they freeze the Prostate for further samples in future if needed I was told . You were asked if you want to keep it ? Jesus!!! Dont they freeze it or something ? James on Vancouver Island .

Wow. You had it tough. Sorry to hear that. Morphine was effective, but don't know if I'd want to take it home. I was in hospital for 3 days. Got home last night. The catheter's been a puzzle. Everything I've been seeing online says that you change out the leg bag for the night bag at night. But instructions here (written and oral) were to attach the night bag to the bottom of the leg bag, ope up the leg bag & sleep like that. It seemed to work. But it's draining really slowly. I'm hoping the district nurse will call today, so she can come over & check that we're doing everything right.

The taking-the-prostate-home thing..... I said yes because it appealed to my sense of humour. But my wife says it's a cultural thing. Some cultures (Pacific Islanders, around here, presumably) have to be buried with all their bits. So anything taken from surgery has to stay with them.

On reflection, I realised that they slice up the prostate to put it under a microscope, to check the cancer etc.
So I'll probably get back a bottle of minced meat. Not quite the conversation-starter I was hoping for. Oh well. I've already signed the legal forms to get it back. Ready in 8 weeks, apparently.

HaHa!! Can’t even imagine being given a “to go” bag with my cancer riddled prostate in it. Is this a New Zealand kind of thing?
Actually it’s against the law to give a patient anything considered “red bag waste” in New York and probably other states as well.
Even when I extracted a tooth and the patient wanted to take it home ‘to show the kids’ I had to stop that time honored custom. HIV changed everything!

Heavy , I thought is was odd that they give him the option to "cash and carry " his own prostate home for family viewing . They is so much that can be learned from that prostate now( full biopsy ) to medical advances and diagnostics in future that could use material from the prostate , etc . We fence them for 120 years in BC . As for that tooth thing , I had a tooth extracted from a sports injury , it was cracked ( in process for implant now) . No. problem taking tooth home . I noticed it was in a sort of sealed container and was sitting prior in alcohol . Due to the Very high levels of litigation in the USA , I bet this is the reason not to give out tooth to patient(?). This is the natural result Insurers making social dynamic policies ... if kept unchecked . The medical system here in Canada is not perfect , by any means but is very good compared to many places in the world ive been . For example , all my imaging, drugs and pills were payed for in Canada. Caring Dr's and nurses . Diagnosed in Feb 2021 with 3+4 PC , operated on March 31st at 1pm . . Thats after I took 2 weeks to decide what mode of treatment I was to have. I was 58 , so I selected operation. The point I guess is , it only took about 3 weeks to get operation. We have a brand New HUGE hospital in my city on Vancouver Island and have most of the machines in there ( except a PSMA-PET scanner) . We have two helipads at the top of the hospital , and they bought a new fancy Helicopter , rather than a PSMA -Pet scanner to my surprise . We have a provincial election here soon , and I have already met with the two potential Premiers . I told them Prostate funding only gets 2-5% of the funding breast cancer gets and thats a problem . Both parties have committed Government money ( Our money !) to buy one for our new hospital . It was more of a easy sell then I thought it would be ( election period)- they were actually receptive to my pitch . That PSMA Pet scanner will help many men in the future . We just bought a state of the art Robotic Machine ( very fancy so im told ) for the Victoria hospital , about 1 hour south of me . I can go there too If I wanted to . I dont have to stay in my city for treatment . Here is an interesting one - I was by my house in the Philippines riding my motor bike . Going up driveway I caught me leg on the Metal gate a week bit . I needed stitches . So I went to hospital and paid cash for stitches , blood work , and stuff . Total bill was $104.66 CAD . Not much , but I submitted the bill to my Province health insurer when I came back . Yep , they sent me my money back to the penny . Not bad , no co-pay or deductible either ! Apparently , we have 6 months out of province cover and out of country for medical expenses . Who knew - most people here dont even know this as Private carriers sells "travel policies " here and make tons of money ! God Bless . I thought you may find this interesting . Our system is not a panacea - but it gets the job done I think , comparable . Pills, dr visits , images , Hospital stay of 1 week , stay in cancer lodge with great food ! All covered . I say 'covered' , we pay high taxes for coverage here. Money doesn't fall from the sky , it is funded by taxes , oil/gas revenues and GDP growth , etc .

I don't know. I'd never heard of such a thing.
But apparently, it's the law:

"No body part or bodily substance removed or obtained in the course of a health care procedure may be stored, preserved, or used otherwise than

(a) with the informed consent of the consumer; or

(b) for the purposes of research that has received the approval of an ethics committee"

"Before your procedure, your doctor will give you some information to help you decide whether or not to keep your tissue after testing. This is part of your informed consent for the procedure.

After removal, your tissue will be placed in formalin preservative. All human tissue is treated with respect. In the laboratory, the tissue will be sliced for closer examination. Very thin slices of some tissue will be placed onto microscope slides.

When your tissue is ready for collection, you will either receive a text message or a letter, with instructions on how to make an appointment to pick up your tissue. Please give a days’ notice for preparations to be made. You are required to bring one form of photo identification or you can arrange another person to pick up your tissue on your behalf.

Your returned tissue has most likely been placed in formalin preservative for processing. Prior to returning your tissue the formalin is washed off, but some will remain in your tissue. Formalin is a poisonous substance that can irritate your skin, eyes, nose and mouth.

Your tissue has been dried as much as possible and placed in a clear, sealed plastic pocket. This is wrapped in cotton wool and placed in a named box. The box is placed in a bag, together with a pair of gloves. Please wear the gloves if handling the tissue. Gloves should be bagged before being placed in your household rubbish.

As your tissue has been preserved, there is no need to store in a fridge or freezer."

This is sounding worse and worse.....

Well, your system certainly sounds good to me. Your ‘few stitches’ in the ER in the USA would probably cost in the neighborhood of $3000 to $5000 depending on the hospital. It’s all about the lawsuits and the ridiculous insurance premiums the hospitals and doctors pay.
In the US you can sue for ANYTHING! My friend did an emergency appendectomy on an undocumented young lady with peritonitis. Not only did he only receive like $275 for his efforts, but she sued him for the placement of her incision above her bikini line….and she WON. Don’t know the damages but it was truly crushing and disheartening to my friend.
It’s even worse now that venture capitalism has entered medicine and the hospitals - and their employees- are under incredible stress to produce a ‘return on investment’ by having their own salaries cut and their expected production to increase.
Honestly, I am a true American capitalist, but this intense greed and subversion of care is embarrassing. I am starting to think that for all the anecdotal tales we hear about the less than optimal government run medical systems in Canada and Europe, I think that system might be better.
Government administered Social Security and Medicare are not perfect but they are run much more smoothly and serve so many more individuals than the private ‘for profit’ healthcare/insurance juggernauts. We indeed, have a lot to learn!

let us know what the Biopsy of the prostate turns out to be . Our here are frozen in Nitrogen , somewhere on island I hear or mainland Vancouver area for storage for 80 years or something . At the end some are donated to Med schools I hear . So , glad to hear your mostly recovering well. That Catheter should be gone in 3-4 days more I would think(?) . God Bless you my friend ! James on Vancouver Island

Am I allowed to post a photo of the prostate here when it's collected?
Catheter comes out October 10.