1. < Prostate Cancer

Prostatectomy scheduled at Mayo: more questions about what to expect

Posted by oldoz @oldoz, Mar 14 9:56pm

Will the Mayo Surgeon likely see me before the surgery, or just the Anesthesiologist?
Will someone likely let me or my wife know generally how it went before I'm released from recovery?
What would cause the Robotic Procedure to be discontinued and change to an open procedure? Does the Robotic equipment ever lose power or fail during a procedure, etc?
Probably last minute stupid or nervous questions.

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oldoz | @oldoz | 1 day ago

Drove 7 hours south to Mayo Phoenix Campus. 1st appt. was Thanksgiving week, was back for other tests right after New Year, then Surgery on March 18th with Dr. Humphreys. Was staying at the Hotel in the Clinic Parking lot for 10 days because I was feeling lousy and then wanted to stay a couple more days wanting to make sure I didn't start having urinary or other problems. Now 13 days afterwards and I still have a little abdominal soreness and waiting for the last few scabs to wash off in the shower.

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thematrix | @thematrix | 1 day ago
In reply to @oldoz "Didn't respond earlier because I really felt poorly (abdominal spasms) in spite of successful surgery. The..." + (show)
@oldoz

Didn't respond earlier because I really felt poorly (abdominal spasms) in spite of successful surgery. The prostate margins and lymph nodes were clean and I had complete continence as soon as the catheter came out. Very grateful to family, friends and posters for thoughts and prayers (and Dr. Humphreys and the excellent surgery team, nursing staff, and others).
My one tip is don't consider staying alone, I couldn't standup by myself for 4 days. I guess I didn't realize that we engage some of our abdominal muscles for any movement. The pain would go from 1 to 9 as soon as I moved, coughed, sneezed, etc., then stopped as soon as I quit moving. Learned to move very slowly. Possibly why some don't recommend this for even reasonably healthy older men (age 72). They were very responsive thru the patient portal. Although radiation would probably have been less painful, I would go thru it again because I liked the idea that if surgery didn't get it all I could still do radiation.
Special thanks to heavyphil who got my attention when I was getting confusing local testing and treatment advice that seemed a little backwards, and he posted 'Get Out of Dodge' - I relate to that kind of messaging. Thanks to all those that help me get to where I needed to be!

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Glad you had a successful surgery. yes, abdominal pain is real, especially in the lower right quadrant area. Hurts the most when you cough or sneeze even if i tried to suppress them but it got better for me over the last six weeks. I had to sleep on a recliner as getting up from it was easier for me than the bed as i could use my arms to push off the recliner.

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oldoz | @oldoz | 21 hours ago
In reply to @thematrix "Glad you had a successful surgery. yes, abdominal pain is real, especially in the lower right..." + (show)
@thematrix

Glad you had a successful surgery. yes, abdominal pain is real, especially in the lower right quadrant area. Hurts the most when you cough or sneeze even if i tried to suppress them but it got better for me over the last six weeks. I had to sleep on a recliner as getting up from it was easier for me than the bed as i could use my arms to push off the recliner.

Jump to this post

Yes using the arms in slow movements seemed to help. For me the worst pain would move from right side of stomach to the left side. I had to learn to sleep on my back. I finally attached an old ski rope to the footboard of the bed to use my arms to pull myself up to a sitting position. Encouraging that you said it gets better over the weeks.

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