My Husband Had RC on May 29th. For Stage 2 MIBC. Doing Well.

Good to hear the surgeon thought lymph nodes are clear. How long did the surgery last? My husband is currently in neoadjuvant chemo prepping for RC .

@skybolt I think the surgery was around 6 hours. Then, I was able to see him when he got into his room. He was in good spirits. Glad the surgery was over. But did have pain. The next day he didn’t remember me being there the night before. He is home now…after 7 days. Walking up and down stairs, eating, drinking…He still has a JP drain in for another week and is giving himself shots everyday until the end of June…to prevent blood clots. We were sitting outside and walking around the backyard. It wasn’t as bad as he thought it would be. Personally, I’m happy this surgery is over…God bless you and your husband. Always thanking Jesus for all our blessings xx

I am happy to hear things went well. Thank you Jesus!

Hi Rose, how are things going? If I may , where did your husband have surgery? Was it robotic or open surgery?

@skybolt robotic surgery and Yale Hospital. He’s doing well. Only thing is the JP Drain…dripping outside tube and inside tube. Thank you for asking! God bless you . Hopefully you are doing well

Hi @rose1966. Hope you and your husband are getting stronger every day post-surgery. Just a quick question as I noted that your husband was going up and down stairs when he returned home from the hospital. Did you relocate the bedroom to the first floor - or use the stairs as a way to stay active around the house? We also have stairs and part of me wants to encourage their use (but, of course, the other part wants to move the bed downstairs and create a "care suite" until my husband is strong enough to do stairs without worry). Any advice?

My surgeon and his team recommended limiting stairs for the first six weeks after my RC surgery. So we placed a bed in the living room. That worked out.

Even after my JP drain was removed it took quite a long time for the wound to heal. It would leak significant amounts of fluid. It was very frustrating.

@eustacia55 Hi Holly, I think a care suite would be nice for him! He wouldn’t have to walk up and down stairs. My husband came home on the 7th day from the hospital and was able to walk up the stairs. I have a 1920’s home with no bathroom on the first floor. I was worried about the staircase, but,..thank God…he made it up. He was able to go up and down the stairs. He wasn’t allowed to lift anything ….Just walk around the house and outside. We started walking around the backyard. Then, we walked around the block. He walks everyday…to prevent blood clots (he also has a blood thinner shot that is given to prevent clots) and he is almost done with that. I gave him protein shakes 2x a day. No fiber. No fried foods. He ate bland , soft foods. Mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes. Bits of white meat chicken cut up. Nothing to upset his stomach. My husband had his bladder, prostate and 24 lymph nodes taken out. Praise God he is cancer free now. We went to see the surgeon yesterday. He still has his JP Drain in. He has to go for a Cat Scan on Wednesday morning to see if everything is okay…because the bulb it is still filling up. Hopefully, he can get it removed next Friday.
The most important thing is to help him out of bed and chairs. It’s hard for them to get up. He also, cannot bend down. Also, to wear those disposable gloves when changing the dressing on the JP drain and changing the pouch. That will prevent infections. Have him drink 2 liters of water a day. Prevents UTI’s. I have all his supplies in a cupboard in the room …the pouches, night container/and bags, alcohol pads, (adhesive remover, powder only if needed)….disposable gloves, gauze etc.
in the bathroom, I have the mixture to clean the night container and tubing. He is using Coloplast. The container for nighttime is Convatec. The insurance covers it. Your husband is in my prayers for a complete recovery and a cancer free life. I am also praying for you ….my legs were hurting after the first 2 weeks. I was not used to running up and down the stairs so much…the laundry and cleaning…..I think I over did it. The cooking. I was used to my husband being at work all day. He was high maintenance for a while. He goes back to work in a month, God willing. God bless you and your husband. We give God all the glory for showing mercy to my husband and taking him through this so well. Also, for giving me the energy and capability to help him in during this uncertain tough time.
The Visiting Nurse will come see your husband to change the pouch…check the JP drain. She will show both of you how to change the dressing and the pouch. The Nurse comes every 3 days for my husband for 2 months. Now, June 14th, my husband does everything himself….he doesn’t need my help anymore. He’s also been taking a shower since he was in the hospital. He never needed me to help him. I tried to ….but I think he wanted to do it himself. He’s very self sufficient and needs his own space and privacy.
I hope this helps. Any other questions, please feel free to message me or ask on this forum. I’m also on Inspire for bladder cancer. I get a lot of good tips there.
Blessings always…I give God all the glory for my husbands recovery. Rose xx

I had two visits from home care. They were useless. So I ended it at that point.

@jaxfl I’m sorry about that. My husband has them coming every 3 days since he got home from the hospital. I can tell these are nurses that are very experienced with urostomy and JP drains. They also sit and listen to him. I’ve heard from plenty of people that they got stuck with nurses with no experience in this field and are pretty useless. I guess you had to figure it all out by yourself. It couldn’t have been easy.