What the stomach looks lies after the operation

You will see there are five bandages where the robotic keyhole surgery take places and the bandage on the left is the drain for the blood to leave. These were checked and replaced upon leaving the hospital one day later and 4 days later at the surgery. The clips held underneath are then being removed 4 days later still, so in my case 9 days after surgery.

A surgical drain is a small plastic tube that is sometimes used after an operation. It is put inside you during the surgery by the doctor and will stick out of your body until it is removed, usually a few days later. It connects to a small plastic bag that collects any fluid or air that has drained away from where you had the operation. Not all operations require a drain to be in: your surgeon will advise you if one is necessary.
https://patient.info/treatment-medication/surgical-drains

Fragmin injections

You will have the joy of 28 Fragmin injections to enjoy once you leave hospital.

My wife kindly does mine directly into the lower stomach here are some picture of what the injections look like.

The following photos show you from pre opening to disposal.

Day 1 after surgery and going home !

The picture is pretty much how the ward round felt from my perspective and was so short!

I was very keen to get out of bed but it was not happening. Around 9.30am the ward round took place and my bed became surrounded by a surgeon, doctors and nurse.

I was expecting to be examined but no they was a 2 minute conversation mainly wanting to know how much my drain has let out - 295ml and on that basis I was told I was free to go home that afternoon! I had not even been out of bed yet!

I asked if the 295ml was normal and told it was slightly higher than they would like but happy that I could go home.

I checked if getting out of bed had any issues I could stay and that was confirmed and at the end of the Ward round the consultant did come back to check I was happy with his decision.

Around 10am the nurse was able to get me out of the bed much to my relief.

We ordered lunch and then went walking around the wards we were in. We were meant to do 160m and walking with my neighbour we easily achieved that before lunch.

We had lunch then went for a longer walk. When we got back I was tired and went to sleep for an hour in the chair.

Even as I write this I find it astounding that once I woke it was not to long before my wife turned up from work.

At this time I still had the drain inside me and yet I was being released within 90 minutes as it transpired.

Once the nurse has the paperwork from the doctor he took me to the bed and redressed all of the wound bandages and removed the drain.

At the end of this I was able to get dressed just over a day after waking up from the surgery.

We waited to be discharged and were provided with extra dressings, clip removers, a discharge letter, 28 Cialis which becomes a repeat prescription, 28 days of Fragmin injections and a disposal case for the injections,  Extra catheter day and night bags and extra relevant  attachments, extra TED stockings which again you need to keep on for 28 days. Also some notes on how the catheter works.

We were told we would be contacted regarding catheter removal and for me it will be 2 weeks and 1 day after surgery first thing in the morning.

We had to book up the wound dressing check with our local district nurse who conveniently is at our surgery. That took place 5 days after surgery.

The first night

I should make clear the patient is not me, but this is the angle I was asked to sleep. I had a drain coming out of my right side and a catheter both linked to collection bags, so I was going nowhere! 

Unfortunately although I was resting the level of activity and nurses coming to check various patient’s including myself meant it took ages to get to sleep.

My blood pressure was all over the place on the low side for me and that slightly concerned me and lying down my pulse was to low at 92 and needed to be 95 so I was asked to rest in a raised position.

The bed was very comfortable and could be moved to all angles.

I also had a pain relief button that put a small amount of morphine into you. I did use this on a number of occasions through the night as the anaesthetic wore off.

I probably got 3-4 hours sleep that night and woke up for breakfast.

In the ward after the operation

The ward was a group of 4 gentlemen suffering kidney stone or Prostate removal.

I was still feeling remarkably well and was provided with two set of sandwiches and some fruit which filled me up.

I got chatting with the gentleman opposite who was having his third day in hospital and desperately wanting to get back home.

We had ended up as the only two in the ward but around 6.30 both other spaces were filled. One by a now friend who had had the same surgeon as myself in the afternoon. He had to wait from 7am to be operated on after I had been done. Worst of all he was not told how long the day was going to be. We both believe this to be unfair, as I am sure you would if you were in his position.

At this point it is fair to say my day where I have been writing this blog turned into a disaster with extremely painful constipation which will have its own page. What ever you do make sure you allow for the potential of this and ensure you are given a stool softener prior to leaving hospital. I certainly don't want anyone going through what we went through.

I was still well and was helped to get to a seat which was quite amazing in my view seeing I had only woken three hours before.

My family came to see me which was special and once they had left I watched the Apprentice.

By this time I was getting tired and sore and felt it was time to try and get some sleep.

Recovery from the operation

Having woken in the recovery theatre I was very surprised how little pain I was feeling and was able to make jokes with the nurse looking after me.

This was a case of waiting for the bed space to come free as I found out later.

I had a drink and bourbon biscuits as I had not eaten since 7pm the night before and it was now around 4pm.

Around 4.30pm the bed had come free and three nurses wheeled the bed from the recovery area up one floor in the lift to the ward.

The day of the operation

Having woken at 5.30am I did 10 mins on the cross trainer for my “brisk walk” you are advised to take.

My wife took me to the hospital and we arrived at the ward around 6.45 and were almost immediately taken to a small room to wait. As we found out later my neighbour on the ward was also there but he was left in the waiting room! He was not operated on until the afternoon after my appointment.

Once in the room we had a series of nurses come in and do various checks and take bloods. This all took a good hour plus and then we saw one of the doctors yo sign the consent form and to ask an final questions.

After this the anaesthetist came in and explained what was going to happen and at this point my wife went off to work and I was taken to the anaesthetist theatre.

I passed my consultant on the way who did come and have a very brief chat while I was on the bed going through the anaesthetic process.

This was actually all very straight forward with a couple of jabs and then breathing oxygen at which point you remember nothing else until awakening to a nurse in recovery.

Pilates, emotions realisation and fear

I have not felt like updating the blog until now so will attempt to do 3 updates today

The day after being diagnosed with the cancer I spoke to a Prostate Cancer UK nurse who was explaining the need for building up your Pelvic floor muscles. That after I ended up by chance at a Pilates lesson which included lots of Pelvic floor work. I continued for the weeks following right up to the Monday before the op on the Wednesday morning and so glad I did.

During this time I did experience a lot of different emotions and the last two days before the op I was very tetchy experiencing worry and fear.

The realisation of what was happening and seriousness of it almost made me not want to function but I did and got through.

Obviously you have the fears of the unknown some, the majority of which have been unfounded as you will see in the later posts.

Finally the day of the operation came about and we had an early night as our appointment was at 7am