Prostate Cancer

Well the operation, it was a very long operation, I think, I was told by my consultant that it would be, maybe two to three hours, but as it turned out it was a much longer operation than, I think it was maybe about five or six hours, but obviously I wasn’t (brief laugh) I wasn’t conscious for the operation so I don’t know if there was any complications, but I know from my wife, I mean she was waiting for me when I came out, she was waiting a long time, and obviously thought something might have gone wrong, but yeah, the operation seemed pretty straight forward, and yeah, it was a little bit of discomfort, not really a lot of pain, so I think that was the easy part of the treatment, was the operation, yeah you don’t think it at the time because you haven’t experienced the recovery, but to me, that was the easiest part, I think the recovery period and things you have to go through after that, was much more difficult.

Going into the operation, I just wanted to get on with it, I just did not want to waste another hour really, just get down on that operating table and get it done. I think that was 4 o clock ish I can't remember, the next thing I knew, I think I had a total of 10 tubes going in or coming out or doing something useful, 10 tubes in me and I was in what they call the high dependency unit for 2 days where I really had very close one to one monitoring indeed which was very reassuring and I was sufficiently doped up, but I wasn't in any pain at all, uncomfortable at times yes but not in any pain.

So that wasn't a difficult time and I think 2 days, on the second morning, not the first morning after the op the night before but the next one after that I was offered did I want a bed bath. And I think the nurse, she was a middle aged nurse who had been an army nurse and she said 'Do you want a really strong bed bath?' I said 'Oh yes I feel filthy,' and at 5 o clock in the morning just a few days before Christmas I had the best wash I've ever had in my life (laughs) it felt wonderful, absolutely marvellous. So she sorted me out and a few hours after that I was out of the high dependency and into a room where a nurse was designated to look after me for the next day. And as the days went on the tubes came out and life became a bit more comfortable. And by the time, I was in hospital one week, came Christmas Eve, I was down to, from 10 tubes on the first night down to just the catheter and a tube coming out of a, to a waste bag, I forget what they call them.

A drain?

Yes a drain, taking the rubbish from where the wound, where the operation, that's right a drain, so I had the drain in just taking a bit of rubbish out from the op.

So the experience in hospital was good?

Yes it was, everybody was so, and especially of course when the surgeon came in on the 5th or 6th night and said 'The prostate is, we've caught it in time, it's been,' he said they carve it up and it hasn't reached the outer zone so you're not even in the margin area, it was all central. So that of course made you, you didn't mind how much discomfort you were in at that stage you were basically being told that you hadn't got it in your bones, you hadn't got it, they'd taken out the lymph nodes surrounding the prostate it wasn't there, it was contained all within the prostate. So at that stage he was delighted but that it looked as if it had been a complete success and caught in time and no further problems. But of course it was very uncomfortable for the first month, especially with the catheter and I got an infection in the wound and I got a bladder infection and those were quite uncomfortable but you don't mind that, once you've been told that it's all, you're in the clear. But it was pretty uncomfortable the month, as you no longer had an epidural which I'd had very, very good monitoring by the anaesthetist and the epidural certainly kept me very comfortable in hospital.

So you had an epidural before the operation?

No I think, I don't think I had, no I think that went in whilst I was under the general anaesthetic, I believe that I went in for the operation and the first things they did were fix up things like the epidural and a few tubes here and there and then I was into the surgeon. I was shaved by him, often I think before the nurse or someone else shaves you but he actually wanted to do his own shaving, get it absolutely where he wanted it (laughs) and the scar now 9 months on or so is rather disappointingly fading so I haven't got anything to show off. But it was the first month was quite uncomfy but we had very good, the nurse, the Distric

The operation itself was... I had it done through the abdomen, radical prostatectomy is now carried out and I'm bound to get the word wrong but I can't think of the word perennial, no not perennial no that's the wrong word.

Perineum?

Perineum correct thank you, through the perineum area and I can't speak on that because I have no experience at all, as I say my operation was done through the abdomen. And you were told quite clearly that you would be 2 days in intensive care on leaving the theatre and that you would probably be in hospital for something like 6 to 7 days. The anaesthetist was absolutely excellent, following the operation he guaranteed that I would feel no pain and he was absolutely right. He implanted an epidural pretty soon after I came round from the anaesthetic and I can honestly say I had no physical pain at all. There's a certain amount of discomfort of course that you are again fitted with catheters and you've got drips going into your back of your hand and also, or into your wrist and also blood transfusions. These are just a nuisance more than a painful thing. You're pumped fill of antibiotics because they do not wish you to have any infection in the area of the wound because it is a fairly large cut that is made through that abdomen and it was done across the abdomen not as I believe some cases up and down. On leaving hospital I came home, this time I'm absolutely certain with a catheter in and I was incontinent which of course would be the case with the catheter anyway. But after 3 weeks you had to go back and have the catheter removed and I remained incontinent with the catheter out. Now this is the most difficult period of the operation, some people I am informed are lucky the catheter is removed and they're immediately functioning properly, others I'm informed can go on for a year still being incontinent.