Now, June 20th can't come soon enough.
Just a quick recap. I've been totally urinary incontinent since January of 2016 as a result/side effect of whole gland salavage cryoablation in October 2015.
Yesterday, Dr. Peterson of Duke, implanted an AUS to correct this condition. I was the 3rd of 4 AUS implants he was performing Friday.
I had a 9:30 show time and 11:00 am go time at the Duke Ambulatory Surgery Center. I can't say enough about
how well they treat you at Duke.
Everything went right on schedule. I arrived at 9:20 and immediately checked in at the Front Desk. They called me back within 5 minutes and roomed me. The induction nurses were kind and professional.
I was prepped and ready to go back within 25 minutes. Then, it was just a matter of waiting for the anesthesia doc and Dr. Peterson to stop by. Peterson is known for running on schedule with his surgeries, and true to form, he checked in at 10:15.
Shortly thereafter, the anesthesia doc dropped by. I wish I could remember her name so I could give her proper kudo's. I was concerned about
post-surgery nausea on the drive home (3.5 hours to Virginia Beach). She was very understanding and gave me several IV drugs for that, as well as a nausea patch. They worked great, Never a hint of nausea.
At 10:55 they rolled me back to the OR. I remember being greeted by the OR staff. They were all very friendly and really made me feel at ease. Maybe it was the sleepy medicine kicking in? That's all I recall until waking in the recovery room at about
1:15.
I was out of recovery and on the road within an hour WITHOUT A CATHETER. They gave me an ice bag and enough pain meds for the drive home.
We dropped by a nearby Rite-Aid to pick up my pain and constipation RX. While waiting for the RX, we dropped by a Panera to eat. I remained in the car. I was very hungry. I consumed one of their green smoothies and half a Frontega Chicken sandwich. That hit the spot.
After eating, we returned to Rite Aid to pick up the RX and Tylenol X strength.
Then we hit the road.
Doc wanted us to stop hourly for me to walk around a bit and to make sure that the urine was flowing. That's when the only negative event occurred. We stopped at a rest area on I-95. As soon as I got out of the car the fluids started really dripping (I am totally incontinent). That's not a problem when I am wearing Depends and a pad. However, I was wearing the mesh underwear and one small pad they gave me at the hospital. I immediately felt the stream running down the side of my legs. By the time I made it to the restroom it was going strong and I was standing in a pool of urine. NOTE TO SELF: ALWAYS WEAR DEPENDS AND A PAD WHILE INCONTINENT.
Luckily, no one saw me. But, as anyone has experience this, it's the frustrating part of side effects. I did a quick change in the Rest Room, added Depends, pad and new shorts and did a quick once over with the baby wipes. All is good.
The rest of the ride was uneventful.
It's Saturday morning now. I feel good. Very little discomfort. I plan to stay with the Oxy today and transition to Tylenol/Alleve tomorrow.
That's it for today. I'll keep you posted periodically through the recovery period. I'm scheduled for activation on June 20th.
Tony
