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Hi Ron,
I’m sitting on the plus side of the fence and am very happy with my neo.check my profile and previous posts to get the lowdown on my circumstances and subsequent experiences.
Best Dave.
Hi Greg C,
I too was a smoker for 35 years, and like Jack quit cold turkey the day I got the bad news. At that moment aside from simply quitting smoking I decided to do every thing I could do to better my chances. First I started reading everything I could on the subject. I started with a complete diet overhaul , the usual , no meat , no dairy,absolutely no sugar of any kind, huge quantities of vegetables of the anti oxidant variety.The next step might not be advised by western med. practitioners but I went on an vegetable juicing program for 6 weeks after my Cystoscopy diagnosis of possible sarcomatoid cancer ,through my 1st turbt, the path report that confirmed the sarcomatoid variant to just before my 2 turbt to take greater margins and varify that it was still stage 1.(it was). During that period all I consumed was 60 oz. of vegetable juice each day .Over those 6 weeks I lost 25 lbs of visceral fat that I ‘ d been promising myself I would lose for 10 years.Now after 45 years I was back to my university rowing wt. The 2nd turbt verified it was T20 and that no reminants of malignancies were found in the scrapings. I was advised by my uro ,that due to the type, my best chance of survival was an immediate RC. I took his advise and 2 weeks later they did the deed. The path report after examining all the meat detected no cancer in the bladder ,prostate or lymph nodes. My RC went exceptionally well and now I’m 8 months along and becoming quite attached to my new little friend. So that’s the drill on that…. back to the smoking… I think my best advice is the same as Jack’s, try to replace the habit with a new much healthier one.Honestly ,I became so focussed on my new obsession that I never gave my previous one a second look. I hope this helps. SJay , If you’re checking in, it seems that we have a similar circumstance.
Cheers ,Dave.
Hi James,
No, you should not have any difficulty with the stairs. By the time you leave the hospital you should be walking well. Push yourself to walk in the hospital halls, within their guidelines ,the more the better. Within reason and with proper advise from your doctor, you should be adopting the mindset that you are an athlete in training camp, the first days will be tough but it gets easier each day.
when I came home from the hospital, we set me up in a separate bedroom. In retrospect this was very wise. First off, you will not be the most pleasant bedfellow for a while, you will already know this after your week in the hospital. Getting comfortable while juggling the 2 drainage bags and their precarious insertions,makes getting comfortable difficult. Both you and your wife will under a lot of stress even though your now safe at home, you both will need to get the best sleep that you can. I wouldn’t suggest you share the same bed or room. You will have a lot of parafanalia for bathing and irrigating, I forgot to mention get scented baby wipes for cleanup during irrigation’s. a double or queen size bed close to the bathroom is preferable. You will have 2 urine bags and as you shift from laying on one side to the other you’ll need to shift the two bags from the floor on one side of the bed to the floor on the side that you are now facing. Make sure the bags are on the floor and not the bed. Your urine will be draining into these bags with the benefit of gravity only ( no muscle power ) so you want to give your new bladder the best chance to drain , avoid mucous build up an infection. I know I’m jumping ahead with a lot of this advice but I’m just so happy to share this stuff with you cause I virtually went home blind and had to figure this out for myself. Hope this helps. Keep asking as you need to know.
regards
Dave.
Hey James,
this is my first time on this site,found out about it today at the bladder cancer walk, I may be able to help you with some of your concerns. I had my RC in Feb. 2018 and like you didn’t really know what to expect , except the fact that the RC was necessary. I’m 66 and in good shape which led my surgeon to believe that I’d be a good candidate for the neo. He was right and the surgery went very smoothly. I was discharged after 7 days with the foleycath and the osteomy bag (from hell ). My fashion statement of choice was a baggy t-shirt and sweats. They gave me a script for hydromorphine for the pain but only took 2 pills and ditched them, they bung you up and you sure don’t need that with a stitched up colon. I took some Tylenol when I needed it which was only a few times when Igot severe headaches and night sweats from urinary track infection from the foleycath. These are common and in my case I had a 105 degree fever . The longer the cathe is in the more prevelant. Mine was in for 61/2 weeks. The bag from hell came off 3 1/2 weeks post surgery, what a releaf . Get up and walk around as much as you can post surgery. I started doing upper body free weight excercises from a sitting position,2 weeks post surgery and started going out of the house for short walks after I started getting bored with Netflicks 1 wweekpost surgery using leg bags which I only used when I had to ,( had a couple of stinky malfunctions ) what is most important is that you pay close attention to the nurses when they are irrigating your bladder ask all kinds of questions of the most qualified nurse that attends to you . She will be a senior nurse, you’ know her/ him. In the last 2 days of your stay , demand that nurse shows you and allows you to irrigate yourself because when you get home , you’ll be on your own ,with the exception of the at home nurse visits . Be ingenious , figure out ways to do this on your own so you don’t get pee all over the bed (all you need is a bed pad that you can get at any hospital supply . It goes under the sheet) use those absorbent pads they use for under pet water bowls or litter boxes under you when you irrigate. If you have a significant other they will need to help you initially but you’ve got to get good at doing it by yourself ( you’ll have 6 weeks of it, minimum 4 times a day and be diligent , you don’t want mucus build up and infection. I went into work occasionally with the bags on but if you don’t have to….don’t.)
It all gets easier from this point on. I’m 8 months in now and am eternally grateful for my neobladder and the care I received at Sunnybrook, and am hoping that your experience is as painless as mine. Stay very positive , enjoy the chill time your going to have on the couch reading etc. I’ll keep an eye out for your posts, when you’re getting down or scared or are unsure of the journey , holler out and I’ll try and help.
Good luck,
Dave.
