Oh my gawd, my feet and legs are killing me. According to my Fitbit I walked over 13,000 steps today and almost that many yesterday. (Huge hospital parking lot, huge hospital building, etc. Just to get a cup of coffee I had to walk about 40 miles through the hospital labyrinth, taking 2 separate elevator banks. I have a cramp in the arch of my left foot and a charlie horse in my right calf. I'm whiny.
I went to my urologist today for the post-op follow up, and the woman taking the x-ray put a cover over me when I pulled down my jeans and exposed my underwear. I laughed and told her that after everything that is done to urology patients, it was way too late to worry about my dignity at that level. There ain't even the shred of a shred left.
When I broke my back, I was allowed to go home without any proof of urinary or bowel function. I had none. I went into renal failure as a result and could have died or been put on dialysis. Such is the medical care here.
It sounds like he got top rate care. Those 3 day nerve blocks are the only way to go for any surgery on the abs. The 10 day antibiotics and the stack of instructions I am familiar with. I am glad he is home and you don't have to do the hospital routine. Those are long hard days. I got a laugh about the catheter threat. Something about catheters and enemas that inspire the male systems to start functioning.
That's frightening. I realize that my needing a modern urologist who will prescribe antibiotics (and my needing monthly cath swaps) has limited my options, should I choose to relocate.
The urologist I talked to about the SPC certainly dealt with them, and he seems to be very amenable to my suggestions.... The hospital that he works in is the problem, but there are two surgical centers out here and several more in Anchorage and Fairbanks. I cannot imagine your would relocate here, but if it can be done here, it can probably be done in any state at least. Foregn countries I have no idea.
Wow, I slept like a log last night. Finally had the time to check the tire situation on my car this morning, which turned out to be a non-event. I fired up the compressor and armed myself with a couple of tire gauges, then checked all the tires. Weird but none of them were significantly low.... all had around 28 pounds (sticker inside driver's door said 35 is the spec.) I aired them all up and the idiot light went off. So I'm glad there's no issue with a tire or a sensor. The better half is feeling OK for the most part. His abdomen is quite sore and he moves slowly when getting up. He'll have a shower today and remove the bandage, so we'll get to see the incisions. He's an easy patient so it's pretty quiet around here.
I'm glad the hubby is recuperating as well as one might hope. He still has the drain tube in, right? My tire sensors have displayed a couple of times, always in cold weather (when the pressure naturally reduces.) They always turn off after I drive the car and the tires heat up from road friction. After they're warm, I top off the air and they're good again.
I think that's the first time my tire sensor has ever gone off, but it was not temperature-related. It came on after I had driven about 15 minutes, mostly freeway miles at 70 MPH. Plus it's about 80 degrees outside. Yes, he still has the drain. It won't be removed until he sees the surgeon a week from today. The output is getting less bloody looking and has reduced a bit. He's getting a little crabby so I think he's tired of my hovering. I fluffed his pillows on the sofa, gave him a bowl of fresh blackberries, ice water and a probiotic yogurt drink, 2 phones and the TV remote so he's on his own for a little while.
Sheesh, I can't allow Anderson to outdo me in the boring life stories. (Though he is an over-achiever in the mundane category.) I was just helping my husband take a shower. He has difficulty bending since he's not supposed to strain any abdominal muscles, and has to manage his surgical drain without clothing to pin it to. So I set him up with a long piece of kitchen twine looped through the tab on his drain and then tied around his neck. That's how I managed drains after my surgery... necessity is the mother, etc. We removed the bandage and were surprised to find that the skin around the surgical wound wasn't red at all; it looked really good for this soon after surgery. Of course it does have the plastic tubing for the drain bulb hanging out of it but other than that... looks great! The surgeon had inserted the laparoscope through his navel, so it's swollen and wonky looking. Except for being sore he feels pretty good at this point. He was curious about how the wounds look so I used his phone and took some close-up pictures. Now he can see them and then delete the photos, lol. Cellphone cameras can be rather handy at times.
If he were going to be with that thing longer than a week, I could recommend some of the catheter straps I've used...I got the same issue taking a shower with the cath hanging out of my belly. There are elastic Velcro bands that can wrap around your thigh or your waist (depending on length) and have a built in small strap to secure the tube to it. Amazon link. Another thing you could use is the stretchy Velcro bandages to wrap around thigh/waist and secure the tube. My Tractor Supply carries these in the horse section of the critter care aisle...it's used as a fetlock wrap.
We only need a solution for the shower. His drain looks like this... The bulb thing probably holds about half a cup of liquid and gets heavy as it fills. It is usually pinned to clothing or just slipped into a robe pocket, but it needs to be supported in the shower even if empty.