Surgery plus 1

I was awakened at 6:45 am by my doc, Dr. Cercone. He had his physician assistant with him and the floor nurse. He told me things went very well and that he thought everything looked good. He didnt see any sign of cancer outside my prostate wall, but we had to wait for the pathologist report. He said he gave me one unit of blood. ( my anethetist gave me the other 2 ). He pulled down my covers, upped my gown and took off on the nurse. It seems a vital, no very vital, part of a catheter on a man, is the leg strap. This is an elastic velcro band which wraps around the upper thigh, my left. There is another velcro loop that holds the catheter line secure. The idea is that this keeps the line from directly pulling on a man's penis. It keeps a bit of slack in the line and reduces irritation. Hell it reduces pain. Anyway, he fixed it up, and said to the nurse that he wanted it to stay like that always. Thanks doc. I didnt know how much at the time, but I learned very quickly. Dr. Cercone told me that physical therapy would be up before noon and have me up and walking. I wasnt too excited to hear that but I know it is critical for my recovery and to keep blood clots from forming.



At about 8 oclock a lot started to happen. In my room came a nursing student from the Community College of Alleghen County. He had a pile of fresh linens and told me he would be taking care of me. I asked him which campus he was from and he told me Boyce. I am an adminitrator for CCAC so it was nice to have someone from the same team helping. Little did I know how much help. Mike covered my chair with a sheet, helped me out of bed and set me up to eat my breakfast. I was able to eat a small bit, but it was the first food since Sunday afternoon and this was Wednesday. Mike then changed my bed, brought me a basin of water, a wash cloth and towel. I washed up and he doted on me like I was his brother. His instructor, Prof. Gardner came in and when I told her who I was, she and I began to have a bit of fun. Faculty and administration in a college have an unusual relationship. Sophie was sure nice to me. She is a great lady and an even greater teacher. Her students impressed the hell out of me. Mike was aware of the doc's orders for getting me up. However, noon came and no one from physical therapy showed up. Mike got me up in my chair again and made sure I was able to eat lunch. After lunch he got me back to bed and made sure I was ok before he left for the day. Sometime that morning, the big question was whether I had had a bowel movement. I hadnt, which makes sense since I hadnt eaten in 3 days, but the medical minds couldnt figure that one out. They said that if I didnt go by noon, they would have to get me an enema. Hell, you cant get blood out of a stone.



Around 4 pm, they brought a fleets enema and put it on my tray table. Then the nurse left. Around 5 dinner showed up, and since there was no one there to help me sit up or bring my table over, I didnt eat. Peg came about 6:30. She was whipped from working all day after teaching the night before. She saw the fleets but couldnt understand why no one gave it to me. Well, the 3 to 11 nurse was sort of a beauty queen. She clearly spent her shift putting in time, but leaving most of the work for the next shift. Peg ended up giving me the enema. Glad my insurance was paying thousands for my care. Anyway, no success from the fleets, but if I could tell the bastards, it had only been 12 hours since my first meal, and not being a beagle, didnt process that quickly. I talked Peg into going home. She had brought me a pair of earplugs at my request. A hospital is the last place to go to rest. Once I put those plugs in, it was great. My roommate kept his tv on 24 hours. It was never shut off, and the crack medical team would not turn it off at night when I wanted to sleep. I kept my 12 minute vigil with the morphine until I was ready to sleep. I put in the earplugs and hooked up my bipap, and I was out. They came in and took vitals and blood during the night but I just kept sleeping. It was the end of the day after surgery, and I was just glad it was over, but my stomach still was very sore. Oh yeah, physical therapy never showed up that day. Around 9 I told my nurse that I was supposed to have been up and walking. She told me that if she were I, she would not wait for PT. Just grab that catheter bag and your IV pole and walk. Then she walked out of the room. The dumb ass didnt realize I could not get out of bed on my own. What service.