The other side of the hurdle
February 26th 2009 00:21
Last Monday I had the prostate operation I’ve been waiting on. There was a bit of a delay, because the first op for the day took longer than expected, but I still managed to get in pretty much on time, around 2.30. Not sure how long the operation took, but I think it was about 4.45 by the time I got out.
I opted, after discussion with the anaesthetist, to have an epidural rather than a general anaesthetic. Two or three people during the week before had told me that recovery time was better and that you didn’t have long term after-effects. The anaesthetists agreed, and said that they also give you some medication to make you drowsy, so in fact you’re barely aware of what’s going on. The epidural injection wasn’t much fun, but I had a sore back (having twisted it somewhat a couple of days before) so that may have made it less pleasant. As for being aware: well, I thought I was, but in fact I think I was in some state of being half in a dream and half in reality. I noticed the people around, but didn’t notice the time going past; I was aware of people talking to me occasionally, but probably didn’t respond, and apparently I coughed at one point when the surgeon was looking up my urethra through his camera (or whatever it is) and gave him a bit of a start, but I knew nothing about this. In fact, the operation was a bit of a blur, and when I was wheeled into the recovery room I wasn’t really thinking about it at all.
So yes, epidural definitely was the way to go. I’ll talk further about the couple of days following, in later posts. In the meantime, suffice to say that I’m home (as of yesterday afternoon), there have been no complications (the surgeon and staff were generally well-pleased with things) and I am peeing again! And I have no catheter. Life is good.
I opted, after discussion with the anaesthetist, to have an epidural rather than a general anaesthetic. Two or three people during the week before had told me that recovery time was better and that you didn’t have long term after-effects. The anaesthetists agreed, and said that they also give you some medication to make you drowsy, so in fact you’re barely aware of what’s going on. The epidural injection wasn’t much fun, but I had a sore back (having twisted it somewhat a couple of days before) so that may have made it less pleasant. As for being aware: well, I thought I was, but in fact I think I was in some state of being half in a dream and half in reality. I noticed the people around, but didn’t notice the time going past; I was aware of people talking to me occasionally, but probably didn’t respond, and apparently I coughed at one point when the surgeon was looking up my urethra through his camera (or whatever it is) and gave him a bit of a start, but I knew nothing about this. In fact, the operation was a bit of a blur, and when I was wheeled into the recovery room I wasn’t really thinking about it at all.
So yes, epidural definitely was the way to go. I’ll talk further about the couple of days following, in later posts. In the meantime, suffice to say that I’m home (as of yesterday afternoon), there have been no complications (the surgeon and staff were generally well-pleased with things) and I am peeing again! And I have no catheter. Life is good.
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