December 9
Harry was up at 4 AM, out of the house at 5 AM, admitted to hospital at 5:45 AM, prepped by 7:30 AM and on the operating room table for the start of the operation at 8 AM.
Twice during admitting, someone called out "Henry" (Harry's given name) and we had to nudge him because he didn't recognize that as being his name. Later when they placed his belongings in a large plastic bag, he noticed that on the bag they had changed his name to "Yenry" . "I can't even get used to Henry", he joked.
The retropubic prostatectomy started at 8 AM and ended at 12 PM just as Dr. Saranchuk had scheduled it. The doctor came out to speak to Tom, Brekyn and me in the PACU waiting room right after the surgery. You may be comforted to know as we were that Harry's surgery was routine. He lost quite a lot of blood but not enough to warrant a transfusion. Pelvic lymph nodes were removed and examined, revealing no obvious lymph node metastases. The doctor seemed to be pleased with the results of his morning's work. As soon as he left us, we jumped up and down, hugged and cried.
Harry's anticipated 2 hours in Recovery stretched to 4 hours. The pain management plan had to be altered because he was still experiencing considerable, "fluctuating" pain. It turned out that the epidural placement needed to be adjusted. He was tired and very thirsty throughout the stay in Recovery. We were allowed to pop in twice briefly during the four hours to hold his hand and listen to his weak attempts at humor.
At 5 PM, 12 hours after leaving home, Harry made it to Room 348 in GH3 of the Health Sciences Centre. He was feeling and looking better but was still extremely tired when we left him in the early evening. We're happy this day is over.
Harry's left arm is being warmed for the IVs. Click on the image to enlarge it.
BBC video of actual retropubic prostate surgery [ graphic images ]
So glad everything went well.
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