Well, it's December 29, 2006, again, and I'm at home recuperating. The first week goes really well. I make sure that I have that big 40-ounce hospital cup sitting on my nightstand filled with water. I go through about 4-5 of those a day. It's impotant to do this so that the surgical area (mainly the bladder) is constantly being cleaned out. Not to be gross, but there is blood in urine and this is common. That's why is important to drink lots and lots of water to clean the bladder out and avoid blod clots and other impurities. My sweet wife was constantly emptying my catheter bag and bringing me more water and cooking me the best, healthy meals which she brought to me in bed. My sweet, sweet mom came by later a few times to check on me and help out, as well. Even my kids would come in and bring food and other things I needed. They would spend time with me and watch movies. Through all of this they remained calm as I rested and healed - and my youngest is about to turn 4!
On Friday, January 5, 2007, it's time to take a trip back to the hospital (UT Southwestern) to have the catheter removed. Thank GOD!!!!! The doctor told me that while I have the catheter in I would have a constant feeling of having to go to the bathroom. And I did! It was uncomfortable, but not painful. The nurse told me to lie back on the table as she did what one of the doctors did after my surgery - take a huge syringe and inject saline solution through the tube which went into my bladder (that weird feeling again!). Then she tells me to take a deep breath as she prepares to pull the tube out. She asked me, "Are you ready? Then take a deep breath..." Just as I begin to inhale she quickly pulls the tube out (weird feeling yet again) and tells me to hold the fluid and stand up. It is now time for me to "pee" in a square plastic container to test my continence. This is why the Kegal excersices are so important before surgery. As she had her back turned she said, "Ok, start peeing...now stop..." I did this about 3 times before emptying my bladder and demonstrated that my "muscles" are in tip-top shape! Now, I have to mention that I did wear the "man pads" for a while - just in case. I did experience from time to time what one of my doctors described as "stress incontinence." This is where you may have small leakage after getting up from a chair too fast or laughing too hard. This was quite minimal though. I was concerned as to how long I would need to wear the pads and if they would show through my dress slacks and jeans. Well they're pretty well hidden and kind of comfortable for a while. I wore them for about 5-6 weeks and decided one day to go cold-turkey and told myself that I would stop wearing them and see how I would do. I have to say that I did good and I'm very thankful that I was able to stop wearing them.
I returned home to continue to heal for the next 4 weeks. As I mentioned before, I'm very blessed and thankful to have a supportive job which allowed me to heal in the time needed and even work from home when necessary on a laptop. Speaking of time, another blessing is that since I haven't used a lot of sick time, I had about 25-27 days of sick time that I had earned and never had to use any vacation or personal time!!! I've learned that it's very important to give thanks for "everything," whether small or great! As I returned to work, I was able to take my time and come back slowly and work part time until I was comfortable enough and ready to come back in full. At this time, it's still important for me to get plenty of rest because there's lots of time needed to heal. The beauty and blessing in all of this is that I'm not only able to rest my body to heal but also my mind. Having a great, loving wife and a great job from the Lord allowed me to not have to worry about anything which supercharged the healing process and I'm very, very, very thankful for that!!!
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