A Few (1000) Questions

[Jstat]

Okay, a week until the RPLND, and I have a few questions, if you can believe that...
1.) How far am I going to be walking after the surgery?
2.) How much pain ( should be #1 question) will I be in?
3.) What meds should I expect for the pain?
4.) Is there anything I should have at home to help me sit up, etc?
5.) What is the acceptable period of time to wait on the biopsy? Will I find out while I am in hospital?
6.) When can I pick up my kids again?

A bit about my TC for background.
05/06 TC Diagnosis, L I/O, embryonal carcinoma, 06/06-08/06 Chemo, 3xBEP, Bleo stopped after 3 doses due to pulmonary fibrosis, 1cm and 2cm mass in the peritoneal lymph nodes, after chemo 1.1cm mass remaining, no shrinkage after 3 CTs, Tumour markers always normal, although rise in the AF showing 3.9, highest ever was 2.9.
RPLND at Princess Alexandra Hospital, Brisbane, by Dr. David Nichol.

Thank you all for your help!

[dadmo]

1) The day after the operation you will walk several hundred feet. With in the week you will be walking more then a mile per day.

2-3) The pain will be managed with morphine and you will be so wacky from what you were given during surgery that you won't remember the worst of it.

4) If you can get a bed with a t-bar over the top it would be great. You can us that to help lift yourself out of bed. If you can do some lower back exercise, it will be those muscles that do most of the work until the stomach is healed.

5) They should freeze some samples of the nodes during the operation, those results will be immediate. The full pathology may take a week.

6) You won't be lifting anything over 10 pounds for the first 6 weeks.

7) This should finish your treatment

8) You will have many years of enjoyment with you kids (I'm not counting the teenage years in that).

[Scott]

Jstat, I thought the worst part was the NG tube. The first couple days will be really annoying, but you'll get through it.

[Chris'Mom]

Yes, walking will be soon after surgery to get digestive system moving. They made my son Chris get right up...it is tough....but after that first day...you will find every day better....he had to be on fat free diet.....but all in all...it went better than we expected......his scar is fading fast....white line..will be two years in July....and yes, the tube for Chris was hard...but they took it out for him pretty soon after the surgery..if I remember, maybe a day or two later...not sure....keep us posted...Mary Ellen

[Margaret]

If it were me, I would have a lot of questions too

My husband had his RPLND at Sloan before Christmas

1.) How far am I going to be walking after the surgery? Hard to believe but my husband walked 14 laps the day after the surgery. 14 laps over the course of a full day and that equals one mile. He went into surgery the day before at 6:00 am and was done about 4:00 pm. SO he had the night to rest and then the next morning they got him up.

2.) How much pain ( should be #1 question) will I be in? He was in some pain, but he did have a pump with heavy drugs in it. He said that if he laid still, he did not feel much discomfort. Getting up was the worst but we found that a cold wash cloth on his head helped him cope with the pain. Once he was up and walking, I think it was actually better. Getting up and down was the hardest. By day 3-4 he was getting up pretty well on his own.

3.) What meds should I expect for the pain? They gave him morphine.

4.) Is there anything I should have at home to help me sit up, etc? He did not need anything. He was released from SK after 7 days in the hospital and we took a cab to the airport and he walked..slowly of course...on to the plane and off the plane when we landed. He got out of bed at home with no assistance.

5.) What is the acceptable period of time to wait on the biopsy? Will I find out while I am in hospital? We found out on day 4 in the hospital. It was quicker than we expected. I thought this was interesting...when Dr. Shienfeld (I am sure I have spelled his name wrong) came into speak with us post surgery in the waiting room...he said they did a quick 'on the spot' biopsy as the lymph nodes were removed. The first quick reports came back showing that it was scar tissue but that we would need to wait for the final results to be sure. He did say that there was an 80% chance that the quick results will match the final biopsy. So the wait was not as bad feeling like there was an 80% chance that it was just scar tissue. In the end, it was all scar tissue, we were really lucky.

6.) When can I pick up my kids again? I think it was 4 to 6 weeks before my husband lifted our 45 pound 7 year old. If your kids are younger...and smaller...it all depends on you. He healed so well. In fact they removed all his staples 6 days after his surgery...whcih made me nervous but they said it was fine.

All in all, it was not as bad as we thought it would be. We really considered the lapro. surgery but after speaking with the experts, we decided the risks were too high and after going through it, we are so glad we did the full surgery.

I hope this helps. Good luck, I am pulling for you!!!

Margaret

[dadmo]

Another quick note on pain management. If you have self administered morphine give youself a dose a few minutes befor you stand. Once your up the pain isn't bad it's more of a discomfort. But the act of getting up can cause some pain.
Also make sure the cath bag stays lower then the bed. If it gets lifted to high the backfluse into the bladder can burn.

[Margaret]

Another quick note on pain management. If you have self administered morphine give youself a dose a few minutes befor you stand. Once your up the pain isn't bad it's more of a discomfort. But the act of getting up can cause some pain.
Also make sure the cath bag stays lower then the bed. If it gets lifted to high the backfluse into the bladder can burn.

Good point Dadmo, in fact my husband also gave himself a quick pump before standing or sitting the first 48 hours.

[Jstat]

The stuff no one told you about.... cathader? Not even close to fair! Thank you all for your help!