Thanks KC -

I\'d be proud to beat Rudy\'s record, but I\'ll be fine with slow and steady too! I appreciate the offer of help, everyone here had been great. Talked to Jim this afternoon and feel even better about having Dr. Hafez at UM doing my surgery. Thanks Jim - hope to see you on the 19th. I\'m ready - let\'s go. Onward and Upward!

Andy

Andy; sounds like you are just the way i was, once i made the
decision to have it done, i couldn\'t wait to get started. The
2nd will be here before you know it. One thing i can tell you
is when i woke up for the first three days till they turned off my pain killer i felt pretty good! Not so much after that
for the next month.
But after that over this last month every day has gotten better. I\'m hoping it will go even better for you.
One other thing i will say, I\'ve had three cancers in the last
twenty years, but i have always believed i had the easy part
compared to my wife, who had to sit there and worry all that time. So i wish you and your wife the very best.
Duke

Hey Andy, great attitude is what it\'s all about and I see you have it. I won\'t lie to you it is not an easy thing to go through particularly the first 2 months.

Mike\'s info about the fluid build up is good advice. I had it build up in the abdomen and the scrotum. The fluid makes you feel very uncomfortable it was the main reason for my reflux problems immediately following the procedure and lasted a couple of weeks afterward. I also had fluid build up in my testicles, not terrible but it all adds to the discomfort.

Also, once you are off the morphine drip and they tell you to take pain killer vicodin and or tylenol. Make sure you take it before you have the pain and keep on some sort of schedule with it. After a couple of days try to back off on it as well as that also affects the bowels. But if you need to take something for the pain (and you will) don\'t wait too long. I made that mistake when I first got home and paid the price. I waited until I had pain then took the vicodin, BIG MISTAKE... make a schedule have your wife write it down and stay on it ie. every 4-6 hours for a whole pill etc.

I tried to walk as much as I could even when I felt like crap. I would just get up and walk up and down in the hospital room for a couple of minutes and sit for a little then try it again. When I got home I would walk around the bedroom or up and down the hallway. The first few days at home make sure someone is there with you because you will be weak and even dizzy, you don\'t want to fall.

Once your home I some tips on eating as well... speak to you then.

Good luck... as Mike says do those exercises and a lot of that other stuff too!!!

Oh and one more thing as a side note... I went skiing this weekend so here I am just shy of 4 months post op and I\'ve hit the slopes. I didn\'t think that was going to happen!
Rudy