Randy,
I believe a lot depends on your age and physical condition and the doctor you choose to do the surgery. For me I am 50 and was some what overweight but but very healthy except for BC, I came through pretty easy but after 4 weeks had lost 51 pounds. The surgery itself takes from 6 to 9 hours and in my case it was close to 9. You then stay from 7 to 8 days in the hospital and some stay in ICU for a couple of days, I did so well in the surgery I went straight to a regular room. The pain is covered by a morphine pump for the first few days and pills after that, the worst part for me was the 3 weeks of using the catheter and the drain called a JP tube that is inserted into your lower cavity through your a hole in the stomach. I was back at work in 4 weeks and granted I have an office job, I also started traveling at 5 weeks. The worst part of post surgery for me has been bowel movements, they are just now after 17 weeks getting somewhat back to normal with the help of 4 Metamucil capsules a day, before now bowel movements came with bad cramps and pain every three days.
During all of the bad days I had and complaining about wanting to be normal again my wife would remind me that I was lucky to catch the cancer before it got out of the bladder and the fact that I am alive!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
If you have RC remember to judge your progress by the week not by the day and you will see you are getting better but you will have bad days on occasion.
Dale
Houston, TX
Dr. Seth Lerner - Baylor College of Medicine
