Thanks ladies...
and you especially Pat...
I was certain you were going to 'preach' to me about an
"inexperienced" doctor...
Truth is,
we knew he was top-notch at what he did.
Cutting and sewing are the main two skills needed
to go along with experience...
The Neo/New bladder was simple if we give it thought...
All he had to do was cut out a pattern, like making a dress or shirt,
from the material at hand. Cloth or intestine, still not much difference.
Anyway, a big hug to ya Pat !
Zach...
My Neo is just another term/word for a new bladder
constructed from my own intestines.
Aprox. two-and-one-half-feet of my large intestine was cut out and as stated above...they then cut out a couple of slivers and formed a urine bag/bladder with that material.
Then they cut out a similar size, slightly smaller, piece of my small intestine and shaped the two tubes that flow from kidneys to bladder ( Ureters ),
and also one tube to go from bladder to penis ( Urethra ).
Thus I function as before...
with a couple of minor changes... ;D
My scar, is from 2-inches above my naval, around my naval in a half circle, then straight down to the very base of my penis. They lay you open wide on the table, to remove this and that, so infection is a major concern with each additional minute/hour you are exposed to germs/bacteria.
I had the morphine pump...very effective and also gives the patient a "feeling" of pain control. In my case anyway, and this was my first time to use morphine...there was no euphoria of a drug type feeling, simply a reduction of pain. Do note, after about 16-days of use, the last couple of days without it seem blurred...as I was allowed to increase the use of oral Vicodin...which is used and abused by the young/party types of today.
After being home seven-days...I made the decision to cold-turkey the Vicodine and stopped taking them. I had a rough day this last Saturday being that first day. And a really bad half-day on Sunday...
But, I am now happy I made that decision to go cold-turkey,
and would do so again...although the pain was troublesome.
For an explanation:
I have a couple of old wounds, a really bad left knee that has been repeatedly kicked in martial arts applications, and twice hit with 'objects'. The right shoulder has been busted with a 2 x 4, once, on a very bad parachute landing the shoulder...with feet in the air, struck earth before any other parts...wife of course says it would have been better in that predicament..."to have used my head".
Then, long ago, there was a 'hard-landing' in a chopper that jarred my spine and caused disk damage. Crazy, but it damaged nerves in my spine, between my shoulder-blades, ( not the lower back as most folks have ), which causes severe pain in that same right shoulder...
I was waking both at morning and after naps...
almost, unable to move. Seriously, I felt like a bucket of nails left out in the rain...rusted together as if welded...or, another analogy might be a rusted hinge, with no swing movement...
Wife, bless her heart...has been there for it all. She would bring me a Vicodin and water ( had to have a straw ) and help me get through about twenty-minutes of suffering until the med kicked in...
Note, this time problem concerning pain 'management' was due to sleeping off the meds in my system.
A martial arts student, who is a Lt. Commander, U S Navy, retired, and now works as a druggist offered up the opinion ( and my MD tends to think he may have a valid point ), believes/suggested, that perhaps these two old wounds had "grown used to...and really liked that morphine/vicodin relief.
Years back I had fought the pain with narcotic codeine, and eventually grew tired of the dependance and quit it also. So, it's been several years I have controlled these problems with acu pressure on 'base line' meridians and Tai Chi...or rather mental concentration to overcome the pain.
It does work, no different than yoga, etc. ...but you have to really concentrate and 'believe' that mind can control pain...
Not for everyone...
My problem, as with most at this point is leakage...
But, everyday there's less of a control problem, especially during the daytime when mental awareness is viable.
At night, as we would expect, we relax those mucsles involuntarily...which means a wet diaper in the middle of the night. Not fun, but doable...like the cathing guys, it's just part of the price we pay TO LIVE.
Not a bad deal...in my book.
And with time, weeks I believe due to my current attitude/progress, instead of months, I'll be as dry as ever. I really believe this and will work to make sure it happens !
