T2 diagnosis for husband, how to choose option?

Steph,

I know it's hard to find a quiet corner in a hospital sometimes. I hope you have found the right spot for yourself. You are probably going to need to keep going back for that quiet time in the days ahead.

It's all sounding good though, and I think you are in very good hands.

Please continue to keep us posted.

Best regards,
Rosemary

Thanks, Rosemary....we're in the middle of the surgery right now. They started at 8:00 this morning. I talked to the Dr. O'Donnell when they were about half way through. They had the bladder and prostate out, and were headin' for the lymph nodes. He said everything was going fine.

I'm going to find a quiet corner of the hospital (the surgery waiting room is BUSY and loud), and a microwave.

I'll post more when I know more.

Stephany in Iowa

Thanks for checking in with us, Steph. Please keep us posted. It sounds like you are off to a good start

Regards,
Rosemary

Hello, all. We're in the hospital right now. Husband checked in this morning at 10:00, had an xray of his neck, ordered by the anesthesiologist who was worried about the rheumatoid arthritis. Then he'll have some more blood drawn.

He did really well with the GoLightly....got it down in less than 2 hours, which may be close to a new record. They let him cut it with some juices. He's just resting right now. Surgery is at 8:00 am tomorrow morning. The nurse told me to be here at 6:30, just in case, so I'll check in then, and have breakfast after.

We're just glad we got the operating room, and got here, and are ready to go. We've learned a LOT from this list, and will keep you all posted.

Thanks,
Stephany in Iowa

All,

My husband's surgery also included removal of the urethra (tumor had infiltrated), prostate,
appendix, some lymph nodes, and of course, the bladder. It was NOT laprascopic surgery;
he had an incision vertically on his abdomen about 12 inches long.

It seems to me that the lap version would be much easier on a person. A nurse explained to me
some of the surgical procedures for abdominal operations and I was surprised.

I agree with everyone who recommends a second opinion; sometimes hearing another surgeon explain the options is helpful (some people communicate better than others).

L.

Wow----I go out of town for 24 hours, and come back to find the angels have been busy with my questions!

Thanks for all the help, everyone. I'm printing off what has been said so far, and taking it upstairs for my husband.

We are preparing for his pre-surgery physical on Thursday morning. Then, Thursday afternoon our town is visited by RAGBRAI, which, if you don't know much about it, is pretty much a moving town of bicyclers riding across the state, in 6 days. There are about 10,000 due in town on Thursday, and the entire town is turning out to host. We have "Team Pretzel" at our house (I told my husband "your tribe is coming" as it's a bunch of 50+ guys). Husband's dixieland band will play at one of the churches to pull in the riders for a fundraising dinner, and that will be the last time he gets to play until he recovers.

By Thursday night, we may have some questions answered, and by Friday, we'll know if the surgery is a go for Monday. Husband has pretty much decided on a neo-bladder, as he spoke to his rheumatologist at Mayo today (his doc called HIM to ask how he was doing...what a guy). When we told him that the stricture might be a problem he said "let me check", and got back to us in 1-1/2 hours to say that it shouldn't be too much of a problem, according to his experts in Rochester. That was pretty good news, and it's great to know his rheumatologist was concerned.

I'll keep you all posted.

Stephany in Iowa (going out to buy some monkey bread and fruit for the riders)