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after op

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User
Posted 08 Sep 2019 at 20:26

Hi just been told iv got prostate cancer  7 on Gleeson 9 psa  gone threw scans mri and biopsy iv been told best course of action is to have prostate removed. I was wondering how long are you out of action after the op ,how soon can you go back to work again. Thanks in advance

User
Posted 08 Sep 2019 at 22:26
Depends whether you have robotic / key hole or open surgery. General rule of thumb is that you will be off work for at least 6 weeks with keyhole or 12 weeks with open. If you have a sedentary job, you may be back a bit sooner than if you are a builder or drive an HGV. Most hospitals (if they give out a pre-op info leaflet about the post-op stuff) advise that you don't drive for 6 weeks.

There are three bits to getting back to work after the surgery:

- it is major abdominal surgery so the inside & outside wounds need to heal

- they say that recovery uses about 5000 calories a day so you may feel very tired; by 6 weeks, you should be starting to feel pretty normal again

- your wounds might heal quickly and you feel okay but if you are very incontinent, it might be hard to go to work; again, it depends what you do for a living.

"Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards." Soren Kierkegaard

User
Posted 08 Sep 2019 at 23:13
Just to add to Lyn’s excellent advice. You may indeed be feeling pretty normal after 6 weeks in terms of everyday life, but major abdominal surgery takes a long, long time to fully heal in terms of all the muscles that are cut inside you. I was a keen hill walker before my surgery (in my case not a prostatectomy, but a nephrectomy, which is very similar in terms of muscular damage) and it took me a good six months before I was able to sustain the same level of physical exertion that I could before surgery. If your body says “Stop, you’re doing too much” then listen to what it’s telling you.

Best wishes,

Chris

User
Posted 25 Nov 2019 at 19:19

I'm now 4weeks post robotic opp I work as a chef so on my feet for 10 hours a day heavy lifting involved.at the moment I'm suffering with a lot of tiredness and constantly weeing myself all very depressing for me, my wounds are still healing the bigger one on my naval is healed the others not as well   

User
Posted 25 Nov 2019 at 19:22
Good Lord smithy - why are you back at work???? Overdoing things at this stage increases the risk of the incontinence being a long term problem. You have had major surgery; you should be at home heaing.
"Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards." Soren Kierkegaard

User
Posted 25 Nov 2019 at 19:33

No im not back at work yet dont worry 

User
Posted 25 Nov 2019 at 20:55
Phew!
"Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards." Soren Kierkegaard

User
Posted 25 Nov 2019 at 22:28

Guys,

surgery 4 weeks ago today.

Feelings a bit mixed at moment.

Within 2 weeks I felt great but now feeling a bit exhausted.

Need to do something to lift energy. Must admit with hindsight I think everything progressed too quickly but now am where I am. I expect all to be clear when I go for “sign off” early Jan but I now know more than I did before surgery. My mistake I think.

Thanks for site chat (most of it anyway)

User
Posted 26 Nov 2019 at 02:14
Men are often unaware of the cutting and joining and that is done inside during this operation as there is little to show on the outside. Only light things should be lifted and these be only slowly increased over the convalescence time. The last thing you want is to stress internal sutures or staples. So gradual rehabilitation should apply.
Barry
User
Posted 26 Nov 2019 at 02:30
One of the worst parts of recuperation for me were the microscopic sutures on my six abdominal puncture wounds.

They were supposed to be dissolvable, but they did not, and some of the wounds became infected (horrible itching), necessitating anti-biotics and three trips to the nurse with her tweezers and magnifying glass to remove the stitches that were left.

If you think you have any sign of infection in your wounds, get straight down the doctor’s.

Cheers, John.

 
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