I am scheduled for prostate surgery on September 6. It is stage 1 cancer which most likely is contained only in the prostate. I expect a full recovery and am looking forward to SCM championships in Long Beach in December.
I have been told the recovery time is only a few days but obviously no swimming until the catheter is removed which will be 2 weeks.
My question is have any of you been through this and what was your experience with regard to swimming?
Thanks!!!
Glenn:wave:
Jim,
That assumes it has a specific gravity of more than 1.0. What if the little sucker floats like a cork?
Glenn, Did you ever get a chance to contact B.P. re his recovery?
Rich
Jim,
I expect I will be a little higher in the water....is that me at your toes???
Also Jim I had a great talk with John, he was very helpful and encouraging. Thank you so much for that!
Rich,
I did speak with BD and we had a very good conversation. He gave me some good advice that I will heed. I can't thank you enough for getting me in contact with him.
Glenn
Oddly enough, this morning in workout I was talking to a lane mate and it turns out that he may have prostate cancer too. He has kind of had his head in the sand on this and thought if he would ignore it it would go away. I gave him some very friendly but stern advice. He told me he will call his urologist today. I'll check tomorrow.
The support I have gotten here has been wonderful!!! It is really nice to be a part of such a caring group of people. Aw shucks!!!
Rich,
Did I type BD? I meant BP. Got an e-mail from BP jr with more of the information on his Dad.
BP jr., - I tried to PM you back. Not being a computer geek, I don't know if I did it right or not???
Glenn
Post-OP update!!
Surgery took 2 and 1/2 hours and I was home in less than 48 hours. The surgical margins were clear, meaning that the cancer was totally removed. The cancer was at the early stage they thought it was in when they did the biopsy. About 40% of the time when they do surgery they find the cancer is worse, so lucky me.
Had a few ups and downs while recovering at home but mostly due to medications. The antibiotic Cipro has a rare side effect of sometimes causing tendon pain and/or rupture! I had some tendon pain in the rotator cuff area and in one of the origins of the latismus dorsi muscle. That was very painful. I switched antibiotics, went to my acupunctuist to help relieve the pain and it is much much better.
Had the catheter removed today and I feel 100% better.
The prostate that was removed weighed in at 70 grams, so I will be a little bit lighter when I get back to the pool.
Doctor says I can get back in the water in two more weeks, but we will be in New Jersey for my 40th HS reunion. After that we will go up to Maine to visit family and do some site seeing and leaf peeping.
We get back to Pasadena on October 19 and I will be in the water on October 20!!!
Thank you to all of you who sent best wishes and particularly to Rich Abrahams and Jim Clemmons who got me in contact with swimmers who have recently gone through the same thing. And of course the biggest thank you to my wife without whom I could not have done as well as I did!
See you at the pool.:wave:
Glenn,
Great news re your surgery. Enjoy your rest and be patient. You've built up a huge reservoir of fitness over the years and you'll get back into great shape sooner than you think (although the first week back you might not believe it).
Hope to see you in Austin,
Rich
