Post Inguinal Orchiectomy recovery times?

[rosewoodblues]

I am a bit embarrassed as I have lurked around for a while after May 5th (my diagnosis date) and today however, there you have it. I have had my right testicle removed and am waiting on the biopsy in short and have a question...

I was wondering what others have expreienced as a recovery time from surgery? I am on day 6 afterwards and though I can move around in the house and such I cannot do any lifting (I know that I am not supposed to) but the bigger thing is I can't walk that far without pain and exhaustion. I made it my futherest this morning, which was about a half block before I had to turn around and come back. Is this limited mobility and a (seems to me) long recovery time semi-normal? btw I have progressed a small amount of what I have gone through at kenhawkins.net (http://www.kenhawkins.net/index.php?catid=6&blogid=1) if anyone is interested. It is more of a journalistic entity and finally a good use for a blog IMHO.

At any rate I will be here more often and though I am new to this I hope to help out as much as I can where we are all concerned.

peace and love,
ken;

[rjs]

Recovery time from the surgery can vary. How old are you and how active were you prior to surgery? This could have some effect how quickly your body recovers. I was fairly active prior to surgery (training for a triathlon) and found that it was slow going for a couple weeks after surgery. But as each day passed the discomfort subsided and I was feeling better. I would say the first week was the toughest with some excruciating pain when I tried to get up from lying down or sitting in certain positions.

DO BE CAREFUL not to lift or do heavy work. You don't want to cause any issues with the incision or a possible hernia. Exhaustion is probably to be expected for now, but with rest your energy should come back rather quickly. Keep walking as much as possible, that seems to be the recommendation most often passed along by everyone coming out of the oriechtomy.

Hang in there, you'll be back soon.

[rosewoodblues]

rjs,

thanks for the reply. I am 38 and was fairly active prior to the surgery, no triathalons though it is a great new goal to have! I think it is the pain more than anything that exhausts me as I bounce back really quickly and do not get winded or sweat during this. Just want to get an idea of others recovery times. I was hopeful that I could be more active than I am right now but it is encouraging to know that is seems to be about a week to recover enough to move around well.

I can get up and down ok now as well as get in and out of cars, walk for a distance, etc. Things like that.

thank you again,
ken;

[dadmo]

Ken:
You're only one week from a major operation. You're doing fine, as long as you see progress everyday I wouldn't worry. By the standard 6 weeks out you will be fine.

[Kev332]

Ken,

Are you on any pain medication? Just curious. I know they gave me percocets after my first surgery which helped. Like others have said, recovery time varies from person to person. I was back to work about a week after my surgery, but it was definitely a little uncomfortable. Having the incision so close to your waistline makes for difficult times. Keep going for walks and take your time,, take it slow.

Do you have a post op appointment to see your doctor?,, just to make sure things are healing right.

Take care,
-Kevin

[IowaBrian]

Hello and welcome
The first 3 days were a little sore after that it was a lot better, but i still got tired easy and I still do for some reason ( I am 4 weeks out ).
It was a pain to put socks on for the first 2 weeks but after that I was able to bend over without any real pain. I think the test is if you sneeze and it still really hurts you can expect to take it really easy so you don't cause and problems. My doctor really wanted me to get out and walk around the block after the first week to get thing moving again, nothing fast just a nice walk.
If you are still having a lot of problems give the doctor a call and talk to the nurse they are the best about telling you what you can expect since a lot of times they have been around longer then the doctors :). Things will be fine in a couple day. Good Luck
Brian

[BREwing]

Ken,

While it took Kevin only a week to recover, I myself took about four weeks before I started feeling better. I used TONS of ice on the incision and that helped out a lot in dealing with the pain. It really does depend on the person when it comes to the recovery time. I myself had to have the RPLND surgery and I honestly think that I am recovering from that surgery MUCH BETTER than I did from the I/O!!!

Give yourself plenty of time to rest, relax, and recover and you’ll be fine!

Brian

[Dave40306]

I guess I was very fortunate when it came to recovering from my I/O. I was expecting something much worse and within a couple days I was very mobile and felling pretty good. I think I drove on day 4 (I wasn't supposed to) and by day 6, I was out doing a little light yard cleanup. Pain was never much of an issue after day 2-3.

So, it really does depend on each person. Take your time and try to enjoy relaxing for a while.

Dave

[cbuysse]

I had my I/O on 5/5 and still have a scrotal hematoma about the size of a peach. The pain got a lot better last week and now I have pain only when I sit for long periods of time. I still have pain at the incision site but not bad at all. My swelling was rare and my recovery time a bit longer than normal. Everybody is differant and let's face it some surgeons are probably better than others. My surgery was at 5:00 on a Friday and my room was right near the nurses station and I heard the Dr. say, " let's hurry and get this last one back my wife is out of town this weekend and I am going out." The Dr. is a fairly young guy about 35. So maybe he rushed through mine and I ended up with more bleeding etc. I am thankful it is gone and I am getting better, that is all that really matters.

[Scott]

No need to be embarrassed about waiting a bit to post, Ken, but I'm glad you finally did! I see you've been well welcomed, but let me join in. Welcome!

You'll be recovered before you know it.

[UK Mart]

I think the test is if you sneeze and it still really hurts you can expect to take it really easy so you don't cause and problems.

Ha! It took me about ten days before i could sneeze - i was dreading that moment because my sneezes have been known to cause injuries to others in the past(!)

As for putting on socks... I really identify with that too and found that by sitting on the stairs i could manage it more easily (but slowly)

In terms of overall healing, my plan was to wait about a week before getting too concerned however during that week I'd say that i was improving by about 10% each day.
It was two weeks before i could drive myself though...!

[rosewoodblues]

Thanks all! I guess I am doing better than I thought as I did drive myself 4 days after. though there was no sneeze test I did have a cough test however on day five that stung! I even had a pillow and pressure on the incision area.

thanks all for the input and I am doing much better today. Everyday it is getting easier. Today I go in for the follow up to get results of the biopsy....

on the road to recovery.

peace and love to all,
ken;

[IowaBrian]

Good luck with the follow up.
Brian

[rosewoodblues]

Thank you all for the words of support and encouragement. I have been busy updating the blog and all that jazz. I am as well working again, the joys of a software engineer able to work from home :)

at any rate about my follow up Thursday last. Well I am healing well enough but the results were not back. They went to the mayo clinic for a second opinion. :rolleyes:
Though I am with the doctors on this one to make sure the diagnose correctly I (like others I'm sure) am a bit worried at the unknown. I did talk to the doctor for a while at any rate and his initial inspection when he removed the testicle and cord was that there was nothing in the cord itself and it appeared to be confined to inside the testicle. I took it as good news and that we caught it early on. My alpha and beta blockers where 450+ and 800+ respectively and I almost hit the floor when he told me the normal is <9. I still have a hard time believing such a low number for normalcy so I'll just chaulk it up to denial :rolleyes:
Now I am waiting on a phone consultation to come hopefully by this Thursday as I told him I was fine with a phone call in lieu of going to the doctors office.

still waiting,
ken;

[rosewoodblues]

Hi all,

I got a voicemail verbal from my doctor on friday afternoon (after hours of course). In short it is nonseminomic in nature so he mentioned another doctor in Emory (Atlanta) as the next step. I am supposed to hear more today and then on to the next step in recovery. I am going to post over on Treatment and Surveilance Questions and reports (http://www.tc-cancer.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=6) as now I have a whole new set of questions and anxieties, go figure :rolleyes:

peace and love,
ken;

[Don]

Ken,
I think that a few other members here have had treatment at Emory and a few of there Doctors are highly recommended....Sorry we had to meet under these circumstances but please now that we are all hear to lend support answer questions and share our own experiences... Let me knoe what you think of Emory because my wife and I are considering buying some property and a home in Gainesville,Cumming,Cartersville etc.. and I will need a reliable Clinic to continue my surveillance with.. I know you said that your DR left you a message indicating Non-Seminoma--- Have they given you any staging info,spread or recommended a treatment protocol as of yet??? Best of luck to you Ken and keep in touch with us here!!!!!!! DON

[nowawies]

Well, diagnosed June 1st, operated June 2nd - good I had no thinking time. I had 2 problems really - 1, a scrotal hematoma which kept on filling up and eventually burst through a scab in my scrotum where they'd inserted a drain during the I/O to let blood out. (By the way, thanks whoever it was who wrote the word 'hematoma' as I didn't know how to translate it from the Polish 'krwiak'.) I eventually stopped bleeding about 2 days ago ...
The other problem was waking up too quick from the anesthetic. Imagine - I was in the post-op recovery room and I woke up fully except in respect of my vocal chords. I could formulate sentences in Polish, so I was TRULY compos mentis ... but my mouth wouldn't open. As I'd only had one shot of morphine the pain was unbelievable. Worse still, I was in a group of 5 patients there ... and I was located behind the observation point so the doctor in charge didn't notice me come round. As I was securely strapped down I couldn't writhe much, but I banged my head up and down like a madman, trying to make at least some noise. It's difficult to estimate the time it took to grab their attention - perhaps 40 seconds - but it felt like several days. The trauma remains with me now, but is less severe.
My marker levels (both before and after) are low, my scans are clear but I still don't know what sort of cancer I have as the path lab results haven't materialized yet. Public holidays ... So no decision can be taken on treatment obviously.
The language barrier is annoying - I sort of speak OK Polish but nothing medical. They certainly understood me when I refused point blank on several occasions on the day of the operation to have a catheter inserted. I had to laugh at the name of the portable urinal they gave me - Kaczor ('duck'), the nickname of (Polish) President Kaczynski.
Anyway, everything paid for by the Polish national health service, as I'm a tax and social security payer. Otherwise I'd have had to go back to the UK and pretend to be a resident.
How do things work on the money front in the US?

[stevenh77]

I was also very active prior to my surgery and the healing process went very quickly. I walke a quarter mile and a half every day just to keep myself in shape, and I did that up until the day of the surgery. After the surgery, my doctor suggested that I keep active and keep the blood flowing to help everything heal faster, so that's what I did. I was up on my feet walking around as much as I could without hurting myself, I was even playing my guitar the same day of the surgery.

Within a week 90% of the pain and swelling were gone, I was off my pain meds (Vicodin) and walking my quarter mile every day again. After two weeks there was no pain and only minor swelling. I'm going on my third week now, there's no pain or swelling at all and the incision is completely healed. Not bad considering that my doctor told me it usually takes 1-2 months.

Here are my suggestions, straight from my doctor..

- Keep active, but try not to hurt yourself
- Drink plenty of fluids and urinate as often as you have to (especially in the first week) to flush out any toxins or infection. Personally I found that gatorade, iced tea and cranberry juice did a pretty good job of flushing everything out.
- Keep the incision and the area around it clean, for obviouus reasons. If you keep it clean, it's less likely to get infected and it'll heal faster.
- Don't put Neosporin or anything like that on the incision unless the doctor says it's ok.

[Ras Joe]

Having two orchiectomies I have two very different stories....

First one (12-5-00)-- In hospital for three days because of a problem with the knock-out drugs, major pain b/c of non-stop vomiting for nearly 36 hrs. following the operation. Didn't get out of bed for a week. Limped and couldn't do much of anything for 4 or 5 weeks.

Second one (7-19-06)-- In hospital for 6 hours. Walking that day. Moderate amount of pain (nothing like first one). I was picking bush beans and tomatoes for abut an hour today (six days out), might have pushed it a little to hard today but, still feeling much better.

The thing that has really bothered me both times was the hair removal! I should have remembered and prepped myself. I swear they use no shaving cream and a dull straight edge-- holy razor burn batman.

Hope my experience can shed some light on recovery times-- I think they are fairly individual and highly dependent on things that were mentioned above such as activity levels, muscle tone, body fat %, and basically anything that make you, you. Remember ICE can be a great friend post-op.

Stay Positive Brethern-- Ras Joe

[wjhall]

Hi,

I had my Right I/O last Friday on July 21 at 5 PM, out of hospital by 7:30 PM.
Pain and swelling over the weekend but still managed to ride to the store and do some minor walking around the house. Went to my post op follow up visit on Monday evening. Returned to work on Tuesday ( mostly sitting). Still some swelling ( Ice every night ) but pain is not bad. I am down to 1 Aleve every 12 hours. Scrotum is black (hematoma) with bruising on right side of groin area. All in all not too bad, much better than the death sentence I gave myself when I first found out. I got 1 of my tumor counts back which was normal. Should get the other count back and Path report on Friday.

Considering sex tonight :D

Best Wishes
Jay

[stevenh77]

Considering sex tonight :D

My doctor told me he recommends waiting 2 weeks to 1 month for that, but he also said it all comes down to how fast you're healing and what you're comfortable with. For me, that ended up being about a week and a half.

Just take it easy and be careful.. if it hurts, stop and wait a while longer.