By DANA JENNINGS
Published: January 26, 2009
A good friend is scheduled to have his cancerous prostate surgically removed next Monday. I have prostate cancer, too, and I’ve been thinking hard about what post-op gift I could give Gary, my brother-in-disease.
I had a radical open prostatectomy last July — I wasn’t a candidate for the less invasive robotic procedure that Gary will have — and I learned scores of post-op home truths, large and small, in those days and weeks after surgery. (I also found out that my cancer had unexpectedly surged from the prostate. That’s why I just finished a 33-session course of radiation and am still getting hormone shots to suppress testosterone production.)
Given that I am now a grizzled prostate cancer veteran, I realized that the gift of advice might be in order. So here are a few post-op tips, for Gary, for anyone who has just had a prostatectomy and for those of you about to have one. (And a lot of these firsthand lessons can also be applied to other major surgery. Believe me, I know. I’ve also had operations to remove my entire colon, my rectum and a foot-long tumor from my right knee.)
Some advice may seem obvious, but reminders can’t hurt: Don’t be too proud or stubborn to ask for help. Don’t walk the dog (not even a toy poodle). Don’t take out the trash or flush the gutters. And don’t even think about touching a snow shovel or cranking up the snow blower.
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