post-op.
Ok, so it was done. On the 15th I had to go to UCLH Westmoreland St. before the crack of dawn, submit to a number of examinations and questionnaires and finally put on an operating table and send to sleep. And so my prostate was gone.
They estimate six weeks' recovery but there are different aspects of it that take less, or a whole lot longer, or perhaps never entirely. Some of it is a bit gruesome for a family audience such as this. In any case, my sister had come all the way from Venezuela to look after me -and I don't know how I'd have done without her. Now she's gone back and it is a bit quiet here.
I will have a number of follow-up interviews with the medical people, some on the phone, some in person and a number of blood tests and analysis to check whether I'm rid of it. And in some ways my life may never be the same as before. Onwards and upwards, we do what we have to do.
In any event, I'm glad they caught it apparently on time, as I'm glad that we have the NHS. This would have cost a fortune in the USA and even in my so-called socialist country back in Venezuela. There is no way I could have paid for what this operation would cost in either of those places. The attention I've received by the doctors and nurses has been outstanding, by the way.
For those six weeks I won't be able to climb stairs, lift weights (this precludes my work in those two schools), ride a bike or a horse and a number of other things. I'm also asked to walk at least a mile a day -I normally walk more but that wasn't going to happen right after the op. I'm doing it now, though. I'm on Dreamwidth at http://flaviomatani.dreamwidth.org/ -do follow me there if you can.
They estimate six weeks' recovery but there are different aspects of it that take less, or a whole lot longer, or perhaps never entirely. Some of it is a bit gruesome for a family audience such as this. In any case, my sister had come all the way from Venezuela to look after me -and I don't know how I'd have done without her. Now she's gone back and it is a bit quiet here.
I will have a number of follow-up interviews with the medical people, some on the phone, some in person and a number of blood tests and analysis to check whether I'm rid of it. And in some ways my life may never be the same as before. Onwards and upwards, we do what we have to do.
In any event, I'm glad they caught it apparently on time, as I'm glad that we have the NHS. This would have cost a fortune in the USA and even in my so-called socialist country back in Venezuela. There is no way I could have paid for what this operation would cost in either of those places. The attention I've received by the doctors and nurses has been outstanding, by the way.
For those six weeks I won't be able to climb stairs, lift weights (this precludes my work in those two schools), ride a bike or a horse and a number of other things. I'm also asked to walk at least a mile a day -I normally walk more but that wasn't going to happen right after the op. I'm doing it now, though. I'm on Dreamwidth at http://flaviomatani.dreamwidth.org/ -do follow me there if you can.