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Back Home was Originally Posted on July 16, 2014 by lavarock

Monday I flew to Oahu for a prostate operation. Because I was coming from a neighbor island, I am at the mercy of the commercial airlines and thir flight availability. My 7am flight arrived at about 7:40 and I hurried down the stairs to the shuttle bus waiting area. Within 4 minutes the Kaiser bus came and I was at the hospital soon thereafter.

My check-in was swift and I was sent to the procedure waiting area. Soon they called me for a consultation with the urologist and sent me back to the waiting area. I had on a thin silk-type Hawaiian shirt and was freezing. I could have taken my backpack into the bathroom and put on a t-shirt but since the waiting room was filled with patients and family, I did not want to give up my spot. Most people there are having a day procedure and family will take them back home. I was going to be kept overnight, but they were not going to admit me until after the procedure.

Finally they told me that my procedure would be later than expected and would I like to go lie down for a while. I agreed because that meant I could put on the special gowns they have. There is a hose that goes to a control and heater (not unlike a hair drier) that sends warm air into the gown to surround the body.  I cranked up the heat and tried to sleep. A couple of people came into and out of the area next to me (separated by a curtain) as they went to their procedures.

I was scheduled for 1pm but that was moved to later and later and it ended up being 5pm before they called me. There were some emergencies ahead of me and they were not too concerned with my time of operation because I would be staying over.

They give you a sedative, then knock you out. During the operation they use a face mask with anesthesia.  I don’t remember them taking me down the hall or even the recovery room but do remember arriving at my room for the night. I was happy because I had no food restrictions and had not eaten in 24 hours. That meal the day before was at a birthday party for a neighbor on the beach and I ate lightly.

Within a couple hours I developed a lot of pain, presumably from a blood clot. The nurses gave me morphine, which did NOT help! Morphine just doesn’t do it for me and should have worked almost immediately. They called in the “on call” doctor who came from home and he got there about 1/2 later. During that 1/2 hour I was almost crying from the pain. He tried flushing the catheter to no avail and finally swapped it out for a larger one. That worked wonders.

They sent me home that next day on a 6pm flight.

When I got to the house I found that the dogs had not ripped up anything (they have a tendency of going after dog pillows). I fed them immediately and tried to keep them calm now that their “master” and “food delivery system” had come back.

While I was on Oahu I kept getting calls from a woman who wants to bring her family in to pick coffee. She sounded desperate and probably needs the money, but I had to say “not yet”. Once they pick coffee cherry, it has to be processed immediately and it will be a few days before I can get everything ready. There is also a lot of lifting which I am not allowed to do for weeks to a month. Right now I am limited to 5 pounds. I don’t think she understood what I was telling her because of the language difference.

So now I drink plenty of liquids and get plenty of rest. Coffee lovers will just have to wait.