Bryce Home from the hospital

Bryce came home from the hospital on the Friday. It had been a challenging previous 6 months and he was now embarking on his recovery phase. Dr Woo said that Bryce could make a recovery back to normal within 6-12 months for most people. One thing he assurred Bryce was that there was no Cancer found at "the margins" which means that the risk of spread of the cancer was nil. The cancer was incapsulated or 'contained' and the removal of the prostate gland meant that Bryce was safe. However, now there was going to be an adjustment to life without a prostate gland. The urethra was cut during the surgery and was reanastomosed so that meant a catheter for some time. It came out within a week or so. Bryce was "on his own" and was recovering pretty well, but we were prepared for the fact that there might be an "accident" or two. Fortunately there were none, really. But that's the retraining of the bladder and the pelvic floor muscles. It was great that Bryce knew a couple of other men his age who were going through the same thing. Good to be able to "compare war stories". Also encourage each other. I think over time nursing has pushed me to be more of an "out there" kind of person. I will talk about stuff. Maybe that comes with the female job description. You talk things over. Men are not that way. They don't talk. They keep things inside. I, for one, have difficulty embracing this concept and am always trying to encourage Bryce to TALK ABOUT HOW IT IS FOR YOU. And sometimes he does. But he is a quiet man and keeps a lot inside himself. So from here on in it is recovery phase.