the big day continued

I was wheeled back to my room where my wife was waiting. It was about 1:15 or so. The pain was there where I had a nice 12cm incision but suprisingly it wasn't that severe. Lines and drips, catheter, some pumps on my legs to prohibit clotting I felt like I was tied to the bed. The doctor had a Toradol drip going which is like a high potency ibuprofin. Every 6 hours I was to get a Ditrapan for bladder contractions and some ice chips whenever I wanted them. Around 8 pm I did talk the nurse into a gingerale that tasted like heaven. Dozed on and off thru the night. I was uncomfortable but not in agony. Around 6 a.m. the pain at my incision faded away. By 8 a.m. my back was killing me from laying all night. My wife had come back and with her help I walked a couple of slow laps around the nurses station. My doctor checked on me around 9 a.m. and said I could go on a liquid diet. Chicken broth, hospital food is hospital food. My back was still bothering me and I did a couple of more laps around the nurses station. About 1 pm the doctor decided I could go on solid food and I can't tell you what it was because it didn't look like anything I had ever seen before. He also decided I could go home that day. At 3:30 I WALKED OUT of the Hospital. I can't begin to thank all of the staff at Duke Hospital enough for the level of care I recieved there. I will be eternally grateful for everything they did for me. I know why they are ranked #7 by US News in the field of Urology. Here is the surgery I recieved as best as I can explain it from what the doctor said and my final pathology report
1. Open retropubic prostatectomy with bilateral nerve sparing procedure.
2. Organ confined with no cancer in bladder, seminal vesicles or margins.
3. Lymph nodes not removed
4. Final Gleason score of 3+4. Prosate volume 41, prosate size 25cm. 20% of prostate cancerous.
And I only lost 2/3 of a pint of blood during the operation!
I thank God daily for what He has done for me over the past 6 months.