Radical Prostatectomy - Day of Admission
What mainly takes place on the day of inpatient admission are the checks still necessary for the operation, which are performed by the ward physician, as well as the preparations for your operation.
These include in particular:
- Taking a blood sample
- ECG and, if necessary, X-ray examinations (if not already done on an outpatient basis)
- Discussion and briefing regarding the operation
- Physical examination
- Ultrasound examinations
- Possible further checks depending on previously existing medical conditions and findings, e. g. a special ultrasound examination
In addition, a detailed discussion will take place with the anaesthetist concerning the anaesthesia. Finally, the nursing staff will show you the ward and your room and inform you about the nursing procedure for your stay. If you wish, you can also have a talk with our psychooncologist. In the course of the day, your operating surgeon will also have a talk with you regarding the planned operation. In the evening before the operation you will only eat a small meal.
The day after - taking first steps
Initial mobilisation i.e. getting out of bed, takes place in the morning with the assistance of the nursing staff. Taking painkillers is particularly important on this day, as you need to be relieved of pain so as to neither be limited in your mobilisation nor in your breathing.
The nursing staff will help you to get up and will perform breathing and physiotherapeutic exercises with you.
You may already consume light food and drink a maximum of one litre today. Due to your increased fluid requirement, you will also be given infusions today. Additionally, there will be a short examination in which the bandage is checkd upon and the operation area palpated. If everything goes smoothly, the indwelling venous cannula can be removed as soon as in the evening of the first day.
Moving again
You should get up more frequently today in order to get your circulation going and also walk over the ward more often. If the wound drainage tubes previously mentioned have not drained much secretion, these can be removed today already. The urinary catheter will stay in the bladder for longer however. Friends and family can be welcomed anytime.
Back to normal
You will notice that you now feel much better from day to day.
If the sutured connection between the urethra and the bladder (anastomosis) heals up normally, the catheter can be removed starting from day 5, shortly before discharge. It may be that the healing of the anastomosis is not complete by the end of your in-patient stay. The catheter removal will be carried out on an outpatient basis in this case as well, following discharge from the clinic. Your operating surgeon will discuss the procedure with you individually during your in-patient stay.
In the case that the catheter is to only be removed after the in-patient stay, you will be given an outpatient appointment in our clinic to have this done. We will jointly arrange this appointment before you are discharged. You can of course also have the catheter removed by your own urologist; if you live far away from our clinic for example.
A last talk with the physician
Between the fourth and fifth day after the operation the patients are usually ready to go home. As soon as the final results of the histological examination are available, we will discuss these with you immediately and explain the findings. Please understand that in some cases the final histological result will not yet be ready at the time of discharge. Our clinic works together with the UKE pathological institute, where our very meticulous colleagues are busy processing the taken specimen following a very complex procedure. This histological examination is more extensive than the usual histological processing otherwise carried out; the results are therefore very solid and enable a reliable prognostic estimation of your condition to be made. Before your planned discharge you will have a final talk with your physician, giving you another chance to discuss any questions and unclear matters. For this purpose, please read the section about the planned further course of action in our discharge documents beforehand, which will be handed out to you during your stay.
