Well, that was that. Went into theatre at about 1:45pm and was out into Recovery about 20-25 minutes later. Very friendly theatre staff. The clean-up of the theatre following a major op preceding my vas delayed us for a few minutes, so the urologist did the shaving himself, which
confirmed his "no airs" attitude that I'd perceived at the initial consultation.
Onto the main event. The anaesthetic was, as I'd been advised by some others, a less painful injection than a dental injection, and I didn't feel any sharp pains from the incisions at all. The tugging sensations as the vas were pulled out were quite unpleasant - reminiscent of schooldays when there'd always be some smartass squeezing people's balls and running away. I'd expected this, since I was told clearly, both by my GP and my urologist, that the local anaesthetic acted on
the scrotum only, not its contents or their abdominal connections. So, yes - unpleasant, but not too distressing for me. Right through the op there was a nurse sitting just by my left shoulder, chatting and generally keeping an eye on my emotional state and my vital signs ("your heart rate increased a bit when they pulled the second vas", she told me later). All the theatre staff were professionally sharp, but good-humoured, and the flow of mild banter helped keep my mind off the tugging. They even asked me for a joke at one point - I couldn't oblige, but then I can *never* remember jokes!
The urologist had originally trained in India, and applied a *very* nifty bit of crepe-bandage-work, which has effectively given me a crepe-bandage "thong", which has the scrotum tightly bound whilst leaving my penis free for peeing. Better than a jockstrap in that
respect, though I'm wearing three layers: crepe "thong", jock, and tight briefs. Rather amazingly, ten hours later I'm feeling hardly any pain, and only a low level of discomfort (a sort of low, dull throb which isn't very obtrusive, and the occasional slight twinge when I stand up). But I'm taking no chances, and will drop a couple of paracetamol when I go to bed in a few minutes time. There are also a couple of "instant ice" packs on standby beside the bed.
So - so far so good. I would never belittle the experiences of those who've had a far more painful and distressing experience than I've had - so far, touch wood - but as several people have already commented, I think it's important that the positive experiences get reported, too, to give those who come later a balanced picture.
1 comment:
Your process was a bit different from mine. I was told to shave the entire area the morning of. I did that but they checked anyways.
My local was good and I HATE needles! I was very nicely frozen for about 3 hours. Then the peas were perfect along with the Tylenol 3s.
I was also told that a good jock-strap was all that I would really need. But bought the briefs and jock along with track-pants and a t-shirt. My wife drove me home.
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