Brother’s Dilemma: Chapter 7
**Brother’s Dilemma: Chapter 7**
*By: SoleMann*
Seriously? You could give a guy a warning before just inviting others to join the room. Or better yet, how about letting me put my street clothes on first?
Luckily, I had just enough time to flip my gown down over my privates before the door swung wide open. Mom strolled in looking a little surprised to see me still in the gown and asked if she came in too soon and should come back in a bit. But the doctor assured her that it was fine, and that she had told the nurse she was ready for her to come in, so we could discus aftercare and set up a date for the surgery.
Mom just kind of shrugged her shoulders and continued into the room, giving her good friend a hug before taking a seat on one of the other stools. As the doctor leaned over to close the door, thinking mom had forgotten to close it, Lexi came strolling in. The doctor gave her a quizzical look, as she held out her hand to shake and introduced herself as Lexi. She then nodded over in my direction, and told her that I was her big brother.
Mom then explained to her how dad was out of town this week and couldn’t make it. And besides with his hectic schedule, who knew if he’d even be in town when the surgery was done? So Lexi volunteered to come along to see what needed to be done to help take care of her big brother after the surgery. The doctor couldn’t stop showering her with accolades of what a fine little sister she was looking out for her big brother when he needed her.
Once the pleasantries were over, Lexi took a seat on the last remaining stool, so the doctor could go over some pre and post op procedures with us.
Things like…
\- Not to have alcohol for at least 24 hours prior to the operation.
\- To take any prescribed medication as usual.
\- Be sure to bring your Social Security or Health Insurance details.
\- Bring a clean pair of underwear, preferably snuggly fitting briefs to give support to your bandaged penis.
\- On the morning of, ensure that you take a good bath or shower and pay particular attention to your genitals, and to retract your foreskin as far as you can and clean well under it.
Okay, I really didn’t need her to go over those last two with my mom and sister in the room.
Next came the post-op care…
\- You'll have to wait for up to half an hour before leaving after surgery so we can check and be satisfied that you are not bleeding and that you can urinate without obstruction.
\- You should avoid strenuous activity or over exerting yourself for at least a week. Bed rest is preferred when possible.
\- Avoid moving about too much. The more you move the more irritated the area is likely to become.
\- Wear comfortably tight brief-style underwear to keep the penis still and supported. Along with loose jogging bottoms, pajama bottoms or shorts.
\- The first few days your urine tends to spray instead of forming a neat stream, so you may prefer to sit to urinate.
\- You shouldn’t shower or bath for at least a week, providing things appear to be healing ok. After which time a shower is preferred.
\- You should change the bandages every 24 hours, by gently cutting through the outer layers, pealing them off as you go. If the bandages stick to the wound don’t force them, instead soak them in warm water and Epsom salt until they loosen up.
\- Swill away the bloody water and rinse with more lukewarm water and salt, then pat dry with a gauze pad.
\- Once the bandages have been removed, it may look bruised, bloody and swollen. It may feel strange, sore, painful and uncomfortable. Rest assured, this is normal and will decrease over time.
\- When reapplying the bandages, wrap them firmly but not so tight as to restrict circulation to the area.
\- Be sure the incision is adequately covered, but not going so far up the shaft that you can’t urinate without getting the bandages wet.
\- You may be awoken from your sleep by soreness, discomfort or nocturnal erection. If you wake in the night with an erection, it is advisable to simply distract your mind by reading a book or watching television.
\- It is rare for a stitch to come loose because of erections, but can occasionally occur. This is usually nothing significant to worry about so long as they are not multiple adjacent stitches.
\- The stitches themselves will self-dissolve in about 4 weeks. The entire healing process takes about 6 weeks.
Once again, it was rather uncomfortable going over a few of those with my mom and sister in the room, but at least that was over with and we could now set up a date and get out of here.
The doctor proceeded to tell us if need be, we could reach her here anytime during office hours, or since mom had her home number, she could reach her there if something came up. She ended with the standard the med-center was also a learning facility so she may have an intern assisting her, and how that was pretty much it unless we had any other questions. We all glanced at each other sheepishly, it seemed I wasn’t the only one who was a little uneasy over some of the things she shared.
Then much to my chagrin, Lexi spoke up. “Okay, I’m pretty clear on the pre and post care. You probably already went over this with my brother and he’s going to kill me for asking, but if you have the time, could you go over the actual procedure?”
No fricking way she just asked her that. Come on doc, you’ve got other patents waiting, tell her you don’t have the time to get into that with her right now.