So I had the surgery and the results are great so far, but here’s the short list of what happened:
– They decided to use a buccal graft to reconstruct the area where the stricture was. After my cheek healed I still can’t quite stretch it as far over towards the other side of my mouth, but opening, chewing, puffing up my cheeks, smiling, and speaking were not affected at all.
– I didn’t get a supra-pubic catheter. When I woke up after the surgery I only had the foley in because according to the surgeon my abdominal wall is thicker than usual and they didn’t feel comfortable placing a supra. I specifically asked if by “abdominal wall” he meant I had too much fat there and he said fat was not an issue.
– I spent a week in the hospital but I was up and moving 2 days after the surgery. Honestly the worst pain I felt came from the massive dump I took 5 days after the surgery, which actually clogged the industrial type toilets in the hospital. I didn’t even know that was possible but I did it. I also had to lay on my side because my ass hurt for about an hour.
– I had a uraflow test last week and my retention is very low, and my flow is over 7 times what it was before the surgery.
Total cost after surgery and hospital expenses for a week: $900 USD.