Just curious about how long was most of you guys surgery
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Archives1
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Less than 3 hours because they turn off the gas once the doctor puts in that last stitch and you wake up 15 minutes later. So from 10:30am to 1:30pm when I woke up. So I'm figuring 2.5 hours. The surgeon did nerve sparing too, which takes longer. Complete prostate removal. I did not have cancer but preferred prostate removal to all the of the other half measures to treat frequent urination and inability to urinate at all.
Archives1
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I am at 5 1/2 months can make it through the night, sitting around the house I am about 2 pads a day, but any kind of physical activity a pad change every 2 hours no control. Golf is tough! Happy I can play. I do my keygels 3 to 4 times a day in physical therapy. Any advice.
Archives1
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You are in much worse shape than I am. I had my prostate removed on April 12,2022. On 7-14-2022 I had my 3-month follow-up visit with the surgeon. I change my Depends thin pad diaper in the morning. The doctor is confident that I will regain full control. Just keep doing the Kegels. I started out completely incontinent after my catheter was removed. I think just pulling out my catheter did NOT help my situation. However, others who have continence issues say their catheter removal was easy. So just the surgery alone can cause problems. My catheter was stuck by clotted and congealed blood all around it. Here's what I posted on Facebook as far as advice.
Update 7-14-2022 Just got back from my 3-month check-up. I'm still leaking a little and changing a diaper once a day. I do that in the morning. If it is a workout day then I just work out in the soiled diaper and wait until after my shower to install a fresh one. Otherwise, I give my genital area a soap and water job and put on a clean Depends thin diaper. Dr. Abaza still thinks I will eventually gain full control of my bladder. I will continue to do the Kegel exercises.
I mentioned my letter and asked about using an irrigation syringe to insert a mixture into my bladder through the catheter. That would be a mixture of one part 3% hydrogen peroxide solution to five parts of 0.9% saline solution. I could cut off the catheter and leave about 6 inches sticking out past the end of my penis and use a binder clip to block it from draining. Keep that fluid in for about 15 minutes and then pee it out right around my catheter to loosen things up enough to eventually just slide out the catheter without having to pull it out. I would want at least a week just trying that before resorting to them just pulling it out.
I mentioned that the nurse had put in 100 milliliters of fluid and wanted to get about 120 ml in. She told me to relax and I did exactly that, just like I relax to pee. Dr. Abaza said I just had a bladder spasm. NO, it was not a spasm. It was just me relaxing and peeing right around my catheter as I had done the Sunday night before. Anyway, it just sounds like they will just continue to pull out stuck catheters. I'm guessing there is a high correlation between catheters that just slide right out with no difficulty and guys who immediately have complete control of their bladders.
Knowing what I know now, my suggestion is to ask them NOT to pull out your catheter if it is stuck and to give you a week to try to loosen things up on your own. I understand that they just want the catheter removed immediately and don't want to piddle around trying to ease it out. So perhaps the day before your 7-day after surgery visit to get the catheter removed, you ask someone to just deflate the little balloon at the end of the catheter. I just googled it and all you have to do is cut the tube used to inflate the balloon. They use sterile water. It is the small tube stub that Y-connects to the main tube. The water inside the balloon will drain out on its own right out where you cut the tube.
So, with the balloon deflated, you can see if the catheter will just slide easily right out. If it is stuck, then you can do as I've suggested and see if you can get it to eventually easily come out. You can call the doctor and explain that you want at least a week more before you come it to have them just pull it out. I think that is pretty reasonable.
My situation was unique to me. I was able to pee right around my catheter. My urethra got stretched out because I already had a catheter inserted when I went to the emergency room when I could not pee back on 2-3-2021. Then I got a cystoscopy in November of 2021. That stretched out my urethra again. Anyway, you can use a binder clip on the tube to block your bladder from draining. When you get the urge to pee then just go ahead and pee to see if you can pee right past your catheter both before you deflate the balloon and after you deflate the balloon. Being able to pee right around your catheter, in my opinion, enhances your chances of loosening things up.
But even if you cannot pee past your catheter, once the balloon is deflated, that enhances your chances of loosening things up too. So, I'd proceed with trying the solution for a week before finally going in to just have them pull the catheter out. You got nothing to lose. When you have to pee and can't pee past the catheter, then just remove the binder clip and let your urine drain out just as if you were peeing as usual. So that is my best advice, having been through this ordeal. Hopefully, I will gain complete control of my bladder again. I'll post when that happens or in one year either way. Just read another source that says it may take 12 - 18 months to gain full control of my bladder. Perhaps all of this delay could've been avoided by just easing out my catheter instead of pulling, pulling, harder, harder, harder until it finally came out.
Update 7-14-2022 Just got back from my 3-month check-up. I'm still leaking a little and changing a diaper once a day. I do that in the morning. If it is a workout day then I just work out in the soiled diaper and wait until after my shower to install a fresh one. Otherwise, I give my genital area a soap and water job and put on a clean Depends thin diaper. Dr. Abaza still thinks I will eventually gain full control of my bladder. I will continue to do the Kegel exercises.
I mentioned my letter and asked about using an irrigation syringe to insert a mixture into my bladder through the catheter. That would be a mixture of one part 3% hydrogen peroxide solution to five parts of 0.9% saline solution. I could cut off the catheter and leave about 6 inches sticking out past the end of my penis and use a binder clip to block it from draining. Keep that fluid in for about 15 minutes and then pee it out right around my catheter to loosen things up enough to eventually just slide out the catheter without having to pull it out. I would want at least a week just trying that before resorting to them just pulling it out.
I mentioned that the nurse had put in 100 milliliters of fluid and wanted to get about 120 ml in. She told me to relax and I did exactly that, just like I relax to pee. Dr. Abaza said I just had a bladder spasm. NO, it was not a spasm. It was just me relaxing and peeing right around my catheter as I had done the Sunday night before. Anyway, it just sounds like they will just continue to pull out stuck catheters. I'm guessing there is a high correlation between catheters that just slide right out with no difficulty and guys who immediately have complete control of their bladders.
Knowing what I know now, my suggestion is to ask them NOT to pull out your catheter if it is stuck and to give you a week to try to loosen things up on your own. I understand that they just want the catheter removed immediately and don't want to piddle around trying to ease it out. So perhaps the day before your 7-day after surgery visit to get the catheter removed, you ask someone to just deflate the little balloon at the end of the catheter. I just googled it and all you have to do is cut the tube used to inflate the balloon. They use sterile water. It is the small tube stub that Y-connects to the main tube. The water inside the balloon will drain out on its own right out where you cut the tube.
So, with the balloon deflated, you can see if the catheter will just slide easily right out. If it is stuck, then you can do as I've suggested and see if you can get it to eventually easily come out. You can call the doctor and explain that you want at least a week more before you come it to have them just pull it out. I think that is pretty reasonable.
My situation was unique to me. I was able to pee right around my catheter. My urethra got stretched out because I already had a catheter inserted when I went to the emergency room when I could not pee back on 2-3-2021. Then I got a cystoscopy in November of 2021. That stretched out my urethra again. Anyway, you can use a binder clip on the tube to block your bladder from draining. When you get the urge to pee then just go ahead and pee to see if you can pee right past your catheter both before you deflate the balloon and after you deflate the balloon. Being able to pee right around your catheter, in my opinion, enhances your chances of loosening things up.
But even if you cannot pee past your catheter, once the balloon is deflated, that enhances your chances of loosening things up too. So, I'd proceed with trying the solution for a week before finally going in to just have them pull the catheter out. You got nothing to lose. When you have to pee and can't pee past the catheter, then just remove the binder clip and let your urine drain out just as if you were peeing as usual. So that is my best advice, having been through this ordeal. Hopefully, I will gain complete control of my bladder again. I'll post when that happens or in one year either way. Just read another source that says it may take 12 - 18 months to gain full control of my bladder. Perhaps all of this delay could've been avoided by just easing out my catheter instead of pulling, pulling, harder, harder, harder until it finally came out.
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