Just had my radical prostatectomy

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My op was 10/6/21. Still 3-5 depends a day, burning is just irritating instead of painful. Might be overdoing the kegals as today’s not going as well as yesterday. Drip drip drip. My margins and lymph nodes were clear so when I finally recover I hope to be around a while. I’m happily married and 54 so I need woody back too lol. I’ll be keeping up with you other guys, good luck to everyone.

 

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Hi had surgery same day. Same symptoms. Anything working for you?

 

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@JGF Welcome. I am 10 weeks post surgery now. I also had the burning sensation post surgery, my urologist got a urine test done to check for infection but that was clear and the burning sensation cleared up by itself over a few weeks.

I agree with @Greensleeves351. My best resource to date has been the specialist pelvic floor physiotherapist I am seeing. At our first session she did a really good job of explaining to me what we needed to deal with and why pelvic floor exercises are helpful, in addition to working through the initial exercises with me. At our 2nd session she got me to attend with a full bladder and she put an ultrasound machine over my bladder and checked herself and showed me on the screen that I was doing the exercises correctly on the correct muscles. I could see the fluid level in the bladder rising and falling as I clenched and unclenched, which gave me a lot of confidence to continue with the exercises religiously. And she has been great to ask questions of and bounce things off, as she has a lot of experience with guys going through exactly what I am going through.

At 10 weeks I am now at the point where the remaining internal urethral sphincter muscle traumatised during surgery should be starting to slowly recover and kick back in to help with bladder control. And she has increased the number and clench time of my exercises and introduced some new ones as well. I am pretty good now at staying mostly dry at night while getting up twice a night most nights to empty a full bladder, which is back to my presurgery routine ~ and also while sitting or lying during the day, but taking the dog for a daily walk and doing tasks around the house and yard are still challenging and usually wet experiences requiring pads.

I have been concentrating for some weeks now on "tightening the tap" as my physio called it, meaning focusing on not running off to the toilet every time I get an "urge" to pee ~ apparently the bladder needs to be retrained to allow itself to fill before triggering an urge to empty ~ and I can hold my urges pretty well now while sitting/lying until my bladder is quite full.

I am only a few weeks ahead of you in my recovery, so don't hesitate to ask any questions you may have, and please let us know how you are doing so we can compare notes and help keep each other motivated.

Cheers, Doug

 

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So glad to hear things will improve. I'm 4 wks post op. Being a nurse I should have known better. But greatly underestimated this recovery. For me at this point the tip of the penis just constantly feels irritated. As for dripping and pure leaking it has gotten slightly better. It just gets worse as the day progresses.

 

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Hi had surgery same day. Same symptoms. Anything working for you?

Welcome prostatectomy twin lol. At first it burned like hell so I went back to the doc to make sure I didn’t have a uti (which I’ve never had). All clear. He said it was normal but to drink lots of water, which might help a little. Dull ache in the balls/butt area too guess it’s normal from the surgery. If I stand in one spot too long I still get it. Advil helped with all of that actually. Yesterday we walked 4 miles in the morning which was fine at the time, but by the end of the day I was an open faucet. Could not hold in a drop while at a wedding, good times. So I’m only walking late afternoons until I get better control. Looking back two weeks it’s much less painful and night control is better, but day control is still not good.

 

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So glad to hear things will improve. I'm 4 wks post op. Being a nurse I should have known better. But greatly underestimated this recovery. For me at this point the tip of the penis just constantly feels irritated. As for dripping and pure leaking it has gotten slightly better. It just gets worse as the day progresses.

 

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Hi. Seems the standard theme is that we underestimated what recovery would involve. At least symptoms are similar so we can all take comfort in that. Good luck to you. JGF

 

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Hi had surgery same day. Same symptoms. Anything working for you?

Welcome prostatectomy twin lol. At first it burned like hell so I went back to the doc to make sure I didn’t have a uti (which I’ve never had). All clear. He said it was normal but to drink lots of water, which might help a little. Dull ache in the balls/butt area too guess it’s normal from the surgery. If I stand in one spot too long I still get it. Advil helped with all of that actually. Yesterday we walked 4 miles in the morning which was fine at the time, but by the end of the day I was an open faucet. Could not hold in a drop while at a wedding, good times. So I’m only walking late afternoons until I get better control. Looking back two weeks it’s much less painful and night control is better, but day control is still not good.

 

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Hi, again. The burning seems to be easing a bit. The wedding experience sounds awful. I'm going to start walking more this week so we'll see how it goes. Keep telling myself to be patient. And to remember that cancer free is most important. JGF

 

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I keep telling myself I am cancer free. The problem of getting a new way to pee is minor. Getting spc catheter in 2 weeks. I have extensive scaring

 

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I wanted to follow up to my post of a couple of months ago. Had robotic prostatectomy on Oct. 4. Leaked like crazy for a while. It slowly got somewhat better, but I was still going through three or four pads a day when I met with my doctor for my PSA check on November 23. PSA was "undetectable" which of course was the news I had most hoped for. But then I told him about my concerns regarding incontinence. I had kept a diary, kept records on how often/how much I was urinating, etc. Had charts and spreadsheets even. I admit to being obsessive. Anyway, I shared all of that with him. His response? He said to relax and that I would get better on a schedule that is right for me. He told me to quit keeping records and to just enjoy life, especially knowing that my cancer was most likely gone. And he told me that on my next visit in three months, the first question he'd ask me would be what am I doing for fun.

So I took his advice. And within the next couple of weeks, I made considerable improvement. I went from an average of six bathroom trips per night to two or three (same as pre-surgery). And my leaking began to slow considerably. I'm now down to a point that I can get by on one pad per day, though if I do a lot of strenuous activity it will get pretty full.

And I am doing Kegels on a regular basis. The doctor set me up with a physical therapist, but I've not been able to make contact with her yet...and at this point I'm not sure I'll need to.

I did get a hold of a book that I found helpful. It's called Prostate Recovery MAP by an Australian physical therapist named Craig Allingham. It is a fairly short book, but it is easy to read and follow and was the best guide I encountered to help me with Kegels (that is, to make sure I was doing them right). I started following his recommendations a week or so before my visit to the doctor and I think it has helped to make the difference. It's about $15 to order online. I recommend it.

So I'm in a much better place now and hope that all of you are as well. And I'm following my doctor's advice. My wife and I are planning some trips...hoping that COVID doesn't stop us!

 

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@Don53 Great news Don. I'm a tad short of 4 months post surgery now myself and making slow steady progress every week. I'm very happy with where I am now.

I also found Craig Allingham's book extremely helpful when I bought it 4 weeks post surgery, both from a technical point of view and as motivation. It is very easy to read and full of practical advice and I still reread it every couple of weeks now to help maintain my motivation. He also has a youtube channel with a few videos to support the book.

I also met with a specialist pelvic physiotherapist starting a week after I bought Craig's book and have met with her every 3-4 weeks since, next appointment is tomorrow. She has also been very helpful with initially ensuring I understood what has happened to my body and what we were trying to achieve with the kegels. She used an ultrasound to ensure I was doing the kegels correctly on the right muscles and put together an exercise routine for me that we review every visit and keep increasing the workload based on my progress. She has been worth every cent to me.