Post Op Recommendations

Just a couple of suggestions. I had RP 3 years ago.

I second the notion of lubricating the catheter with gasoline where it enters the penis. Pull the penis back a little so the catheter is lubed where it goes in. Helps prevent irritation.

But book "Life after Prostatectomy; 10 weeks to continence" by Vanita Gagliani on Amazon. She is a very experienced pelvic floor PT and gives a very detailed instructions how you can become continent quickly. It's more than just kegels. I found it very helpful. She gives instructions to start pre op.

I found the Tena brand of pads the best. I agree with one poster about not buying too many until you see how you are progressing.

This is obvious but needs to be said. You will kinda get used to having the catheter in. unless you have the bag strapped to your thigh 24/7, be careful about getting up and walking without the bag. Ouch! It happened-once!

Vaseline not gasoline! LOL

Just a couple of suggestions. I had RP 3 years ago.

I second the notion of lubricating the catheter with gasoline where it enters the penis. Pull the penis back a little so the catheter is lubed where it goes in. Helps prevent irritation.

But book "Life after Prostatectomy; 10 weeks to continence" by Vanita Gagliani on Amazon. She is a very experienced pelvic floor PT and gives a very detailed instructions how you can become continent quickly. It's more than just kegels. I found it very helpful. She gives instructions to start pre op.

I found the Tena brand of pads the best. I agree with one poster about not buying too many until you see how you are progressing.

This is obvious but needs to be said. You will kinda get used to having the catheter in. unless you have the bag strapped to your thigh 24/7, be careful about getting up and walking without the bag. Ouch! It happened-once!

I am about 14 months post-RALP and just wanted to pass along a few comments in response to this post.

-I too was able to forget about the upcoming procedure 90% of the time but also experienced those times of acute concern. We took a long-planned international trip between my biopsy/diagnosis and the RALP and I especially remember laying awake at night due to jet lag and being unable to think about much of anything else other than the downsides of what was ahead. So I think what you are experiencing is very normal.

-it sounds like you have a great plan for preparing, and I am sure that will give you favorable results. I walked about 3 miles daily from diagnosis until the procedure in addition to kegels practice and focusing on a healthy diet and felt that I went into the procedure well prepared. I was able to resume walking after getting home from the hospital and was back to my 3 miles daily within a week or two.

-I experienced almost no incontinence, and certainly hope the same for you. The day the catheter was removed I was expecting the worst but quickly realized I had a high degree of urinary control. I used Depends for a day or two and switched to guards for a week or two and then just used the thin pads. I was free of any pads at about the six week mark. To help monitor progress, I used a small postage scale to weigh the guards and pads before and after use, and recorded the weight gain and graphed the results. It was encouraging to see the progress over time; every day was not necessarily an improvement but the trend line week to week was always in the right direction (decreasing weight of the pad after use.)

You're doing everything you can in terms of what you can control, and I would encourage you to try to avoid dwelling on the negative aspects of 'what might be' . You may be surprised, as I was, at how well things progressed post-surgery. I wish you all the best!

Just a couple of suggestions. I had RP 3 years ago.

I second the notion of lubricating the catheter with gasoline where it enters the penis. Pull the penis back a little so the catheter is lubed where it goes in. Helps prevent irritation.

But book "Life after Prostatectomy; 10 weeks to continence" by Vanita Gagliani on Amazon. She is a very experienced pelvic floor PT and gives a very detailed instructions how you can become continent quickly. It's more than just kegels. I found it very helpful. She gives instructions to start pre op.

I found the Tena brand of pads the best. I agree with one poster about not buying too many until you see how you are progressing.

This is obvious but needs to be said. You will kinda get used to having the catheter in. unless you have the bag strapped to your thigh 24/7, be careful about getting up and walking without the bag. Ouch! It happened-once!

To everyone else with suggestions, my heartfelt THANK YOU for your suggestions, they were very helpful.

I'm able to bury this thing in the back of my head 90% of the time, but every once in a while, like right now at midnight on a Monday, it's really freaking me out again.

I told my wife that I'm not at all afraid of the cancer nor the surgery - both things I have experienced before, I'm terrified of waking up from surgery and starting a radically different life than I anticipated. I can hope that I'm in the small number of men that experience no incontinence (and I'm working my butt off right now to try to ensure that) and the small number of men that experience no ED or only minor ED, but I cannot focus on that or I'm going to be ultra depressed if either of those scenarios turns out to be untrue - so I focus on a life in diapers with a dead fish in my trousers.

The catheter is only one aspect of my fears, but certainly it's more of just knowing I have to deal with something highly uncomfortable for a week, but then it comes out (which has never been a pleasant experience) and I start living this new life. My pants are firmly 100 feet behind me because I scared them off 😉.

There are some really great tips here and thank you all for them. I have two months more to prepare, I should go in 20lbs lighter with pelvic floor muscles that can squeeze carbon steel into micrometer measured wire! I'm even planning my food intake for the first couple of days to be lighter on solids just so I can adjust to things a bit before I bring having to spend time on a toilet into the picture - particularly given the delicate nature of the internal surgery that still has to heal in that area.