Whoo-boy, sharing poop stories…the ways PCa bring us together! 😉

My bowel experiences were nothing like above. First, as a baseline…I’ve always been a very healthy pooper - good, solid, tumbling poops, no pressure, no pushing, three times a day, 7:30AM, 9:30AM, and 11:30AM, just like a train schedule. I’ve been that way my whole adult life.

I didn’t have any wet farts or anal leaking or anything like that - tighter than a bullfrog’s, I suppose. For the eight days I had my catheter in, I wore either really baggy shorts or a Scrooge-like nightdress, so as not to interfere with the catheter. I didn’t wear any incontinence products until the day it came out.

No issues, bottom-wise. My farts were very trustworthy indeed! 🍑 💨 ✅

My first BM was three days after my surgery, very soft, but very small. I’d call it a very lazy poop, but I was happy with it.

I stayed on my stool softener for probably 10 days - whatever the prescription was for, and I drank a lot of water. Diet was mainly soft foods - applesauce, scrambled eggs, pudding, a little plain pasta, ice cream, bananas. No burgers, no fries, no pizza, no bacon. That was my diet for probably a month.

Anyway, every BM got more substantial as time went on, but always very soft, like chocolate soft serve (sorry if that ruins it for anyone!). My the time my catheter came out, I was back to going three or four times a day, but it was really spread out.

Then my catheter came out.

That seemed to kick my butt in the butt, so to speak. Those big, soft BM’s turned into something more like rabbit droppings. It was like my bottom just sort of gave up and did the bare minimum.

Now, I’m happy to say, 3+ months out, I’m much closer to pre-surgery me - big, easy plops, mainly in the morning. No straining, no pushing.

One last thing - you know that feeling you get when you really, and I mean *really* have to pee? That feeling that goes all the way into your penis, you’re so full? Like right to the end of it?

I’d get that feeling when I’d have a big gas bubble or a BM working its way through, like it would press on my bladder or something. I’d get that sensation out of nowhere, think that I’d have to pee, skedaddle to the bathroom, sit down, no pee, then…RRRIIIIIIPPPPPP!!!…out would come the kind of gas that lifts you off the toilet a quarter-inch, and then that urgent pee feeling would immediately pass.

Aren’t our bodies a marvel. 😆