@fritzo - yes, there are a hundred little things that a person never considers until they’re living it.

I never even thought about what incontinence would be like when my doc said that was a side effect. If I had thought about it, it likely would have been, “Ok, every time I have to pee, I’m gonna pee in my pants. No problem. Wear Depends, change ‘em out every couple of hours, easy-peasy.”

What I didn’t even consider is that my penis would turn into a faucet that at best leaked a fast drip constantly and at worst did a fine impression of a firehose on full blast.

Drip, drip, drip…it never stopped, just went faster or slower. Move this way…drip, drip, drip. Move that way…drip, drip, drip.

Pick something up, set something down, same thing, interrupted by occasional squirts, and then the full release every time I stood up - thankfully, that’s all but gone now.

You’ll become very, very mindful of where your penis is pointing when you’re uncovered. Freshly cleaned up out of the shower, dried off, feeling almost normal, then you’ll twist a little to pick up your deodorant, your penis will move with you, dangling over your foot, and…squirt squirt drip drip drip…so much for feeling normal, because now your foot is covered in urine. Where’s that washcloth?…

Same thing when sitting down on the toilet to change out pads. You’ll lower your trousers and your briefs, go to squat down on the bowl, and your dripping penis will weep a line of urine right up the inside back of your briefs as you sit down.

Those are the little surprises that amp up the frustration, but it gets better, and I’d say that now, as far as sleep goes, I’m likely doing much better than I was the last couple of years before my surgery. My enlarged prostate was getting me up sometimes 5-6 times a night to pee. Now I’m down to two.

Also, you’ll find scheduling your water intake helpful. You’ll want to drink what they tell you (for me it was 2 liters/64 ounces) to keep things flushed and healthy, but you’ll probably want to work that out so you’re not drinking past a certain time at night. I go to bed between 10:30PM-11PM, so I do a hard stop on any fluids at 6PM, minus a sip for meds.