6 Week progress

I am so sorry to hear that : (.
My husband had no pain or irritation even during catheter phase, it must be very frustrating for you : (((.
Are you careful with what you eat and drink ? Try to stay away from spicy food, soda, alcohol, caffeinated drinks and stay very hydrated.
Also, did your doctor heck your urine for possible infection ?

Wishing you fast recovery and may that pesky burning go away very, very soon 🍀

@surftohealth88 yes, i had a follow up with doctor last week, and my urine culture came back negative. I called them on Monday saying im burning,so they prescribed me 200mg of AZO, but wasnt really helping. I called them back 2 days later asking for a antibiotic, just in case, so on my 3rd day of taking the meds. The doc really thinks its the healing process thats causing the discomfort, but i never see or read of anyone having this issue. If in two weeks im still having issues, he told me to come into the office. Drinking straight water, and lots of it, but havnt really eating anything really spicy.

At 6 weeks, I had bladder pain once in a while, as well as some pain at the ghost prostate site at times. All ended at about 2 months. No burning or pain while urinating. Currently at about 8 months. Disappointed that I still have some stress incontinence, but hope improvement continues. I hope the meds work for you. Looks like you are doing what you can, including avoiding foods that may irritate and possibly slow recovery, as others mentioned. Everyone heals differently and healing timelines are likewise individual. Best on your recovery.

Let’s see…I had my prostate removed the first week of January, but it seems like ages ago.

Six weeks would have been late-February for me. At that point, catheter had been out for a long time (removed eight days after my surgery, no issues), but I was 100% incontinent, day and night.

By that time, I’m sure bladder spasms were also long gone, and I never experienced any burning or difficulty peeing - quite the opposite, really. I peed (and continue to pee) a lot and often (in part because I’m on HBP meds). I drink just under the recommended daily 64oz of water.

4-1/2 months out, I’m better with incontinence, though nowhere near 100% - I still leak quite a bit and some days are worse than others. Minimal amounts of alcohol set me back considerably, so that’s bye-bye to booze for the foreseeable future.

Other than the incontinence and ED, life is pretty much back to normal.

Good luck with your burning issue, I hope you get that worked out.

@turtbean what happened with alcohol? Made your continence worse? I’m 6 weeks post surgery and just stopped ADT (feeling fortunate!). I’d stopped drinking altogether but was going to reintroduce a glass of wine on occasion. Maybe I shouldn’t?

To answer the larger question, I haven’t had the issues that the original poster asked about. Post catheter, I had only one or two random bladder spasms. I still sometimes have a “twang” of light pain at the very end of my peeing, but usually not. Contenence is definitely improving but still a long way away. If I’m lying down or sitting, I can hold it pretty well and make it to the bathroom. Standing is still challenging to hold it but getting way better. Stair climbing is still impossible to do while holding it. Like I said - all improving over time, so no complaints really.

Hope all of you are doing well on your journeys.

@mark10517ny -

“what happened with alcohol? Made your continence worse? I’m 6 weeks post surgery and just stopped ADT (feeling fortunate!). I’d stopped drinking altogether but was going to reintroduce a glass of wine on occasion. Maybe I shouldn’t?”

In preparation for my surgery, I had my last drink of alcohol Christmas Day, and didn’t have another one until Easter. Not a big deal, as my usual consumption of alcohol was always a cocktail on Friday, a beer on Saturday, and two glasses of wine/champagne/sangria/some other specialty drink on Sundays. I enjoyed the ritual of it as much as anything.

Everyone is different in their recoveries, so I waited until Easter before I had another drink of alcohol - a single glass of champagne Easter Sunday.

Having that glass of champagne, it didn’t affect my bladder much one way or the other, so the following weekend, I splurged on two glasses of wine. Again, no problems.

The next weekend, I went all-out and had a half of a mixed drink on Friday, a half of a beer on Saturday, and two glasses of wine on Sunday.

That completely killed my bladder control progress and set me back a good month. For a solid week, I was back to having to get up 5-6 times a night, I was back to going nearly 100% in my pants with no control, and going constantly.

The good thing was, after that week, I snapped back pretty quickly, but until that happened, I was miserable and concerned I’d really screwed the pooch on my bladder recovery.

@turtbean Wow-that sounds like a nightmarish week – physically and mentally. Making all that progress and then everything returns to a version of the Old Faithful geyser at Yellowstone.

I don't drink much, but definitely not going to push things for a VERY long time. Still in the early phases and progress is slow. Thanks for sharing that experience-very helpful!

I'm early on at 2 weeks now, regaining fair control, still leak with certain maneuvers, stairs, cough, sneeze, still using Depends type underwear, soak them each night even when I wake up to urinate.
I found the lidocaine HCL clear gel to help with the end of the penis pain and burning, along with extra strength Tylenol. It is not covered by insurance and it costs about $100, but well worth it.
No bladder spasms at all at this point.