Post Op Recommendations

I had to keep the catheter in for two weeks. Never had a problem with it overflowing or needing a bucket. I do only sleep 6 hours a night however.

Four days after surgery, I was out working with clients for my computer consulting business. Just made sure I didn’t do anything strenuous.

Sorry to hear you are rushing into it, I thought you might look at the other options (Tulsa, Vanquish, IRE, etc), but it is hard to decide and get care local to you if those are ones interest. Good luck with this path you chose.

The catheter.. the bane of my existence..... I had it for 2 weeks.
Lessons learned:

If necessary, shave your thighs post-op. Not before. I found that I would switch the bag between my left & right legs for comfort & peeling off the tape that secures the tube to your leg really hurts.

Be *very* generous in how much slack you give the tube between the end of the penis & where the tube attaches to your leg. You really don't want the tube pulling on you when you're sleeping.

Once you're up to showering post-op, keep the whole crotch area as clean & dry as you can. More than usual, because your skin will likely stick to your thigh throughout the day & you'll end up feeling pretty yuck.

Kinda hard to do, but drink at least 1 - 2 litres of water every day post-op. Put ice in it... flavouring if you want.... just cold plain water to shove down your throat. You'll get sick of it real quick, but make yourself drink. You need to flush out any scraps of flesh that *will* find their way down the tube. I had lots & flushing them out is essential to avoid blocking the tube. If you do find that the bag isn't filling too well & the blood clot just isn't moving, call your district nurse (no idea how that stuff works in other countries) or get to the hospital. I took photos of my blood clots, so I could show the doctor/nurse what size is getting stuck. I think it helped them understand what blood clot sizes (might not have been blood clots - some sort of debris anyway) I was getting. But if you're at all worried about the bag not filling, don't don't even hesitate to let someone know. This is not the time to worry about "not wanting to bother" someone.
Drink, drink, drink (water, that is). Take advantage of the fact that you don't have to rush to the toilet & just keep that urine flowing into the bag.

If you feel pain at any stage, it's possible that the tube is twisted (especially when you wake up) or the tube is kinda squeezed closed. If that happens, your bladder can't empty properly & you'll be in increasing pain.
So any pain.. run your fingers along the length of the tubing & make sure there are no kinks or squashed parts anywhere. Instant relief when the tube flows freely.

Incontinence pads etc... test them out now. Seriously. Even though you don't need them this year, buy one packet of each brand of both pads & pants if you can. Just to see what you like.
Here, the main brands are Tena & Depends.
I also found a brand called Molicare.
Whatever you try out, work out which is most comfortable - both physically and emotionally.
It may sound stupid to some, but I've settled on the Tena pants largely because they're navy blue. Other brands are white & if you're anything like me. you do *not* want to feel like you're wearing diapers every day.
The emotional side of this whole process isn't talked about enough.
I use the Molicare pants just for overnight, because although they're white and totally feel & look like diapers, I've found them to be the thickest for overnight use.
So I put them on seconds before I go to bed, so I don't have to look at them.
But whatever brands you decide on make you feel better physically & emotionally. This is a massive change to our lives. It's not just "an operation".

I'm in my recliner right now, writing this. Post-catheter, I've found that if I lean back & find just the right angle, I don't leak. So I live here.
Some guys here say that they sleep in their recliners... I'd nap, but never slept here overnight.

And well done on getting this stuff sorted early.
Keep coming back here with questions & advice, because many guys here will have opinions & experiences for you to consider.

"I've read here and there about some things to make managing the catheter easier, such as a bucket to put the bag in at night. I've also read about attachments and leg straps to make that easier as well. What do you recommend in this regard to make this part of the process easier? The surgeon says the catheter will stay in for seven days."

"such as a bucket to put the bag in at night:
I had mine for about ten days. The bucket as I used it was to keep the bag upright and stable when sleeping, napping etc.. I found one that was similar in height to the bag. hook the bag on the rim of the bucket and it keeps it upright.

"I've also read about attachments and leg straps to make that easier as well."
The only attachment I recall was the "travel bag"., a much smaller bag that you strap to your leg in place of the big bag should you wish to go out and walk or go to the store etc.. The small bag straps to your leg then you attache the catheter to it. I loved this thing, later on around day 6 on (I did 10) this was all I used except at nigh.

I was one of the luckier ones I guess. I never had to go full diaper. I used a pad that stuck to the underwear for about a week in general, then only if I was going out somewhere that I felt appropriate (or leaking would be an ultra embarrassing issue).

Something like this....
https://www.depend.com/en-us/incontinence-products/men/guards-for-men
Best of luck to you!

Over the years I've had 2 experiences with catheter for 2 weeks at a time. I soon learned that with bag strapped to leg, every time I moved the leg it moved the hose (obviously) and that caused movement at penis tip. That was irritating and/or painful. Vaseline didn't help for long; bummer.
So go figure, attach the bag to something that doesn't move with every step??
I take a string from the bag so that I can run it up over my belt. To secure it and hold the weight of the bag I like to use a dark (not obvious to view) button tied to the top of the string. So now the bag hangs from that so it follows my torso and NOT my moving, swinging, tugging leg. Problem solved!
With PC there's no need to suffer from an irritated penis adding to your anxiety.
I hope this trick helps you along this unwanted PC journey.
"Hang" in there Brother! (pun intended)

Firstly, good plan to plan ahead but don’t overthink it. I’m in the UK, I got supplied with a catheter stand for overnight use. Many of the other tips are well worth considering.
Keep your eye on the catheter fullness level, you have no bladder warning mechanism while the catheter is in place. You may well produce lots of pee/ urine especially if you drink a lot, you should, a little and often. You will get some inclusions, these may be for a day or two, you may also get some blood in it as well. Don’t panic, this is normal.
As said elsewhere, get various level pads. Each to their own. Tena I have found the best. The hospital may give you some.
The stage after the catheter is out is new territory. While the catheter is in place you don’t have to think too much about pee, but as I said watch the fullness level. One you are catheter free (hooray!) you will have to adapt to not having it. During the first few days you may well have loss of feeling down there. Backtrack a bit, I found sleeping on my back was helpful with catheter, it keeps everything reasonably stable. Also make sure there is enough slack between catheter and penis to allow for movement. Swap legs as you wish. I went for for swap legs on alternate days. Not obligatory!
Without catheter, I found that changing position, sitting to standing or the other way round tended to make me want to pee. Change position slowly and think it through first, I found that helped.
Get bed sheets certainly for the first few nights to see how your body copes with this new phase. I had less leakage during sleeping.
I hope this helps. Everyone is different. Good luck.

My thoughts about catheter issues in the first week post-op.

1. Most important thing post op is to get sufficient activity. Siting down all day is not good for a number of reason. More risk of post op pneumonia because lungs don't get emptied they way they should; loss of muscle mass and tone; reduced healing as the body gets used to being lazy. So you need something which allows you to walk an hour or more each day (build up to it over the first day or two). I found a leg bag to be no detriment to movement, once I figured out the ideal angle and location for the system.
2. Don't over-buy pads or diapers. I only used diapers for a day or two, and ended up with a box of them I couldn't figure out how to get rid of. Also, over time, the pads can be thinner and thinner. Again, I bought several dozen #4 and #3 size, and only used each for a week or two. More waste. Luckily, my daughter-in-law was having a baby, and could use them post-partum. Buy the smallest box you can (fewest pads), and be preapred to go down in size quicker than you might imagine.
3. Personally, I found the Poise brand (marketed for women) in regular length to be the best for me, but YMMV.
4. I slept best when lying on my side, facing the edge of the bed, making sure I didn't trap the cath under my leg. But then I'd had 3 experiences with a cath before, and was not anxious about it.

I am 10 weeks post-op. The catheter was a pain in the butt (no, they didn't put it in the wrong place) 🙂

You will get some bladder spasms from time to time. Just be prepared for them and let them hapn. Don't fight them, that only makes it worse.

You will bleed from around the tip of your penis a bit. Nothing alarming, but it will be there.

I tried the leg bag, but it was much more trouble than it was worth. I just carried the large bag around in a Target bag.

I also bought inexpensive sweatpants and cut a slit on the left-hand side to put the catheter tube and bag through. You can find them at Walmart or Amazon inexpensively. Used these for the week along with adult incontinence underpant. A side note: I ordered a pair of " pre-slit " sweatpants with velcro, which were a waste of money. Sent them back.

Patience is a big part of having the catheter in. Remember: it's "only" 7 days.

Lubricate the tip of the penis where the catheter is, and don't be afraid to put some in the penis itself. Get a fresh bottle of Vaseline or similar. I used a new tube of triple antibiotic from CVS for this, just in case any little critters wanted to get in there.

Most importantly, we are here for you so if you have any questions, fire away!

I looked into the other options, I talked to five doctors about the alternative treatments and asked each one: would you do it for yourself or a loved one and the answer was no in every instance. I think part of this is driven by my age and their thinking I would recover from the RALP while the other procedures were either still quite experimental or less effective or better suited for older patients.

Everyone's mileage varies and I can use this massive network of doctors at my fingertips and hope their advice is the best or I can do the same with the Internet. In the end I have to get this done and recommended quite soon, so spending months exploring options isn't a path I can take. The main reason I'm going RALP is that I have several fallback plans if the cancer returns, those fallbacks become fewer with other options.

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.