Prostratectomy

World's Leading Authority on Incontinence, here.....

- No boxers, once the catheter comes out. Either pads (and/or) pants.
- If trying pants, I recommend dark blue pants - anything but white. White looks & feels like diapers. Not good, mentally. Trust me.
- Incontinence is very likely - but how bad & for how long.... how long is a piece of string? We're not clones & it varies. Some guys here have minimum issues... some of us do not.
- I totally recommend buying a packet of pads & a packet of pants - to try now. Before surgery. Test-driving them is essential, before you buy 1000 of them that you don't like.
- When you have the catheter, you shouldn't need pads at all. With the catheter, boxers are very important.

Oh - and hypocritical of me to say it, cause I was useless at it..... but learn Kegel exercises if possible. They've helped many.

Pack loose fitting sweat pants for the hospital checkout. Make sure they give you a large and small collection bag for the catheter. The small one you can strap to your leg during the day and at night you can swap out to the large one to hang on the side of the bed.
Once home I was able to adjust the leg bag straps up high enough so that the collection bag was out of sight and I could run around with baggy cargo pants and no one noticed. I did not use underwear during the days with the catheter in place, just wore shorts or sweat pants.
I bought a box of pads and planned on wearing “one size to large” jockey briefs with a pad in them however when they pulled the catheter to my surprise no drips or leaks so I threw the box away when I got home.
Most of my friends who went through surgery had a little leakage for a week to several weeks that eventually stopped.
One last thought, your bladder went through a lot and you may have some urgency to go more often than normal. You will need to drink lots of water for a while and be cautious about spicy food, alcohol, and coffee as they may increase urgency in the short term until your bladder settles down.

I am a boxer guy, but knew those would not work to hold a pad in. Go with a Bigger jockey size if necessary that a pad can fit into without crushing your jewels. Also be prepared with mens diaper’s. Easiest to just pull up and on after catheter comes out. I ended up not needing the pads as immediately continent, but the diapers coming home and first night were beneficial. During catheter I just wore long shorts , bermuda type . The catheter just looped out of them at the bottom into a plastic mop bucket at the house and when I went out into a plastic grocery bag like the trader joes. No one could see the tiny bit of tubing circling out into the bag and it looked like i was just carrying a shopping bag. After catheter came out i just wore alot of sweat pants, just a little bigger. Good luck!

I had to wear a catheter for two weeks because I had my surgery done 16 years ago and that was a standard back then.

I wore jockey shorts and didn’t need a pad because I didn’t leak at all. Other people need to wear a pad and it works with jockey shorts. Four days after surgery, I went to work on computer problems for three different clients. Seven days after surgery, I went back to work full-time. I had the catheter bag strapped to my leg and none of my clients had any idea I had surgery or had a catheter.

16 years later, I’ve had incontinence problems for over 10 years. I wear jockey shorts with a pad under it, and that works well. The TENA pads can keep you dry, The people that have extreme leaking need to change the pad multiple times a day.

Thanks for the information. I am very nervous about this. I am stage two and the Dr said it was moderately aggressive. I don't really have a lot of symptoms. My psa went from 4.6 three years ago and went unchecked until this May where it was 13.48. Two weeks later it was over 18. I am only 59 and have 8 year old twins. Like I said I have very little symptoms and I kind of may be in denial and shouldn't go through with the surgery Aug 7th. I have been looking at different boxer briefs. I prefer commando but those days will soon be gone.

@wheel1 thank you for the information I will give it a try.

@djkurr
It seems very fortunate that you did have this PSA tests after three years with little symptoms. Many might have ignored the little ones. Then for it to have been so high since your one from three years ago, then risen so much more so quickly you are fortunate to have caught it. If you had ignored those little symptoms and continued on for who knows how long then it might not have been found until it metastasized. That happened to a friend of mine. Don’t know what your MRI, Biopsy , Pet or decipher showed but if you were willing to share this forum has alot of knowledge to share the journey. You are very blessed with your twins and have alot of years to look forward with them. They will keep you strong through this.

@beachflyer Black pants and shorts are your friend if incontinent along with briefs to hold the pad in place if you need it.

I’m a little late to the party, and I’ve documented some of this before, but here goes:

Catheter - I was also a little concerned about it, but it ended up being about the easiest part of the whole thing (not that any of it was horrible).

I’m a medium-to-large-sized fellow in the underpants department, and I typically wear boxer briefs (not traditional boxers). Beforehand, I bought a cheap package of 2XL traditional boxers, and I wore those for the eight days I had the catheter in. Plenty of room.

I never switched to the leg bag and just stayed on the big overnight bag, which worked fine for me. I didn’t have any need to leave the house, and one of the nurses also cautioned me about swapping bags, saying every time you disconnect the bag, you’re potentially allowing for outside contamination.

I also had no need to carry it in a bucket or bag. I hung it on the bed rail at night, on the top of a kitchen or bathroom drawer when in those rooms, and on a little grab bar in the shower. Just make sure it’s below your bladder so gravity can do its thing, if you go that route. The eight days passed very quickly for me.

During that time, also, I followed my doctor’s orders to the letter and took it easy, for the most part. The most strenuous thing I did was the prescribed daily walking. There’s nothing to prove by rushing your recovery.

Catheter removal was a big nonevent. Didn’t feel a thing, took no time at all, really. When you go to have that done, take a couple of pull-ups and a couple of pads with you. My care center is over an hour away, so I definitely needed to make a couple of changes on the way home. If you think you’ll need to do the same, bring along some baby wipes, as well as a couple of small trash bags. That’s how you’ll need to dispose of your used pads/pull-ups in a public restroom - switch out to clean ones, put your dirties in the trash bag, tie it shut, then toss it in the restroom trash receptacle.

Incontinence - that could be a whole book (actually, there are plenty of those already). Buy some supplies ahead of time, and if you’re one of us who’ve had to put up with an average recovery time of months, then be prepared to spend a small fortune in protective underwear for a while. Amazon and Sam’s Club/Costco can help with that.

I wore a combination of “fashionable” grey ones, generic white ones, and heavy guard/pads. I never really had any issue with the white ones making me feel like I was wearing diapers, but everyone’s experience is different.

The Depends fit the best, but the generics (Kroger, in my case) were more comfortable overall. I dare say, they were quite cozy!

With the pads, understand that not all pads advertised as “maximum” or “heavy” are created equal. The generic pads I favored (again, Kroger) held close to 12 ounces, I think the Depends pads hold around 10 ounces, and the Tena pads hold maybe 3-4 ounces, making them a “medium” pad.

Shields are a whole other thing, they hold the barest minimum, about a tablespoon, and are meant for occasional drips only.

That’s important to know, because as your control comes back, you’ll probably want to transition from heavy pads to mediums to shields, and hopefully to none, eventually.

I’m just shy of six months past my catheter removal and I’m completely dry overnight, I wear a shield for the first few hours in the morning, and then (as my pelvic floor muscles tire during the day) switch to Tena pads for the rest of the day.

Right now, one heavy pad would see me through the remainder of the day, but the Tenas are more comfortable, so I opt to use those, and go through 2-3 in a day, depending on how I’m doing that day.

If you do find yourself on the average-to-longer road to continence, please know that it gets better, and it frequently happens in leaps, not baby steps. My first two months were just a constant voiding of fluid, like my penis was a faucet that was always on. Sometimes it was a fast drip, sometimes it was a steady ooze, sometimes it was a typical stream, and sometimes it was a waterfall.

It’s easy to get frustrated and dejected when many weeks go by with no improvement, but then it’ll likely happen all at once, and most likely with something improving during your overnights.

Do your best to get in with a pelvic floor PT specialist, especially one who is trained in male incontinence specifically (that requires additional training). Follow their instructions, do the exercises, even if it feels like you don’t understand exactly what you’re supposed to do. They’ll help you tremendously.

Someone (I think) mentioned limitations on insurance covering PT, but I haven’t run into that - I’m having my…13th therapy session tomorrow, and continue on having a few more, all 100% paid for by insurance, so be sure to check with your insurance provider on that.

Good luck with everything!