Prostratectomy

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

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!

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.