Hello all,
I am looking for some detail on what supplies i should stock up on at home prior to having my catheter removed after my surgery on 11-21-19. I have never had a catheter in before and have never had a leakage issue at age 66. Any advice on dealing with this side effect is appreciated. Been doing kegels for two months
Mike
Keep up with your Kegels and if you need depends... Get them from Costco warehouse (best price) by the carton...
Good Luck, Good Health and Good Humor.
j-o-h-n Tuesday 10/29/2019 10:47 PM DST
Hi Fox2018!
Begin your Kegel and pelvic floor exercises asap and don”t stop them until many weeks after incontinence resolved. If you are lucky to resolve it completely. Incontinence can be mild or severe, short- lived or permanent. It might manifest immediately after catheter removal and if unprepared , you could wake up the following morning lying in a pool of urine. Depends from Costco are best, as John says, however I found it necessary to buy a waterproof bamboo-fiber fulll-fitted mattress cover, as well as a couple of white 36 x 72 inch Gorilla mattress pads, which I place lying freely on my fitted sheet, and wash and switch regularly. In addition. I use disposable circa 30 x 34 inch pads to place on the Gorilla pads a d replace once or twice a day. The disposable ones are also very good for any chair you might sit on at home. All of these are available on Amazon.
Every man’s experience is different.
Two years after RP my incontinence has not resolved. It gets me down some days - no question - and I’m considering corrective surgery. But attitude
is very important. My seven year old son just says I have pee problem cos they cut too wide on the bobo I had inside. No drama and not depressing. I’m glad to still be alive. He’s my priority. Good luck for the best outcome!
After my catheter was removed my penile miatas (sp?) Gradually constricted until I almost couldn't pee. I had seen some info on the net which said that i needed some ungodly surgery. I called my urologist who opened the miatas with a set of round knives that he jammed into my penis. I'm glad he didn't warn me because the pain was also ungodly. Then every night for a month or more I had to insert a golf tee like object into my urethra to maintain its patency. more ungodly pain but it did the trick. I've not been good about doing kegels. I use what's called a guard. It's a pad you put in your briefs to collect your leakage. It doesn't work in boxers. you get them at the incontinence section of drug stores and super markets. There's a lighter version called a shield. Anyway I stick one into my briefs In the morning and change it the following morning. My incontinence isn't too bad except when I'm running water in the kitchen sink or putting pressure on my bladder. You might have to use one of the diaper briefs for a while before using the shield. I'm sure some guys are diligent enough with their kegels to not worry about all this. Best of luck.
Mike
Toward the more favorable end of the spectrum of experience for post-RP incontinence: I purchased one box of Depends shorts and one box of incontinence pads, but only needed the pads, so I suggest buying both, but initially using only the pads (perhaps overlapping one pad with an additional pad on each side), and not opening the box of shorts unless the pads prove inadequate, so that you can return the box of shorts if you don't need them.
Fearing the worst, after the catheter was removed, I put on Depends shorts along with a pad inside, but experienced only slight urinary incontinence and no bowel incontinence, thus did not need the shorts, and would like to have been able to return them, but unfortunately I had opened the package. (Of course, I consider this to be a good predicament, considering the other possible outcomes).
I was able to stop using the pads at night approximately two months post-RP, and totally ~4 months post-RP, during physical therapy primarily intended as treatment for urinary incontinence.
However, I now carry a wide-mouth {correction: ~1-liter} sports drink bottle (squashed nearly flat if need be) if it seems possible that a bathroom or bush won't be available if needed, having lost the ability to stop urine flow after it begins with a full bladder, and having (during 10 months) soaked my running shorts and blue jeans one time each when my bladder reached capacity with no place to urinate available. That would have exceeded the capacity of a pad, but admittedly, wearing Depends shorts would probably have contained most of it, but that hardly seems worthwhile versus the bottle back-up alternative.
Best wishes in adapting to life post-RP!
Good luck to you. My husband is 1 year post RP and still wears depends. It is mostly stress incontinence during work(construction). Things like going up a ladder will cause leakage. It is also exacerbated by drinking too much beer. I feel that the majority of this issue would be resolved if the drinking would stop. However, even with the drinking, it has gotten remarkably better. He orders from amazon for the privacy aspect, but I will definitely check out costco for pricing
Plenty good responses here. It’ll go away. Be patient.
Hi, my husband had his radical prostatectomy 19 yrs ago. He used a folded "light day" pad which helped a lot. To help you, it only lasted about 6 months before the incontinence stopped. Hang in there. ZapKU
PSA after the radical prostatectomy
My Recent Way of Dealing With Incontinence
About Radiation After Radical Prostatectomy 
PSA 3.12 after 3/17 radical prostatectomy. Future treatment thoughts?
