Hi Jerry,
Just thought I'd add my Hubby's experience following his open RRP surgery. My Hubby had a haematoma (sp?) at the incision site after the staples were removed and the wound opened up about half an inch, and the first catheter he had fitted allowed urine to leak out of the bladder - urethra join and then out through the haematoma - not very pleasant at all and he ended up using stoma bags over the hole just to keep dry. Most of his urine never made it as far as the catheter bag! So he had to have a larger diameter catheter fitted which cured that problem.
Then, from surgery to final removal of catheter was 12 (yes twelve!!) weeks. He had numerous cystoscopies, first every 2 weeks and then later each week for about the last 3-4 weeks the catheter was fitted to determine the extent of the leakage which gradually lessened and finally stopped altogether.
Anyway, once the catheter was finally, finally removed, he was totally dry straight away and has never, to this day, used even one pad and his surgery was now over 2 years ago. So, whilst it wasn't pleasant for him and seemed never ending at the time, he did heal eventually and despite the length of time he had to suffer the catheter it doesn't appear to have affected the final continence outcome so don't be too disheartened at this stage.
PSA tests have so far been big fat 0's and he had some blood taken yesterday for the most recent test so we're hoping for another big 0.
ED is another story and he's still battling with that but seems to have gotten somewhat disheartened with the results of anything we've tried up to now (and we've tried them all except the implant) and given up trying.
Anyway, take care and I hope this helps.
Little Jem
Post Edited (Little Jem) : 10/29/2008 7:50:48 AM (GMT-6)