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any tips before getting cath. removed?

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Posted 7/15/2010 9:24 PM (GMT 0)
Hello, I had robotic prostectomy 8 days ago and will be heading back to the doctors office tommorrow to have the cathedor removed. Does anyone have any useful tips or tricks, I will be travelling 2 hours.

Also I was wondering, during the initial few weeks would I be better off drinking small quantities of water frequently or go for large infrequent quanties? Seems like just drinking the large amount and getting it out at once would be easier on the control muscles.

Posted 7/15/2010 9:45 PM (GMT 0)
I had my "open" surgery on February 8th, and my catheter was in for 14 days. I took a large pad to the hospital with me, and found they were going to provide me with a Depends after removing the catheter. I decided to use my own pad and drove 50 miles back home without any leakage. I've been about 95% continent since "catheter removal" day. If I try to push out a little "natural gas," I may have a little squirt. Before I had my catheter removed, I spent about $60 for pads and Depends. I gave them away to a local nursing home. I hope they enjoyed the donation, for I enjoyed not having to wear them. I think you should increase your intake of fluids after catheter removal, and you should be doing Kegel exercises to strengthen your pelvic floor muscles. It all seems to help, and for most Pca patients, it gets better in time.
Posted 7/15/2010 9:54 PM (GMT 0)
Ditto on taking a couple of pads with you.... I just got my cath out today... couple of drips and squirts depending on what I was doing so far. I drank a gatorade but not all at once, so I've been running back and forth to the bathroom. Luckly with minimal to no leaking.... been doing my kegels for the last 5 weeks now. Try and get yourself as comfortable as possible for that ride out... I drove about 45 min to the doc due to traffic and it wasn't pleasant.
Posted 7/15/2010 10:30 PM (GMT 0)
One important tip -- get to the doctor's office on time! turn

If they haven't already told you, take at least a small supply of incontinence pads with you -- as you don't know how you will be regarding incontinence. After few hours you will know your likely status and then you can go shopping for more Depends or whatever. Like Sunbird, I bought a supply of products beforehand, which it turned out I didn't need.

As far as fluid intake is concerned, drink normally -- but keep your fluid intake up. If you are incontinent, I think it a mistake to restrict your fluid intake. You could argue that a small amount going out often is better exercise for those important little muscles and may be better than a larger amount less often. But try it both ways, and you be the judge of what works best for you.

Good luck for tomorrow at let's hope all goes swimmingly well :-)
Posted 7/15/2010 11:08 PM (GMT 0)
Definitely take some pads with you in case they dont offer you anything, and wear briefs to hold the pads if needed, not boxers if that is what you are use to wearing

Do not restrict your fluids, that is important to your body and your healing, its counterproductive thinking if you drink less, you will leak less, all you will do is dehydrating yourself and making things worse.

In most cases, having the cath removed feels creepy but rarely hurts. The though of it is worse than the removal, so try not to get too freaked out.
If the nurse/dr slowly retracts the fluid from the balloon, instead of just draining it instantly, it tends to go easier. Also, I have had many removed by standing up as it is removed, gravity helps in that case. I just had my 18th catheter removed this morning, and it didnt hurt, none of the other 17 ever hurt either, so good luck.

david in sc
Posted 7/15/2010 11:12 PM (GMT 0)
Hello friends,

I hope your catheter removal is a nonevent milestone for you.

I was having pain at the tip of my penis before the catheter removal.  When the nurse extracted the catheter I had a tremendous amount of pain that was not easily relieved.  The nurse gave me some topical lidocaine to help numb it.  I took the remainder of the tube home and used it occassionaly for the next few weeks.  I would suggest to up your water intake for the first day.  You want to keep things working.  I had gone for a walk in the afternnon and then not drank much for the next few hours and later that night the urethra was kind of stuck shut.  It took some soaking and poking to get it opened up again. 

Be sure to empty your bladder often, and especially when you won't be able to access a toilet for a while.  You don't want to stretch the stitching.  A bladder spasm caused by trying to hold it is not a fun experience.

I hope that you are pad-free soon, keep healing,

Dan

Posted 7/15/2010 11:34 PM (GMT 0)
Don,t tence up when they go to pull it out,,,,just try to relax
Posted 7/16/2010 1:14 AM (GMT 0)
My cath removal was absolutely painless. It just fell out.

On the other hand, I blew out a Walgreens pant with a backup pad in a 9.5 mile trip home, and went straight to a pant + 8 booster pads per day. Took about 10 weeks to come down to 6 per day.

I've learned to shop the sales and coupons.

Take an underpad for the car seat, just in case.

Post Edited (142) : 7/15/2010 7:17:18 PM (GMT-6)

Posted 7/16/2010 1:26 AM (GMT 0)
Uh... tell them to  pull, not push

Mel

Posted 7/16/2010 4:19 AM (GMT 0)
As you already figured out, everyone is different. I said "ouch" when it came out, and had about 10 minutes of stinging. By the time I got to the car, the stinging had stopped. When the catheter came out, I started dripping, and I was amazed that as hard as I tried, I couldn't make it stop. I had brought a Depends which I immediately slipped on. For me it was 10 pads for the first couple of weeks, then about 6 pads for about 6 more weeks, then, suddenly in the middle of week 10, the leaking dropped dramatically to 3 pads in a day. I am now at the end of week 10, and it's amazing how different it is from a few days ago. So, if you are dry right off the bat, congratulations. If not, just wait it out. Good luck!
Posted 7/16/2010 11:27 AM (GMT 0)
John was very nervous about his post-op visit to remove the staples and catheter. Both were a complete nonevent for him. He brought pads with him and had a few squirts on the way home but nothing major. Overall, he was very happy after that visit!
Posted 7/16/2010 2:27 PM (GMT 0)
Be prepared for the youngest best looking nurse in training to be there.  Congrats- Tim

Posted 7/16/2010 2:32 PM (GMT 0)
Timm,
That was a real downer for me - hot nurse, no signs of respect from woody.
Posted 7/16/2010 8:34 PM (GMT 0)
No tips prepared me for my experience - the cath got hung up on a stitch and would not come out. The PA deflated the balloon and gave a tug - nothing. I could feel the pulling internally and could tell this wasn't right. The doc was called in - same result or lack of result. They told me to go home and if I couldn't get it out my Monday (this was Friday) to give them a call. I gave it a shot again on Saturday night, felt a pop as the stitch broke, and out it came.
Posted 7/16/2010 9:29 PM (GMT 0)

Sorry to hear of that experience. That had to be a really stressful weekend. It looks like things have gone well since then for you, hope I'm right.

Posted 7/16/2010 10:47 PM (GMT 0)
Yea 142

 It was a case of showing up at a gun fight, with a very dull knife.  Sorry freinds, I remember thinking it felt a little bit like bumping your crazy bone but it's over so fast and your so happy to done with the whole thing.   Best of luck Tim

Posted 7/17/2010 3:32 AM (GMT 0)
Friends...

Too late to mention this now I suppose, but for the Next Guy to have his catheter removed:

They like to see that you can hold in everything at the moment the cath is removed (they load up the bladder with saline for you before they remove the cath). Then they want you to let it out and stop it in a controlled way as you void all the saline+urine.

So, remember to concentrate on those things and you will get Good-Boy! from your nurse (mine was a male nurse -- oh well).
Posted 7/17/2010 4:12 AM (GMT 0)
Mine came out very easily. Just a strange tingling feeling when it came out. I was a leaker from day one. My cath never did completely seal off. There were times that it would seal. But other times I would get leaking around the bulb inside the bladder and urine would drip from around the outside of the tube. Anyway, I knew I would most likely need pads when it came out. In the end I had to have a AUS to finally stop the leaking!
Hope your journey is much easier and DRIER than mine.
KW
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