11 Months on the SP Catheter

Thank you Jeff.

DJ, thanks, that was a cool clip.

 

David,

As always you know you are in our thoughts and prayers everyday that this is the answer to your problems.  Hopefully the next three weeks will go by fast and you will be on the road to recovery.

Jerry1

aimzee, thanks for checking up on me.

i hate wearing the leg bag, i have had some of my worse spasms while wearing one, as opposed to the large, night bag. but with this much cath time, i am forced to use a leg bag when i leave the house and yard. but trust me, as soon as i get home, off it comes and on with the big bag.

surgery is now barely two weeks away, a bit uptight about it, will be my 8th op at this hospital in 22 months, so i am use to that part. it's scary how well they know me on the pre-op side, lol.

the past 4-5 days have been miserable, many long lasting "dry" spasms - the ones that hurt the most, probably had over a dozen today alone.
i have irragated twice, thinking i was getting some blockagae, but wasnt the case. by the time i have this op, and get home from the hospital, it will be right at one year to the day that i had this suprapubic cath installed. hard to believe.

hope your dear husband is still doing well.

christmas shopping? we never start, money or no money, until about the month before, makes it more sporting, lol.

thanks again,

david

Tim, welcome here, and thank you for your kindness. It has been an ordeal that's hard to fully explain to others, as I am on my 21st catheter. The last few days have been one of intense periods of pain, sometimes lasting for hours even with the use of prescription pain meds.

For the average surgery guy, being on a cath for 7-14 days is an ordeal in itself, I won't take away from you own experience, but for most men, then the cath part is over for good. Then you move on to dealing with any incontinence, and then to the ED issues.

My body keeps over-scarring whenever there is a wound or surgery. That has been the core issue from the start. When I had to go through with radiation this past fall as a salvage treatment, the radiation did heavy damage to my bladder, bladder neck, penile and rectal areas as well.

The operation I am about to undertake, will forever change the way I will pee for the rest of my life, through a stoma into a bag. My bladder will be by-passed for good, in hopes that it will eliminate the need for a catheter, and hope that it will eventually end some of the constant pain. Most of the pain is because a catheter is being pushed around inside a bladder, that according to my uro/surgeon, looks like a battle field. In the nearly 10 months since my radiation ended, there is no evidence of any healing in the area.

I wish you well in the rest of your recovery.

David in SC

tim,

you need no permission, you are part of our brotherhood by being here. i am just one of many men here sharing their stories and woes.

each man's pc journey is as important as the next, and none of us, get a free ride in my opinion. for us surgery guys, there are side effects and quality of life issues, and hopefully for most men, these things eventually are resolved, for some, however, they can linger on for months and/or years.

i care about each man's case here, and we all hope for good news when it happens to one of us. there's strength in numbers, and that rule works here too.

david

thanks man, i think i have done the "pain" thing long enough, even the most patient person only has x amount of patience.

I'm sure you are getting a bit nervous about the op even though you have had so many. Please know that there are people right around the world thinking of you and wishing you well.

That bicycle in your shed needs to get used!

An

Dave,

There is someone I know well, who was on an ileoconduit for 20 years, using a bag. For reasons other than PCa, this being a female person. A few years ago she was asked if she wanted her bladder reconnected, and she went for it. Now uses the bladder again, after all that time. She does have to manually catheterize--this is more common than most people realize.

Anyway, I shouldn't say much more until I check with her to see if it's ok to discuss her story. But, knowing that, it's why I asked my doc for a manual catheter, just in case I had trouble after my foley was removed. He declined, but I think it would have been OK.

DJ

dj, my surgery will not be reversible. some can be, and some can't be. i am a bit surprised that her bladder and the other parts of her normal urinary systems would still be usable after all this time. even if the radiation damage magically healed at some point in the future, the scaring over in the bladder neck would be ongoin, as its considered chronic at this point. its definitely the case of choosing the lesser of evils. also, in my case, my surgeon doesnt believe i would be a good candidate for self cathing. that works well for some folks, and others. thanks for your input.

mal, i would me more than happy to pass the torch of the most catheters over to anyone fool enough to want it, and i have increased the stock value of whoever makes loratab pain pills in the past year. actually, glad that mine is a rare and low percentage occuring case, as this would be a horrible thing to anticipate if someone knew it could happen to them.

today makes it 345 continuous days on the suprapubic catheter and a total of 446 days on catheters since my open surgery in 11/2008.

when i woke up in recovery from the open surgery, and was told that i would have to be on the original cath for 30 days, i came apart, threw a big fit, and thought it was utterly the end of the world. how little did i know what lie ahead for me.

david

Hi David,

Frankly, I can't wait for your surgery to be over so that we can start celebrating what we're hoping is going to be the beginning of a whole better life for you. We all need our heroes on the site to keep us from whining about our minor little things, but I'd like to see you be just another guy who's main complaint is that the BBQ was too hot and you burned the chicken! You've been a good friend, David, and Geoff and I will be sending all our positive thoughts your way on the 23rd.(It is the 23rd-right?).

Kind regards,
Renee

tim, thanks. for sports, i am too easy, have been a red sox fan since a youth, and been a die hard new england patriot fan since 1970. i dont follow college sports, nothing against them. i love both formula one racing, and moto gp (motorcycle). HW is an amazing place to hang, glad you found your way here. real friendships are being made here with people, and we are a close knit community, even when our opinions differ.

yes, thanks renee, it is the 23rd, started to come up fast. i am not worried about the op side, but the recovery side may be more difficult with this type of operation, i will have to get use to a whole new world on the other side of this one. i have been so run down the past few months, my wife is concerned in advanced, that i may not bounce back as fast as hoped. i still haven't gotten over my last minor op in july. my body is just tired of all of this.

thank you rick, i will remember that

i appreciate each and every one of you, we all have our own battles to fight in the war against PC.