Urinary flow

I had been through those times too many times in the past two plus years. Your uro should be easily able to get to the bottom of this problem. He should be using the "scope' on you, and with that, should be able to see any bladder neck or urethra strictures. And if it can't be fixed in his office, then some simple day type surgery should solve it. You don't want to wait till you have another total blockage and end up in the ER.

David in SC

I had a similar problem after surgery, but not as severe. I simply had slow urine flow, getting up 3 times per night. I complained after 4 months of zero improvement. The doc said bladder neck contracture, (this is Canada, we don't actually bother with tests to confirm these things). I had an outpatient surgery a week later and problem solved. On the downside, pad usage has gone up since the surgery 5 months ago.

Sounds like me - I had problem 3 x after surgery and another in Sept.My wife commented the last time, that I was pushing and was worried about it.  I said no problem.

I ended up in emergency room and nurse, doctor and urologist trying to put a catheter in a hole which wasn't there.

Besides the pure pain, I ended up with a Superpubic catheter into my bladder and not my penis for a week until I had the lazer. The catheter was in and out 1 wk in, 1 wk out and 1 wk in because I continued to bleed after the Lazer.

Just had AUS put in and the urologist verified no problem after 90 days and Cleveland Clinic Surgeon verified 30 days after my urologist that there was no problem.

Don't wait, you do not want the pain of someone trying to put a tube through your sphincter when it doesn't fit.  Get your cysto as soon as possible. 

I waited 10 years to get my Artificial Sphincter - AMS 800 installed to control my peeing on 1/22/11

It was Outpatient but I stayed over night til 7:00AM.

They pulled the catheter around 500AM day of discharge

I am now at home for last 2 wks healing - sitting is getting better since you will have blue balls for sure!!!   

   They made an incison superpubic which they put the reservoir for cuff and some of the tubing

   The made an incision lower scrotum - almost anus area to install the pump and cuff around the bulbar urethra

    The pump itself is on my right side of scrotum (almost like another ball!!)

    Google AMs 800 and they show you how it is installed.

 

The problem I had was strictures - 2 sets after I had the RP ( just after catheter removed) and one just in Sept.

The urologist in Sept cleaned stricture out good and I had basically NO CONTROL - 8-9 pads per day.

 

I tried bulking which they inject an agent around sphincter. - collagen and teflex - (year two and three post RP) the current Urologist stated he saw few results with it but it is dependent on guy and RP surgery.

 

I had control after my RP but due to strictures, it didn't last since they had to be cleaned out

 

Don't go getting an AUS until you have time to heal.   If you read the other guys on here, you will note mixed results  with being dry, but most say - it ain't going to happen today, it needs time.

 

If you had strictures, you need to wait at  least 90 days before as AUS so that there is healing and surgeon is comfortable that you are a candidate.  I almost didn't make it because I had some scar tissue around sphincter (due to bulking I presume)

 

I know it is tough to pee in your pants especially when you have a pad on and it overflows.  After the Laser removal of strictures, I broke down and cried to my wife.   I just couldn't take it any more after 10 years.

My urologist initially thought there could be a problem so he wasn't going to recommend me to Cleveland.  He relooked at charts and said Go for it - I was super happy.   When Cleveland Clinic said could be a problem, it almost dashed all hopes.  With further review he said GO!.

 

Hopefully this answers why I needed an artificial sphincter.  It is not something you start looking at until you know what you have. 

  At this point after your RP, you have at least 6 month to 15  months of healing, exercising (walking), kegels, peeing (don't wait do it every couple of hours even if you don't feel like it), using pads and having patience.

 

You will do fine.

 

 

 

 

 

 

kicking:

you are speaking my language. i was the king of strictures at the bladder neck. went through 2 emergency dialations, plust 6 surgeries to keep it open, and all failed. my urologist said he had never seen anyone scar over as fast as i did, in one case, the bladder neck was 100% closed by scar in less than a month after an op to open it. needless to say, i spent a lot of time on catheters, a total of 21 different ones.

everytime we did one of the surgeries, he warned me, there was a risk of permanent incontinence, as the space is minute. he was also real careful not to leave me with ED, as that was a risk with each of the corrective operations.

for 2-4% of men, these strictures can be chronic and an ongoing hassle, i was in that group right from the start.

the op you were describing at the end of your post was talked about with me at one point, but after so much damage was done to me during salvage radiation, it was ruled out of the question.

hope you get better results with your situation, let me know how its going, and if you have any specific questions, fire away.

david in sc

Thanks guys,

Surgical looks grim, general concensus of urethroplasty - first option - is 25% success rate, regrowth of scar tissue being the main issue. The second option after 2 failed urethroplasties doesn't bear thinking about.

I think at the moment I will drink sufficient water, pee frequently and at first signs of need to pee (it helps), continue to try homeopathy, and pray. Getting caught not being able to pee when the need first arises seems to aggravate my condition.

If I get a good result I will be back here to tell it that's for sure!

Muz

C130j - I'm getting up a minimum of twice a night to pee, and I think a lot of us guys have to get up at night, so that may not be as bad as it seems if you can get back to sleep okay again afterwards. (Got woken up with a full bladder the other night after dreaming that I had been drinking loads of caffinated coffee!)

I think that many guys at HW read threads where they see that some guy is in a worse situation than them or that another guy is in a better situation than them, but do so without gloating about being better than someone else, nor jealous of the guy who is in better shape.
So with that in mind I hope you'll understand me saying that I am glad I have never had a stricture, blockage ER catheterisation etc. But thanks to hearing stories like these I sure know that if I do get blocked that I need to get it sorted quickly and by someone that knows what they are doing.


And C130 enjoy this: an alternative to using a hose to wash your undercarriage, or maybe the crew wanted a day at the beach but left again so soon because they forgot their speedos or surfboards
C130 Happy landings