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cath out total continuous incontinence

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Posted 5/29/2013 12:00 PM (GMT 0)
yesterday cath out 12 days post da vinci. started leaking right away. passed either a kidney stone or bladder stone soon after.  had lunch, drank a lot. soon,  had a BM, did not pee.  2 hrs later, another BM, could not pee.  drank some water. walked 3 miles, still no desire to pea. drank water.   this after about 6 hrs  from cath out.. So, just got in recliner, did keagles, finally felt like wanting to go.  trying to get up, lost  everything I had drank.  could not stop. think I completely emptied. Have continuous dripping, If I get up and walk, drips or flows out, even more..  During the night twice I stood and tried to pee.  first time, after 15 min small sensation lasted  about 2 sec., couple of drops.   4 hrs later, tried again.   after about 20 min, finally thought I would, but sensation lasted about 5 seconds with only a few drops and a burning in penis. No sensation of wanting or needing to pee does not sound anywhere near normal post surgery.  What now gentleman? This is disconcerting and more than frustrating.  Dr said expect heavy leakage, but is that what he meant.  Continual heavy leakage. Thank you for your replies. waiting on dr. office to open. 

Davinci 5/16

clear margins,  Pca contained to prostate. nerves spared.

Posted 5/29/2013 12:21 PM (GMT 0)
Hey Steve.
Welcome to the other, other side. Some unlucky guys leak like sieve the first few days. Some guys plug up. Having had the "pleasure" of experiencing both, I'll take leaking any day.

I presume you are wearing your diapers depends. They catch a lot. Also keep a Red Solo cup or equivalent (18 oz) cup anywhere you will be sitting. That way when you stand up you won't have to go all the way to the bathroom if the urge hits.

Warning!!!! The above advice is for single guys only!!! If you are married, you are better off forcing yourself to go all the way to the bathroom to pee. Even the most sympathetic, loving spouse will get a bit testy if she sees you standing in the living room with your pants around your ankles and your penis in Solo cup. Women!

It will get better. Honest.
Good luck,
Jeff
Posted 5/29/2013 12:24 PM (GMT 0)
Hi Steve,
From remembering how hubby was, I think it's all just wishy washy in the beginning. Twice he had me do a search on here because he felt like he should have been able to pee, and couldn't... Then after a bit he would.
It's just scary in the beginning, kind of like you're both getting to know each other again.
He applied an incontinence type soothing cream on the end of his penis, as it was pretty red after getting the cath out. I've also read on here that the burning feeling may be referred pain, from all the healing still taking place.
Even though he's done to one pad a day now, it's the getting up part that still gets him leaking.
Let us know what your doctor says.
Posted 5/29/2013 12:34 PM (GMT 0)
Steve,

If your doctor said to expect heavy leaking this is probably pretty much what he expected. By all means talk to your doctor about your symptoms but what you describe is pretty typical for a heavy-leaker after a prostatectomy. It was several weeks after the cath came out before I could stand up, walk to the bathroom, and pee -- in that order. I could stand up, pee, and walk to the bathroom but it took a long time to get enough control to have anything left after a few steps. It was months before I could walk a mile and still have anything left in my bladder so I could stand at the urinal and produce even a squirt.

In the next few weeks you will work out coping mechanisms. You will find out how many cups of tea a pair of high-absorbancy Depends pull-ups can hold. You will probably get really mad at your surgeon. (It's a phase. It will pass, eventually.)

A few other things -- the burning at the end of your penis is probably 'referred' pain from your bladder neck which is still irritated from the surgery. (see en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Referred_pain) The reason you seldom feel like you need to pee is because you don't. Unless you are sitting or laying down you are probably leaking about as fast as urine is produced.

This all gets better gradually. It takes months for your body to attack the stitches in your urethra and they can be irritating until they are gone.

Hang in there. Let us know what your doctor says.
Posted 5/29/2013 12:42 PM (GMT 0)
At least you got home before it started. With a Depends, booster pad, and underpad on the seat, I still had to have the seat deep-cleaned afterwards.

I drained on the uro's office floor as the tube came out, so there was no doubt what I was in for.

It took me a couple of months to get past the pant + 8/9 booster pads a day phase, but it did get better with time.

I used Walgreens men's guards as a booster pad at first. They have a lot more "capacity" than the Depends pad. The Target, WalMart, and Kroger house brands are the same pad as the Walgreens.

Posted 5/29/2013 1:34 PM (GMT 0)
Hope you recover soon Steve, hang in there.
Posted 5/29/2013 1:53 PM (GMT 0)
One other thing...

about now you will be tempted to go through your calendar and call off your life event-by-event on the theory that everything has become impossible. Give it a couple of days first to learn to cope with things. With the right containment undergarments most activities that are traditionally done with your pants on can continue almost normally.
Posted 5/29/2013 3:08 PM (GMT 0)
I agree with 142, use the Depends with booster pads that you can change out when you need to. The Depends fit snug and catch the overflow. I kept pads in plastic sandwich bags when I left the house. If I needed to change a pad, I would put the used one in the plastic sandwich bag and discard it.
Good luck with the new normal!

Bill from Florida cool
Posted 5/29/2013 3:53 PM (GMT 0)
Welcome to the next phase!
One day after cath comes out is nothing like things are likely to be one week afterwards or one month on.

Firstly what you describe as passsing a stone was probably a clot or some other debris from surgery that had been stuck in your bladder and unable to escape while the catn was in. You may well have other bits come out in the coming days.
It is possible that some of this bits have "sharp edges" that are just enoug to scratch the lining of the pipe work on the way out and that can lead to a burning sensation.
But burning sensations can sometimes be infections. You should also have been put on antibiotics when the cath came out to help prevent getting a bladder infection, but sometimes even with antibiotics an infection will happen.
If you are in any doubt call your doc. Pain is also soemthing to call the doc about.

And don't do too many Kegels either in one session or per day. And don't walk too much in one go either.

hope the doc can help. meantime resting is not being lazy this soon after major surgery. (Yes major surgery, you may have small scars on the outside, but there is a h*ll of a mess on the inside trying to heal and reposition itself.)

Alf
Posted 5/29/2013 4:57 PM (GMT 0)
..Steve, I posted a thread on some issues like yours a few days ago, I know how you feel brother. Read all the responses I received they will help you cope. We are in this together..
Posted 5/29/2013 5:48 PM (GMT 0)
just got back from dr. did not see my surgeon but another in group.  Like you guys said it is not uncommon to have this heavy leakage and will not begin to lessen until the muscle starts to work to close off the urethra  Thanks to each  for your input.   I do appreciate the encouragement  more than you know.   While I was expecting leakage,i didn't think  that meant I  would never stop.  Mr Moderator, I do hope of course you are right about  the plans  of the future,   its hard  though to see beyond the next pad.  While I was in good physical condition, it did help with the surgery, however like you said before in another thread of mine,, it will probably help very little in the incontinence area.  I just wait and hope tomorrow is better, if not, then the next day. Thanks to all of you again. It is really uplifting to hear it from someone other than my wife, who is an angel during this time.
Posted 5/29/2013 5:56 PM (GMT 0)
Steve,
Email me, I'll send along my pads doc.
Posted 5/29/2013 9:14 PM (GMT 0)
Thought there for a couple minutes I was reading a mirror image transcript of what I'm going through!  Surgery was 3 months ago, still have heavy draining...but...there are days where I see some improvement.  Looking back at a month ago, there definitely is improvement.  I don't leak when I'm laying down or sittinng, like you, once I stand up it's a race to the bathroom.  Am getting better over time.  Hang in there, my email's available if you have any questions...Art tongue
Posted 5/29/2013 11:16 PM (GMT 0)
Guys,
I'm telling you, weigh your pee pads and stick the chart up on the refrigerator like a piece of kindergartener's art work. You will easily see how you are improving - or not.

I found it very helpful. I could see the numbers gradually drop from 500 ml ( ~16 oz) per day down to about 150 (5 oz ) and flatten out.
That stupid chart gave me hope when I was leaking, and was data when I decided to have the sling installed. Very valuable.

Remember, no matter how bad it gets, incontinence can be fixed.
Give it more time. And do let us know how you make out.
Jeff
Posted 5/30/2013 5:38 PM (GMT 0)
Found out I don't leak while sitting or in recliner( have not tried bed yet) so now before I get up  I use my little cup  for catching  the squirt.(s) also I can  see if my muscles are working when I try to stop and start it. I read some older posts of the guys who walk around the house holding the cup watching for drips and working the muscle  by sight. both  seem to work a little and believe it or not I can see a little  (very little) difference in the last 2 days.  It may be slight but it more than I could have predicted two days ago.  You guys have been a real  help to me with your posts  and I hope someone reads mine and know the worse days will always be there but hope can be there also.  thanks waleygator  for your post also and I know I am not the only one.  Wife and I are due to leave on road trip june 8  6000 mi and yesterday we called it off.  This morning I said lets go.  I found the afex incontinence  kit from  another post from here and ordered one today.   There was no way I could ride  more than an  hour or two without being practically naked and with my little cup.  I bet that would get me out of a ticket. Thanks again guys.
Posted 5/30/2013 7:02 PM (GMT 0)
Steve... GOOD FOR YOU!!! I was scared to death to try anything farther than 10' from the bathroom for quite a while...no more.

Couple things I did to help me out...

1. Right after surgery I was having problems urinating on the stool, it would sometimes squirt out between the lid and seat. I bought some 1/4" foam window/door insulation and formed a semi-circle around the underside of the seat. When the seat was down it prevented any leakage on the floor, works great!

2. I love to fish, especially from my boat but worried about being able to get back to shore. Most guys would just stand up and go over the side. Not sure how well I could balance on the edge of the boat, etc. Ended up buying a plastic transmission funnel, it's about 30" long, now just stand up from my seat, turn, and let her go! Problem solved!!!

Enjoy the road trip. If you're anywhere back this way let me know...Art
Posted 5/31/2013 12:26 PM (GMT 0)
Worriedguy, the cup has been a preventer of a lot of problems. keep it right next to lazyboy whenever I am sitting here. can control leakage only when it is slight. doing my keagles and walking shorter distances also. you guys never know how your encouragement helps!!!!!!!!!!! and your ideas on how to deal with it sure makes life right now more bearable. thanks again.
Posted 5/31/2013 4:05 PM (GMT 0)
I also leaked alot after surgery. I was like going thru 10 guards a day and got a skin irritation below from all the leakage. I am 7 weeks out now and only using 2 guards daily now. Hang in there, give it time. You will get better. Have fun on your trip !
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