Incontinent

Sorry to hear about your problems. You are only 6 month out from surgery. Hopefully your situation will improve by time.
I have a comment about Cialis and incontinence. ED drugs (like Cialis) will actually make your incontinence worse. ED drugs works by relaxing muscles to let blood flow into the penis (to improve erection) but that is the opposite what we should do to reduce incontinence. We want instead contraction of muscles to stop the urine leakage. Relaxing the muscles is what we do to pee.

Grub - you are only a few months post op so I would say don't be overly concerned just yet. I went back and read your first post just so I know your story. You are fortunate that they got all the cancer. What I got was what no one wants to hear, "we got MOST of the cancer".

Anyway, sorry to hear about the problem with the detachment of your urethra. No doubt much of your current problems are due to that. But I was told that there is healing right up thru 9-10 months post op and some guys a full year. So maybe give it some more time.

If your doctor says no sling then it is not a viable option. I know guys who got the sling and are worse off and now thinking of the AUS. I just had my AUS implanted 12 days ago and there were complications. I'm on my third Foley now. I recently posted here on this "AUS saga continues".

In my case I had to move forward with the AUS so that I can start salvage radiation. The clock is ticking. I would have rather waited, but will be on the one year anniversary before all this has healed. So again, don't rush into anything. Also, aren't you sort of putting the cart before the horse taking ED pills at this stage?

I was doing well with continence too following surgery. I hit most of the landmarks like dry nights at four weeks then after three months was dry when sitting and could "hold it" when I stood up long enough to make it to the bathroom. But for some reason I never got beyond that. Like I said, the clock was ticking. At about seven months my Uro recommended the AUS. He said it should go in before starting radiation rather than after because of the time it takes to heal. And the radiation oncologist affirmed that I must be able to hold a full bladder in order to undergo the daily radiation treatments.

Outside of that I was content to live with condom caths and a leg bag for as long as needed, if it weren't for the radiation thing. And guys who were almost fully continent before starting radiation ended up losing continence after completing it.

I've written extensively here and on other forums about using condom caths versus diapers, as the traditional pads just never held enough. I suppose that should have been a warning sign early on. But I went with what was most practical. No rashes and no smell. Easy to sit thru a movie and just lift my foot up to the urinal afterwards to drain the bag. Certainly there are worse things that could happen to a person. BTW what part of Florida? We just moved to the gulf coast last year. I have a blog if you click on the little house icon under my name.

I've heard of Uro's prescribing Cialis post op to improve blood flow to the genital area.

Tampa bay area, north of Clearwater, actually just outside a small town named Dunedin (Dunn-eden). Venice is not far from here. I asked because we have a lot of Canadian snowbirds who live here in the winter. We even rented our place out to one for a couple years before we were ready to retire. BTW my grandfather was Quebecois.

I think most of what I posted on the subject was on the cancer forums at the cancer survivors network. There seemed to be more guys there having such issues... same reason I joined this forum here at HW. Problem is that the CSN forum there's no thread history so I'd have to hunt for my posts there. Just like this msg board on HW appears to have no private message function.

EDIT: I just searched the CSN forum and can't find my posts on CC's. Darn, I put a lot of work into those.
Are you on any other message boards where we can connect? My username is the same on all of them.

Post Edited (RobLee) : 5/28/2017 9:41:31 PM (GMT-6)

Hey iluvgrob

Follow the sage advice from Douglas Adams: "Don't Panic."
You are still early in the journey. 2/3 of surgery guys are continent at 3 months. Of the remaining third 2/3 of them are continent at one year. And half of those have surgery to get it fixed with a sling, or AUS or something else.

I know it is depressing to have wet pants. (Believe me I know. I had lots of experience.) But know it will get better.

In the meantime I found taking data and recording my daily leakage therapeutic. I was able to measure progress before I could see it. I weighed my pee pads every day for a year (every dang one of them!) and plotted the curve to see if I was getting better. After 9 months or so it was clear that surgical intervention was going to be needed.

Try not to let it drive you crazy. It can, and will, be fixed!
Jeff

Thanks Rob much appreciated. Have you heard much about the Afex system?

Yes good luck, wish you the best. Keep us in touch.

Hi all, just following on from my meeting with the aus800 surgeon. I am now at nine months. He told me the detached urethra was not the best scenario and as the original surgeon told me, wasn't sure how it would have happened. Conflicting story here, as original surgeon told me it wouldn't hinder recovery, anyway I continue. The aum specialist recommended another round of physio with a pelvic specialist. I agreed and have found this lady to be a lot more comprehensive in treatment than the first. Again it seems I needed to do more homework. I am now on my fourth exercise, I understood there was only one almighty kagal, untrue. There should be a specific exercise for each muscle down there. When explained fully, I now have an idea of what I am doing. That's good as clarity has been rare. She mentioned a six month period, recovery maybe to two pads a day if I am lucky. I appreciate the honesty, facts she lays out, as I mentioned in earlier posts my RP surgeon explained everything would be a piece of cake, not so. I will check in at the twelve month period. Take care all.