Posted 7/25/2017 3:38 PM (GMT 0)
Thank you everyone for the well wishes. Life with the AUS is certainly better than without it. Yesterday we went to the beach and it was only the second time in the past year that I was able to wear a swimsuit. It was great... lounging on the beach, swim in the gulf, pool, hot tub, shower... all without feeling that I had to hide something or eventually go back into some awkward, inconvenient plumbing or soaking thru my clothes.
All is not totally dry however. The swimsuit was not a problem as it is typically wet anyway. But by the end of each day the thin pad I wear inside my shorts has numerous stains... just spots, nothing soaked. Now and then I can feel a bit of a surge, a sensation that were it not for the AUS would have been a squirt. Typically lifting a leg or bending sideways. Because I do already have fairly good control of my natural sphincter, a small amount of pee is then trapped in the short length of urethra between the natural and artificial sphincters... it is "pressurized" and as soon as I squeeze the pump it squirts out, then I can release my natural sphincter and pee normally. So I find sitting is slightly more convenient than standing.
I suppose that had I waited long enough, eventually I might regain something close to full control. However the matter of radiation pretty much meant that I had to proceed with having the AUS implanted. First off, my SRT had already been delayed too long, now approaching a full year since RP. It was necessary to be able to hold a full bladder in order to proceed with IMRT. It could not wait another six months for me to regain full control. Secondly, I have heard speaking with others who have undergone SRT that the radiation actually worsened their urinary control. So they ended up less continent than they were going into it.
All that plus the fact that my Urologist told me early on that it was better to have it implanted before receiving radiation rather than after. The only cases of totally failed AUS implants that I know of were guys who had it put in after having radiation. I did not want to be in that boat.
But all is not perfect though. Somehow the revision surgery two weeks after the original implant left me with some sort of trigger nerve pain in my groin involving my upper thigh and my one remaining testicle. It feels somewhere between sciatica and a kick in the balls. I must be very careful getting in and out of the car, even walking. My original Uro said that maybe a nerve got hooked while my legs were in the stirrups. The prosthetic surgeon dismissed that as a possibility. The pain is so intense that even poking around in my groin to find the source of the pain is enough to cause it to hurt for several days. I suspect that it is the fitting on the side of the cuff where the tubing connects to the cuff. But there's nothing I can do about it now, and I would not want to further delay SRT while a re-revision would need to heal. Hopefully in another 8-10 years when the whole thing will need replacing that this problem will go away... assuming I am still alive at that point.