I am the wife of a 61 year old who had prostate surgery on 26 Feb. Things have not been going well since the get go and I have become so anxious I am seeing a counselor and may consider medication for anxiety/depression. I am trying to be strong for my hubby but feel so frustrated with lack of answers. Hoping someone out there can help and ease my concerns.
My husband had a biopsy on 4 December due to an elevated PSA of 4.1. The biopsy caused a sepsis infection and he was in intensive care for a week and almost died. It was so awful but that is another story. The day he returned home we got the call saying he had prostate cancer. I believe it was a T1c but the pathology showed it was a stage II (pT2c NX MX). He had his PSA checked on his 6 week follow up and it was .02 This worried me as the nurse said prior to the results that they want it to be .01 or less. It was an ultra-sensitive test. I see here on these boards that most men have .0 or .01 after surgery. Reason to worry?
My husband is still incontinent 7 weeks post surgery. He has been pretty much dry at night fro the first few days post surgery and mostly dry sitting down, other than that, not dry at all. He is suffering from a bad rash and nothing seems to help. It is driving him crazy. He tried Destin and other creams but they all seem to rub off in the pad.
His other very major concern is a burning in his penis. He thinks it may be from the urine sitting in the tract. He has tried drinking a lot and drinking just enough to get by. Nothing helps. He also has pressure and the feeling to constantly go all the time. He says it is exactly the feeling he had before surgery and that it has not changed at all. Has anyone else out there experienced these symptoms? We really need help with this as we have no quality of life. He cannot work because of the constant burning and urges and the rash. He cannot seem to concentrate. We do not do anything, just sit at home hoping these symptoms will go away. This is not living. I can't stand to see my loved one like this. We spoke with the nurse/doc about it and they seem unconcerned. They did test his urine for infection. the nurse called back and said there was some slight bacteria and gave him Cipro. No relief with that. The nurse didn't really seem to think there was enough bacteria to cause the symptoms. He tried peridnium(sp?) for the burning but that did not help either. He does walk on our treadmill every day but not outside. We called our doctors nurse today about all this and no return call today.
He also has ED and we just started using Cialis and were sent a pump. I was afraid to try the Cialis because when he was in intensive care with the sepsis he developed congestive heart failure. It is better now and the doc says he is not sure if it resolved itself or if the med(coreg) is making it better. So I was hesitant to try it but he really wanted to and with all he has been through I agreed. No luck yet. This is all so discouraging. How do you get through it? This wonderful man of mine needs some relief. I do not know how to support him best as he is so miserable, yet tries to keep on his happy face. God bless him.
If any of you out there can give us any suggestions, comments or support we would so greatly appreciate it. Really wondering if others have had these problems, especially the burning, pressure and the urgency. We would appreciate enormously any feed back you have. Thanks so much.-Anxious Wife