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Posted 1/15/2012 3:12 PM (GMT 0)
Davinci on 1-3-2012 and Cath out on 1-9-2012. I have this constant pain in my urethra in the last inch of my penis. It was there when the cath was installed and it is still there today. Last night I woke up at 1:00 am, took a pee, and had a hard time going back to sleep because of this sharp pain in my penis. I'm calling the Dr. tomorrow. I'm thinking about going back on the phenazopyrid/azo. Did any of you experience this and what helped it?

As an update regarding my progress: I'm up to 2.5 mile morning walks. Upon my return my depends is as wet as a mop. Yesterday, I started weighing the depend with an accurate digital refrigerant scale. Yesterday my depend weighed 224 grams after my walk. This morning it weighed 110 grams. The big difference is probably because I had a slight cough yesterday morning and leaked everytime I coughed a little. This morning I measured the amount of urine I could retain upon completing my walk and all I could retain is maybe 50cc. The first increment is 100cc. I won't be going back to work leaking like this. I may go looking for a desk job before this is over.

Thanks
Posted 1/15/2012 3:33 PM (GMT 0)
Desertrat,

You should call the uro about the pain. I am speculating that the urethra was irritated/injured by catheter. You should have it checked out.

As far as leaking on walks, it is very early in your healing process. Most guys take longer than this to gain some reasonable control. I even wonder about the wisdom of such long walks at this point .. maybe something a little shorter and then gradually build up the distance?

Posted 1/15/2012 3:41 PM (GMT 0)
I have been through what you are going through in the past, may I may 3 suggestions that you can pass to your doctor:

If it is a burning pain, try the generic pyridium, works very well, is cheap, but will leave an orange perm. stain on anythng the urine touches.

If you think its more in the nature of spasms, I would suggest the generic ditropan, also cheap, I was on it on and off for over 2 years and it helps with spasms and cramping through the bladder and urethra.

If you think its just infamatory pain, say near the tip of your penis, or just down the "shaft" so to speak, ask for some lydacaine gel, most docs will give you a sample or two for free, it will numb the area temparary and give you some pain relief.

Hope some of this might help you.

David in SC
Posted 1/15/2012 4:33 PM (GMT 0)
Thanks for the responses so far. The pyridium sounds similar to the phenazopyrid because it turns my urine orange too. I don't know if it will permanently stain, but it is used for urethral pain. I'm sure it is from the catheter. I took some ibuprofen and a phenazopyrid this morning and will call the Doc tomorrow.

Southern Comfort: thanks for the concern about the walks. This is something the wife and I have been doing for years so my body is use to it. I talked to my uro last Monday, the day the catheter came out, about it and he said basically what you did. We are use to 3 mile walks and told him so. He suggested starting out at 1.5 and work up, and that is what we did on Tuesday. I'll probably top out at 2.5 miles until the leakage settles down. I don't like being that wet. I haven't felt any pain or other issues from the walks other than the additional leakage that seems normal as ones activity level increases at this point in recovery. I'm a healthy 59 year old with a BMI of 24. It is these walks that keep me healthy and it was my health that got me out of the hospital in 32 hours and feeling good a few days later.

Good luck to both of you. You guys are an inspiration to us newbies.

Purgatory: it is a sore pain inside the urethra towards the end of the shaft. It sometimes becomes a shooting pain for brief moments. I'll run by your suggestions to the doc if he doesn't have any ideas. By looking at your signature, I can tell why you are so knowlegable. I feel for you.
Posted 1/15/2012 4:39 PM (GMT 0)
I'm still on the catheter and had similar pain. The doc prescribed Ditropan which provided considerable relief, so apparently much of the pain must have been from bladder spasms being telegraphed to the end of the penis.

The lidocaine provided no relief.
Posted 1/15/2012 6:18 PM (GMT 0)
thanks desert,

hope you get your relief. i spent a total of 1 1/2 years on 21 different caths, i have way too much experience there, lol. the last time, before my urostomy surgery, i was on continuous caths for 51 weeks without a break. there were 2 times, that i had to have 2 catheters in at the same time for about 2 weeks at the time, talk about agony. i had a suprapubic cath coming out below my navel, and a foley cath in the penis at the same time. there is no way to really explain how miserable that felt with 2 in place.

good luck agian

david
Posted 1/15/2012 8:26 PM (GMT 0)
Desertrat

I had my surgery Dec. 16, 2011 and catheter out Dec. 28th. I too am familiar with that pain. Starting to go away slightly. I take 800 mg of Motrin and it seems to help the pain subside. I seems that every week a new pain starts up and just as quickly disappears. All attributable to healing no doubt. Given that the stomach surgical wounds are still healing I can just imagine the inside of our bodies. I am 57 and the leakage, while still there, is getting better and I think my bladder is starting to hold more before I must void. Hang in there. Remember, overstressing that pelvic floor area will make you leak alot. Good luck
Posted 1/16/2012 2:57 AM (GMT 0)
I experienced several urinary tract infections in the months after my catheter was removed, most caused by trying to use a few less pads. The last few seconds of voiding, and several minutes after, were occupied by screaming, 20 on a scale of 0-10, pain.

Call your Uro.

Posted 1/16/2012 4:41 PM (GMT 0)
I had a similar pain that lasted  for a couple of weeks and I thought it was a UT infection as I had three of them after my biopsy and before the surgery. At my 3 week check up I convinced the URO to test my urine for the UTI and it was negative and stopped a couple of days later, he told me it was all part of the urethra healing process even though I felt it in the end of the shaft like you are.

 BTW are you related to Worried Guy in this forum? He is the only other guy I know who weighed his urine leakage and pad use after surgery.

Hope the pain gets better, and my guess is it will.

Terry

Posted 1/16/2012 4:53 PM (GMT 0)
I've started weighing the pad that catches what leaks from my JP drain tube. It's the only way that I can quantify what is coming out, and the only way I can convince myself (and the doc) that it is slowing down. It is indeed slowly slowing down. It's been 47 days. When it comes out, the catheter can also come out. When the flow drops to 25-30 ml in 24 hours and stays there, then I can go in for them to remove the pipes. Perhaps this week....
Posted 1/16/2012 7:31 PM (GMT 0)
My surgery was on Sept. 22, 2011.  I still have almost daily penile pain. The strange thing is, I can go to bed pain free and wake up around  2:00 AM...sometimes urethral, sometimes general pelvic pain.  If I get up to pee more than once, the usual patern is, little or no pain the first time, then more the second time, then later I'll wake up with more intense pain. This morning I had the tingly pelvic pain which seemed to be getting better after I had breakfast , then just got up off the sofa and felt this sharp stinging urethral pain. I had just peed and I think there was probably some residual urine that got squeezed out when I stood.  I've even had this happen when I cough or clear my throat..learning to be very careful about how I move around.  One thing that I think made my pain last as long as it has isat 5 weeks out of surgery I was having bad retention problems, so my surgeon scoped me and had a nurse teach me to cath myself the same day.  Then I cathed 2 or three times a day for a few weeks and the pain kept getting worse.  My bladder function is fully restored now, I feel that the pain is very slowly getting better.  This thing can really test your patience.  Hang in there. When you slice a urethra then reattach it there's bound to be some repercussions...plus moving the nerve bundles around, etc.  Hope we all get better soon...I know what you're going through.  I just took 800 mg. ibuprofen and 200 mg. phenazopyridine (doc gave me a prescription and it's a little stronger than OTC Azo). 
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