My father (73 years old and healthy) just had his prostate removed via the Da vinci robotic prostatectomy procedure. He was released from the hospital on Day 4 after the surgery and the catheter was removed on day 10 after the surgery. He could stop the urine at the time the catheter was removed. The ultrasound at the time showed that there was no excessive fluid retention in the bladder after urination - dad was asked to wear a diaper and sent home. Everything good so far. The night he had the catheter removed, he was uncomfortable and could not urinate. In discussing this with the on-call urologist this was due to the Solitan (Solifenacin 10mg) that was prescribed and was causing constriction of the bladder neck. My father was having the urge to urinate but could not as a result. The on-call urologist had us stop the Solitan and switch to Alfoo (Alfuzosin) which would relax his bladder. This meant hourly visits to the bathroom for the next 12 hours. My father felt very tired and exhausted as a result of this. He slept most of the next day and felt fine and we stopped taking the Alfoo as well since he was urinating every 2-3 hours with a strong stream, clear urine and no stop-start. For the next week, he complained of dull pain when urinating and pain when sitting down. Urologist told us this was normal and would go away.
9 days after removal of catheter (22 days after surgery), he complained of dull pain in his lower abdomen and he develop fever of 100.9. Urologist asked for a blood test for Leucocyte count and his was 16.32 - much higher than the 11.0 high end of the normal range. So he has now been put on a course of antibiotics (administered via IV) for the first 3 days and then continued orally for the next 5 days. This along with pain meds (ibuprofen) and standard laxative. The urologist is telling us the pain is due to the inflammation caused by the catheter and due to the downward pull from the weight of the testes. My dad has been told to wear briefs to minimize this - hard to do when he is wearing diapers. My father is able to urinate every 2-3 ours with a strong stream, no stop start and a clear color. He still has leakage when he walks, coughs etc. Leakage is less with the tighter briefs and when he is lying down.
I wanted to ask other members who have been through this surgery to share any similar experiences and if this is normal. Also is my father progress normal after 22 days? I understand every case is different but it would be great to learn from what the others have experienced. He has largely been confined to home over the past 22 days. His pace of walking is slow due to the dull pain. Thanking you in advance for your time and for sharing your experience.
PS - I will post another separate post related to this post surgery pathology results. Gleasons - 3+4, 5.8% involvement, there was no extraprostatic extension, margin were clear, no seminal vesicle invasion, no lymph vascular invasion, there was perineural invasion which I'm told is present in almost all such pathologies.
Post Edited (prostatic edification) : 12/14/2013 1:43:24 PM (GMT-7)