Surgery May 1

Hello Geno,

Welcome to the forum.

Before your surgery you should make sure you can see the television from your recliner. After surgery you won't be able to move furniture for six weeks and you will probably be spending a lot of time there. There should also be a small table by the recliner where you can keep the remote and a cool drink. This might be a good time to sign up for Netflix. They have thousands of movies that will help you sleep.

Let us know if we can answer any questions. Most of us have been where you are now.

Thank you Peter for the insight. My wife is going to be busy for awhile. We have 2 cats to feed and clean up after. She hates cleaning the cat box and will only do it when all else fails. I hope they give me good meds for the discomfort. How is sleeping with the catheter in?

Good luck to you. I got used to my catheter. I had two catheter bags to switch out. One was for indoors and had one i could strap to my leg for when I walked down the street, etc.

Hi Geno,

Best wishes and speedy recovery. I just had RALP one week ago today. Take care with the catheter, you don't want anything tugging on the tubing where it exits your man part. When I had my TURP in December, they gave me an elastic leg strap that attached to the catheter tubing . The problem with that was if I pulled on the tubing below the the strap, it could pull through the loop in the strap and then pull at the tubing going into my bladder. I also tried pulling it out during my sleep. Quickly awoke me, fortunately have not done that again. This time, my catheter tubing is taped to my leg and if I pull on the tubing below where it is taped, tubing does not move above the tape and does not try to pull it out of the bladder.

At one week, I am feeling pretty good, good bit of short, frequent walks, lots of fluids and I am taking a couple of short naps a day. Be sure to do something to prevent constipation, I am using. Miralax, doing fine. Everything I have heard on here, from others. Is to be a patient patient and don't overdo anything. Take it easy, and best wishes with your upcoming surgery, pathology and recovery!

My next step is surgery too, just a few weeks after you, so I've been reading the advice you've been given.

Let us know how you get on.

The best of luck to you!!

Welcome aboard Geno!
Get ready for a life changing week. Hopefully they will get all the cancer at one time and you won't have to deal with it any more.

The catheter is pretty easy to get used to. Buy a cheap plastic garbage pail and when you go to bed, hang the catheter on the pail so if it should leak, it leaks in the pail. It happened to me twice. Sleep on your side with the catheter hanging off the bed. I used the large catheter all the time, you don't have to change it that often. The leg bag is pretty small. I just dropped the cath in a canvas bag and carried it with me if I walked for exercise. Sitting around the house, I brought the pail with me to hang the cath in.

If you hadn't heard yet, most of us bought the basketball pants that snap all the way down the side so you can let the tube from the catheter snake out the pants into the pail or canvas bag. I got mine about 2 days before surgery at Dick's sporting goods and was glad I did.

Good luck! We'll see you on the other side (of recovery).

Bill from Florida

Lol! Now I realize I got my great advise from Big Mac, thanks man, you made my life a heck of a lot easier.. Also wear PJ with the penis slot.. For the hose

Hey Tdubb, I just learned all this stuff here from some guys before me. You just gotta pass it on to the next brother to make his life easier.

I almost got rid of the basketball pants almost 2 years ago after my Da Vinci but instead, I washed them and stuck them in the back of the closet. Little did I know that nearly 3 weeks ago I would need those pants again. I had an AUS installed for incontinence and had a catheter for the weekend again. After the surgery, I was in recovery and the nurse said I could get dressed and prepare to be discharged for the weekend. I asked my wife for the basketball pants, pulled them on, unsnapped the sides, fished the catheter line thru them and resnapped them I grabbed a canvas bag I used 2 years ago and dropped the catheter in the bag and told the nurse, "Get me a wheel chair, I am ready to go". She said, "well I am going to let you do it, you look like you know what you are doing. I am going to pass that tip on to others".

That's all I am doing, passing it on!

Glad it helped you!

Bill from Florida

Hey Geno,
I bumped an old thread to the top about useful information from Healing Well members for Healing Well members. Look for it on this page. It has great tips that will come in real handy this coming week for you. Plenty of time to still help you.

Bill from Florida

Geno,

Good luck on your pending surgery. Hope it goes well.

We will see you on the other side, the recovery side.

Hopefully you won't have major incontinence or major ED issues, but unfortunately, both come with the turf of having surgery.

Let us know how you do.

David

Hey Geno
I'm nearly 6 months post surgery. The whole surgery / catheter experience will all be a blur for you in a few months. Have a much sex as you can before surgery, it will be a while before you will be ready for it again. Make sure you have a recliner to sleep in, much more comfortable than laying flat. I'll echo what other folks said about the catheter, keep it clean, lubed and protected. NO TUGGING OR TAPPING on it, do that once and you will understand the caps. Before you leave the hospital a nurse will remove an abdomen drain, it feels strange but does not hurt. Getting the cath removed feels the same way.

When you get home make sure to drink lots of water, walk a bit and rest the first week. Prune juice and stool softeners are your friend, you want to keep your poop soft, you'll understand why with your first BM, it might be a little uncomfortable, don't strain and just let it happen. Looking back I found that the biopsy was more traumatic than the surgery. You'll be fine

Take good care your yourself, good luck and see you on the other side

Pat

Hey Geno,

Ditto on the bucket for the catheter and the tear-away pants. Greatly reduced the hassle. Also, the hospital didn't give me a Velcro leg band thing to hang the small catheter bag from. I shaved my leg and used tape (this was during the ice storm of 2013 here in Dallas and we didn't want to go shopping for something). Really bad idea. I had much more irritation and pain from the tape than from the incisions. Pubbing was awesome with the catheter--drink Guinness all night and never have to leave my seat. :)

I think you'll be amazed at your recovery and how little pain there is. For my wife and I things really turned around right after the surgery (last December)--it felt like our lives and been on hold and now we were moving forward and making progress.

Best of luck and cheers,

Dave