I'm 9 days out of radical pc surgery, the catheter was removed 7 days post surgery. 2 days of dribbling and I need to learn how to pee again, I leak when I sit down, bend over, sleep, and just moving around. At times I can build up a little in the bladder, then release it in the toilet, but it's not the norm. Anyone have any suggestions on retraining.
Thanks slosurfer

It'sis going to take a little time. So be patient with yourself. I was going whenever I moved and went through several pads a day. It will gradually get better. The funny thing was when they took out the catherder I had no leaks then within a couple of days I became a faucet. Now I can go on one pad a day and stay dry unless I cough, pass gas or squat. Not brave enough to try a day without one yet. I had my surgery about 19 months ago and have finally started getting my erections back.

So hang in there and remember your not alone in this.

Thanks bghjul

When I sleep I leak only a little bit and I get a pretty good buildup in my bladder after laying on my back after 2-3 hours I can get a pretty good stream, best stream in years. I'm using the max absorb Depends and I fill one about every 3 hours, during the day. I'm trying kegel exercises but I'm not sure if I'm exercing the correct muscles, also I think my penis shortened about 30%.

slosurfter

If your catheter was removed after seven days, that is unusual from what I have read. Definitely not a surprise that you would have some leakage. If that is all you are experiencing, you are doing very, very well! I hope I will do as well after surgery.

Thank You Flyfisher, the original plan was for the catheter to stay in for 3 weeks after surgery. I'm 58 and was in really good shape and health prior to the surgery. At my one week post op, the surgeon took out the staples, then said "with laproscopy they take the catheter out at one week and my surgery went so well he felt the catheter could come out also". I totally trust this guy so I said "go for it", and that's an experience in itself, yeeehaaaa.

I expect to have leakage at this point in time, and I'm feeling really good, I'm just looking for techniques others may have learned. At night when I'm asleep the urge will wake me up several times a night. While I'm up and around during the day I don't have the urge, so I just leak and leak. I'm going to start trying to urinating myself every couple of hours and see if I can recognize the new sensation of holding and releasing.

When is your surgery?

Thanks, slosurfer

Removing the cathater after 7 days is fine unless you have special problems. Thats normal. And yes, your penis will be less after the surgery. The most important thing for you to work on is the kegels. You might leak a lot until the benifits of the kegels kicks in. Its not a matter of retraining. You'll just not be able to hold your urine. I leaked so bad I couldn't give a urine sample at the doctors. It was bad. But I was not doing the kegels. You have to do them. I poured for four months before it slowed down and it slowed down because I started doing the kegels. At 10 months I still leak when I cough or pass gas. But its getting better. Some guys dry up in a few weeks. Lucky guys. Most of us take longer. The time will vary depending on your own body. We're all different. Good luck to you and I hope you dry up quick. Don't forget the kegels.

Thanks jackcc, It was hard to determine if I was doing the kegels correctly. I've learned from this forum, if you start, stop and hold for 10 seconds in mid stream and then repeat the sequence, this indicates the kegels are being done correctly.
Thanks again slosurfer

My surgery is currently scheduled for April 13, but I hope to have it moved up. The surgeon's nurse told me that there is great variability among people in terms of regaining continence but that it may take 8-10 months to regain it completely. She is conservative and is referring to no pads or anything at all in that length of time. A friend who had great results five years ago wore pads for four months ranging from one to four a day. I have talked to at least five people who have had this surgery, all of whom were doctors, so they presumably had "good surgeons." They all regained continence, with full continence requiring from only five months in one case to 14 months in another. All had localized cancer. Some had open, some robot assisted surgery.
On a very specific matter, my surgeon's nurse suggested the following regarding pads. Obtain preemie diapers rather than pads or briefs. Cut a slit about two inches from one edge and insert your penis in the slit. Wrap the preemie diaper around yourself. Less bulk, cheaper, and "works very well for our patients," she says. I will try it when the time comes.
I hope things are already improving, Slosurfer........love the name. Don't know about you, but "slow" definitely refers to time spent at the urinal. Hopefully, I will no longer be the first one there and the last to leave after the surgery!

I'm three weeks and 2 days post RPS and overall I'm doing great. I'm walking a mile every day, I'm lifting light (10lbs) weights almost every day. I'm feeling so good, I want to get things done around the place while I'm off work but I'm resisting the "getter done" and taking it easy while I heal. I still get kind of tired around 1 or 2 PM so I'll lay down and take a nap for an hour or so. My scar feels weird, kinda like a verticle rope on the inside. I'm not scheduled to return to work until April 9th.

I'm doing a much better with the incontinence issue. I've down sized to Depends Guards for Men and I'm using about 4 of them in a 24 hour period. I can hold my urine pretty good for up to an hour, after that I can feel it drip out a little at a time, so I'm on about a 45 minute schedule to be near a bathroom, if I don't want to leak. At night while I sleep I can hold it for up to 2 hours.

I've gotten mixed messages as far as the Kegel exercises go. My doctor said to do them 3 times a day with 10 repetions each time. In Dr. Patrick Walsh's book, Surviving Prostate Cancer he recommends only exercising it while doing a standing urination.

I tend to over do things in general, and in an effort to gain control faster, I was doing the recommendations from my doctor, and Dr Patrick Walsh's. This strategy was wrong and I was overworking the external sphinchter, and I was leaking more then before, especially towards the end of the day when I was getting tired. All I do now start, stop and hold for 10 seconds, and repeat this numerous times each time I urinate, and at it seems to be helping.

When my catheter was removed two weeks ago my doctor said I could go ahead and start consuming caffeine and alcohol if I choose to. Well I jumped on that, I was ready to have some fun, and was drinking coffee, wine and beer and an occasional martini or two. Well 've given all that up and it seems to help a little more also.

If anyone else has suggestions that worked for them please share.
Thanks slosurfer

I'm doing kegels only when I urinate start, stop and hold for a 10 count, then repeat as often as the volume of urine will allow. Sometimes I don't have enough urine built up to do this, other times I do.

The feeling of pressure to urinate is much different then before the surgery. When I lay down to rest or sleep, often I don't feel any pressure to urinate for sometimes up to two hours. Other times when I'm active (walking the dog, or light house work) I can feel pressure to urinate every 10 or 15 minutes, or sometimes up to 1 hour. Other times I don't feel any pressure and it just drips out. It's really weird, the sequence doesn't seem to be improving and I don't feel I have much control.

I'm keeping track of how many times I urinate each 24 hour period. Right now I'm averaging every 60 minutes, and that's 24 hours a day. It seems I take 3 steps forward and 2 steps back in this struggle. The doctor told my wife and I it would be slow and I would get frustrated and depressed, which is turning out to be very true. One day I'll see improvements, then the next day I'll loose them and slip backwards. Lately I've been getting I guess you'd call it "diaper rash" on my scrotum and it drives me CRAZY....It seems there's always something new that pops up unexpected that has to be dealt with.

I had radical open surgery 26 days ago, which I understand is a relatively short period of time. But I guess whats upsetting me is I'm young, 58, I'm in, or I should say I was in pretty good shape, and I'm used to things going my way, which isn't the case now, I've traded in my career and fun activities with my family and friends for potty training. I'm scheduled to return to work April 9, if I can get this under better control. Sorry to spout off, but it helps for me to write things down and maybe one of you have some encouraging words.

Thank you all for the support, comments and advise you give to this forum, it really does help.
slosurfer

Hey slosurfer;

Me too! Age 58, same symptoms you have, I'm 7 weeks post-op today but I am seeing slow improvement. Yes, it's much different down there. I'm just beginning to get use to the signals. I'm slowly getting back sensations that weren't there immediately after surgery. Hang in there my friend because we have no other choice! Best wishes!

Tony, I'm gratefull for the way things have turned out, negative margins, nothing in the lymph nodes, only 10% of the prostate had cancer. When I wrote my post, I was just having a bad day and was frustrated with my lack of progress. I really appreciate your words of encouragement, Thank you for your reply, slosurfer.

Yes, deep sleep could be the reason why you are wet in the morning! I've never been a deep sleeper. Just the way I am!

In physical terms, I feel like I traded some "old" nuisance items for some "new" nuisance items. Before surgery I had problems with a real urgent need to urinate 2 or 3 times a night almost every night. Now, unless I drink a lot of fluids before bedtime, I don't have that urgency. Also, I had a prostate of a normal 58 year old man. My uro says it was enlarged but not out of the ordinary for my age. Regardless, it was large enough to make my BM difficult at times. Now, post-op, I have no more BM problems. My ED problems have not changed much because I was being treated for hypertension and diabetes prior to surgery. The drugs prescribed for those problems made me impotent much of the time without artificial help (drugs or devices). Okay, I leak at times. I'm determined to beat that! I get a lot of encouragement from PC forums like this that indicate that it can be beaten if you remain determined. In summary, in my case, the trade off was positive. I'm cancer free (at this point in time) and that's the main issue!

My Kegel exercise instructions.
Two types of exercises. Fast and slow. Flex the muscles quickly and let go. Repeat up to ten times. Flex the muscles and hold awhile (at least to a ten count). Repeat up to ten times. Repeat both a few times a day. These can be done standing, sitting and even while you're driving. Any time anywhere. Don't wait until you need to urinate. Practice these and one day ....all of a sudden... you'll notice a big difference. It takes awhile for some of us. It was four months before I really noticed a big difference. The time varies for each of us. Its something we just have to deal with and you can do it. The reason it took me that long was I was not doing the kegels. I continued to leak to varying degrees for months after that. But 4 months was my big marker. I'm 10 months post and the end is near, I hope. I still sleep with a pad in my underwear and with a chuck and a towel under me. Security. Try the kegels this way and see if it helps. When I read that someone was dry in two weeks, I don't believe it. You have to hang in there and wait it out. The reason I chose robotic surgery was I wanted to be continent and potent afterwards. Didn't happen. But the cancer is gone. And I know I made the right choice. I hope this info helps.

Hi Himan:
I've read that one can continue Kegels indeffinitely. They're good for you because they not only help retain contenence but also make for more satisfying ejaculation - even though it's "dry". I'm almost 5 weeks out of the Da Vinci LRP and my catheter was removed a week after surgery. I did Kegels before surgery, when the catheter was still in place every day since. I do them every time I can think of them, all day long. I usually do 10 reps of 30 second holds. I'm now off the pads all day long and use one at night because I leak a little in my sleep. My doc told me to do Kegels as often as I think of it and they really helped me. I know every one is different. I'm 58 and in great health otherwise. I also believe prayer has helped me more than anything. Good luck to you!!

I guess I need to kick it up a notch. My uro said to do Kegels at least 3 times a day with 10 repetitions each time. In Dr. Patrick Walsh's book, Surviving Prostate Cancer, he suggests only doing Kegels while urinating.

I haven't drank any alcohol in a week and half, so I thought I'd try a couple of glasses of wine tonight. Well it's confirmed, drinking relaxes my muscles and makes it really hard to hold it back.

Jackcc, I'll try what you suggest and see if it works any better than what I've been doing.
Thanks everyone, slosurfer

I'm 8 weeks post-op today. Went to my doc today to get a note to return to work. He says, because I do heavy physical labor at work, he doesn't want me to be "stress incontinent" so instead of a note to return to work, he gave me a referral to go see a professional physical therapist to show me how to work on my pelvic floor.

Isn't that "kegal" exercises?

LOL!

Bill23,

I had [non-robotic assist] laparascopic surgery on april 11th, nine days ago. catheter removed on the seventh day -- about 45 hours ago.

for me, there is no overnight leakage, and all works well. but two things i've noticed: 1. during the day, i can't tell when it is time to go. often, if i havent been for a few hours i just go -- without any biofeedback telling me it is time -- and all is fine. 2. i leak if my concentration is broken. for example, yesterday while walking outside, a neighbor joined me in midwalk. this distraction was too much. has anyone else noticed and dealt with either of these situations?

all in all, i'm encouraged by my situation so far. but prior to surgery, i was an all day coffee drinker at the office [starbucks, etc.] and quite a fan of beer. [worked a long time in the UK.] i wonder if i'll ever be able to enjoy my fill of the two major food groups of coffee and beer. sure hope so.

also, i'm surprised that i seem to be the only one here who had the non-robotic laprarscopic technique?

sc
.

regarding open vs. robotic: i had niether; i had laprarscopic without the robot. i've seen no one else on these boards who went that way. dunno why. but yes on this being a self selected group of people who are not technophobic. thanks, bill.

Slosurfer: I noticed an older post of yours commenting about a rash on your scrotum. At Vanderbilt, they suggest using a hair blower on cool twice a day if there is significant leaking. I still have a catheter, so I don't know about its effectiveness, but will use it as needed...........of course at this point I suspect we all feel we will be the "one" that has the catheter removed and who will be instantly dry! Hey, dreams do come true. When people would say, "I know your pathology report will be fine," I would respond with, "I hope and believe so, but the Americans beat the Russians at hockey in the 1980 Olympics." I will use that analogy in reverse regarding the hope for a miracle regarding incontinence!

Now it is 3 months post radical surgery. I am not having incontinance , but i feel the urgency to pass the urine suddenly. I can't hold long. So i have to be near a toilet always. I am afraid to go far incase the urgency might come where there is no toilet available. Does anyone had this experience? Anything i can do about this? Thanks for any reply.

Now it is 3 months post radical surgery. I am not having incontinance , but i feel the urgency to pass the urine suddenly. I can't hold long. So i have to be near a toilet always. I am afraid to go far incase the urgency might come where there is no toilet available. Does anyone had this experience? Anything i can do about this? Thanks for any reply.

I'm almost 14 weeks post-op. Still have stress incontinence (minor dribbles at times). I'm finding I'm slowly returning to those old familiar signals of urgency. I'm finding as time goes by that I'm able to hold my urine longer and longer until I find a bathroom. I've found that if I'm wearing a "maximum" absorbancy pad, the infrequent accidents that might occur are not too much of a problem. As a matter of fact, I had one of those times just today. I simply make sure I carry a spare pad and then start looking for a bathroom. Not to mention, I drive a Dodge Grand Caravan with tinted windows so, in an emergency, I can jump inside the back of my van and do my business. Comes in pretty handy!:)

After the catheter was removed I was what I thought was completely incontinent. I leaked all the time except when sitting or in bed. If I moved to get up then it started again. That lasted for about a month and then I seemed to control it in the mornings pretty well. I did use the "carry the cup" method at that time and it seemed to help in getting a little more control.

Continence seemed to progress slowly for the next few weeks to the point I could control my bladder for longer each day. By week 8 I was down to one pad a day but I seemed to start feeling I would return to normal.

Around week 10 I suddenly seemed to stop all leaking. Except for a little leak when exerting myself. I used a female maxi pad for a week or so and now a mini-pad. They are completely adequate the catch the occasional drops that leak. Even after a couple beers. No problem.

Incontinence after surgery is to be expected and it will take time to resolve itself. Just have patience and it will improve. It will usually happen suddenly in stages over time.

I thought I would never get here but I am only 3 months past surgery. Age 64, current PSA <0.1.

Jim