Husband had robotic surgery Nov. 10 what will happen when catheter removed?

[CM63]

Hi everyone. It's been 6 months since I've been on here. My husband is 51 and was told April 1 that he had prostate cancer. After much research and the help of this board he choose to have robotic surgery. We had to wait another 6 months for the surgery but now we are coming up to two weeks post surgery. The surgery went well but the surgeon feels the biopcy had cause an infection so the seminal vessels were like mush and hard to clean out. Then day two post op he ended up having a lung infection and his bowels wouldn't start working again so he was five days in the hospital. It certainly was good to get home as we were two hours away and I stayed in a motel the whole time and spent most of my day with him at the hospital. The catheter has been okay but a pain to deal with. We go back to London on Wednesday to have it removed and my question is what should be expect once it is removed. He's been told it hurts like hell come out so he is ready for that but what about the peeing. They didn't tell us what to bring at first and when I asked they said for sure bring the male pads. Will he have no control at first? Will he have the urge to pee? Will he be peeing all the time? They say with the robotic surgery you have better control but how soon? I think he's worried that once it's out then the pee will just continue to run out of him. He doesn't know if he'll be able to hold it at all. One good thing is the surgeon said his muscle looked really good during surgery and I told him he'd been doing kegals for 6 months to get ready for it.

Our second questions is how soon would we expect him to start to get some feeling and maybe start getting erections? He had some problems before the surgery I think because of his high blood pressure so we are hoping that the robitic surgery will give us the best chance of regaining erections. Anyone have the same issues before hand and know what to expect now?

We are just glad that this is now behind us and he can start healing now. We hope that on Wednesday we get a good pathology report. Fingers crossed it hadn't spread.

Anyways, thanks for any information you might be able to give us.

[shs50]

We're also happy that the surgery is behind you and sorry about the complications your husband experienced. Please reassure him that removal of the catheter should not be painful and only took a few seconds in my case.
Whether or not he'll experience any temporary incontinence will depend on how skillfully the surgeon reattached the bladder and how quickly he heals. There is no absolute standard although almost all patients recover full bladder control, some sooner some later. He should bring a supply of pads with him when the catheter is removed and wear them especially at night until he has regained full control.
Temporary urinary incontinence following surgery is usually involuntary leakage rather than continuous or total lack of control.
Recovery of erections usually takes longer from several months to a few years depending on how vigorous his erections were before surgery, his age which is fairly young so that shouldn't be much of an issue and how much trauma was sustained by the nerves which control erections. Don't expect much very soon after surgery.
Usually feelings return before the ability to sustain an erection which recovers gradually. Its important to use all aids such as Viagra, Levitre or Cialis as prescribed by your Dr. if there are no medical counter-indications such as your husband using nitrates for a heart condition. In most cases post surgical erections aren't as strong as pre surgical except for very young men who never experienced any erection difficulties before.
However that being said it should still be possible to experience a saisfactory sex life if both partners are willing to practice, experiment and use all available aids and refuse to become discouraged by the inevitable failures which are part of the healing process. Your urologist should be able to advise and prescribe the appropriate medical and mechanical aids or refer you to experts who specialize in counseling patients with post surgical erectile disfunction.
The most important result should be freedom or control of the disease and if thats been accomplished every thing else is possible.
Best of luck with the pathology report and your husband's complete recovery.
Bob

[JB71]

The best of luck to your hubby on Wednesday.
I'm having open surgery on January 22. by Dr. J. Chin.
With my Gleason of 8, he said he wouldn't do robotic.

My wife will be staying in a London motel during my
hospital stay. Which one did you pick and is it with-in
walking distance of theVictoria hospital?

Thanks in advance for the info !!
.

[CM63]

Originally Posted by JB71

The best of luck to your hubby on Wednesday.
I'm having open surgery on January 22. by Dr. J. Chin.
With my Gleason of 8, he said he wouldn't do robotic.

My wife will be staying in a London motel during my
hospital stay. Which one did you pick and is it with-in
walking distance of theVictoria hospital?

Thanks in advance for the info !!
.

Hi JB71 I read your post "Is this just a hiccup" and I feel your and your wife's pain. My husband and I started our journey back in January when we found out his first PSA test in a few years was high. It was a nurse that called (not the right person) and told my husband at work (not the right place) which was really bad. As soon as you hear that you jump to cancer right away and when you have it in the family it's even worse. He was 50 at the time and I'm 45. It was horrible. Finally on April 1 it was confirmed. Our doctor here in Owen Sound was a resident in London under Dr. Pautler and he recommended the robotic surgery to us. Number one because of my husband's age and then because of all his numbers. Dr. Pautler is at St. Joes which is where the Di vinci machine is. Dr. Chen goes there to use it when he does a robotic surgery. The wait time for Dr. Pautler is usally 5 months and in his words it's because he's the best! Too bad your numbers are too high for robotic but they have done great things with open too and nerve sparing. The recovery is just a little longer. I must say my husband is feeling great pain wise. He is noticing a little extra pressure in his butt but that is lessoning every day. The worst was right after surgery when his bowels wouldn't start working and the gas all built up. He is so looking forward to Wednesday and getting the cath out. The leg bag has been great. I come home from work in the morning to switch him from the night bag to the leg bag as it's a little tricky to do yourself.

So your question is where did I stay while in London. Well I stayed at a place called the Lighthouse Inn (motel). It is in the North end of London so not close to Victoria at all. I stayed there as he was at St. Joes (10 minutes away) but I believe Victoria is more in the middle or south end so this motel would be too far away. It certainly wasn't a 4 star maybe a 2 star at best, but only if you ask for a renovated room. It was a place for me to sleep and get on the internet so I was just find. It was also the cheapest at $75.00/night and it had a fridge and microwave so I could have breakfast in my room and a quick frozen dinner. I could've stay in the St. Joes residence but I didn't want that. The hospital had given us a list of places to stay that had reduced rates for hospital patients. I would think Victoria will or should also have a list. There are a number of hotels in London that would be a little nicer for your wife to stay and some have shuttles buses to the hospitals as far as the rate goes just ask for the special medical rate. We have one child in University and one in grade 12 so I didn't want to spend a whole lot on a room when I was only going to be there to sleep. I'm sure Victoria would also have res she could stay at if she likes that type of thing. I just knew I would also want to be by myself and not have to talk to people if I didn't want to. The wait has been so very stressful and I can't believe how much better I feel since the surgery is over and now we look ahead to the healing. My husband was very calm the day of surgery and he told me he was just so ready to get this over with.

I, like your wife have shed many tears and trust me it is very hard on us too. This is the "worse" part of or marrige vows and I'm here for as long as I live, sex or no sex. I think this has brought us even closer and I realized how much I love him. The last couple of weeks before his surgery were very special and we made sure every oportunity to be together (you know what I mean) was not wasted but every time I cried after but hid that from my husband. Damn we were just going to finally have an empty nest! The last night before the surgery I hardly slept as I just couldn't stop crying and we held each other all night. Then the 3 hours drive to London was awful again I cried most of the way but again tried to hide that from my husband as I didn't want to upset him. The surgery was 6 hours and the worst day of my life as the waiting was horrible. Thank goodness my sister from Toronto came to wait with me so please make sure your wife has someone with her the day of your surgery she will need the support. It's not easy seeing the one you love in pain or knowing what is happening to him. I spent every day from 10 to 9:30 at the hospital with him, giving him his bed bath and walking the halls with him. I just wanted to help as much as I could as it's such a helpless feeling watching the one you love go through this. I'm so sorry you have been dealt the same card but this is one cancer that can be beaten so best of luck to you and your wife. Please keep us all posted on your journey and all the best for January, may 2010 be the beginning of a cancer free life.

[JB71]

Most anxious to hear how your day went and that you'll be
updating us with positive news.

Jerry & Debbie in Sarnia.
.