Post Prostate Removal

Re driving - you need to check with your insurers. My husband's insurer would not cover him until 12 weeks post-op unless we got a letter from the surgeon confirming he was fit to drive (which the surgeon refused to provide because he said it wasn't for him to decide something like that). In the end, they accepted a letter from our GP at 11 weeks post op. Obviously a bit frustrating if you feel well enough, but not worth the risk of driving without the confirmation of your cover and then being either convicted of driving uninsured or having an accident and them refusing to pay out.

Your catheter should not cause you pain. Are you fitting the leg bag too low down your leg and pulling on the tube? Or is it the eye of your penis that has become sore from the constant rubbing? If the latter, you could have had topical anaesthetic gel from the hospital or your GP although it is probably too late now to get a prescription. Have you tried putting plain lube (KY jelly, usually) around the tube where it leaves your body and trying to push a little bit up inside the penis?

Probably a good thing that the catheter has been stopping you from walking too far ... it is very early days still, and sounds like you might be tempted to overdo things which could slow your recovery or lead to unwanted side effects such as a hernia.

Hi, Yes, for me the catheter was a painful experience, the pain was at the point where the catheter exited the penis, I found that it helped if I held that point whilst I was discharging the bag.

Barney

With a catheter in, your bladder will not be filling, if you only get the pain when sitting I suspect the end of the catheter is just sitting in an uncomfortable position and is being squashed and pushed into the bladder wall. Instillagel – Anaesthetic, Antiseptic, Lubricant, is available from most chemist for about £3.50 and as already said it can relieve the discomfort at the end of the penis. A very large catheter caused pain in my penis. I found the worst pain was by-passing where urine is coming out between the catheter and the eye of the penis.

I had robotic surgery and was driving after 4 weeks and assumed that complying with the DVLA rules was sufficient. As Lyn rightly says it would be wise to check with your insurance company, I bet there is a clause somewhere in the small print. Following further minor surgery and the fitting of a catheter I did contact my insurance company and to be honest they did not seem interested. Just be aware of the following extract from the DVLA site if you are told not to drive for three months or more.

“You need to tell DVLA about some medical conditions as they can affect your driving.

You can be fined up to £1,000 if you don’t tell DVLA about a medical condition that affects your driving. You may be prosecuted if you’re involved in an accident as a result.

You must give up your licence if either:

• your doctor tells you to stop driving      for 3 months or more
• you don’t meet the required      standards for driving because of your medical condition.”

Hope all goes well with the removal of the catheter, no marathons but keep mobile.

Thanks Chris

Hope all went well with Catheter removal today.

Driving... funny isn't it that people have had such varying advise on this.

I had open surgery and my consultant advised me to wait 2 weeks or so before driving!

In actual fact I had 6 weeks off work and didn't need to drive... so I didn't. I did drive then.. on holiday before returning to work after the 7th week.