Incontinence.....concerns

Hello Paul. I've only a general idea what the hard data says about incontinence levels after LRP compared with other techniques, but I know enough to say that extrapolating down to the level of the individual is impossible. It depends on so many things, including lots that are nothing to do with the disease: age, general fitness, previous history etc. Then you have the varied skill levels of the individual surgeon (despite the comments we read here and elsewhere, they can't all be 'top' or 'leading' even if we comfort ourselves by saying ours is)

Hope for the best but prepare for something less always seems good advice to me, and that seems to be in the spirit of what you've said. Some say much depends on pelvic floor exercises and my own surgeon said he believed even the worst apparent outcomes can be improved with effort, so there's always a next move.

Thanks for the response....I' ll have to deal with it when the time comes and hopefully normality won't be too far away.....Cheers, Paul.......

Hi Paul

I had my RALP on 10 October and the catheter removed on 24 October. I have been extremely fortunate in that I reckon I was 90% continent staight away. I am currently using one number 2 pad a day and mainly leak a little in the evenings when the muscles tend to get a little tired. One of the fantastic specialist nurses on this site advised me to restart pelvic floor exercises as soon as the catheter is removed. However only do what you are advised on your trial without catheter. Dont be in too much of a rush and over do them as you may exhaust the muscles that are going to be quite tired!
Good luck.

Brian.

Hi Paul,

All the best for Wednesday, its totally unpredictable, is all I can say. So maybe my post won't help at all !

I was so so fortunate, 7 days with catheter. Dry after 24 hours.  Bowel took a lot longer to get back to normal, and looking back I don't think I could feel bowel movement until the catheter came out.  I also had bladder spasm week or so after.  It will be down to the skill of the surgeon re. nerve, and these will all be traumatised. The muscle, again hopefully not damaged.  I really feel for those that are not dry after a few months.  I did do kegels and still do them sometimes, I also was able to stop mid flow and re start before op  (this is NOT recommended to excess at all though), I was seeing how much control I did have of my bladder.    One thing I did do, post op which I never had before (and was not told to)  was to measure my total urine output; basically I urinated into a glass container.   I was also able to see the clarity and concentration, I was able to guesstimate if I was completing voiding or not.  I did this for about couple of weeks. I was also told to cut out (or at least cut down)  fizzy drinks, caffeine and definitely no Cranberry Juice. The lady who removed my catheter  gave me an ear bashing when I said I had been drinking Cranberry.  So I just stuck to the red wine.  http://community.prostatecanceruk.org/editors/tiny_mce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-smile.gif  and some cider.

I'm sure you have been told, the internal structures will take at least 6 weeks to heal as an absolute  minimum, and as my surgeon stated, the bladder will sit lower, so I assume he meant - get used to its new surroundings !.   You appear to have had your catheter in 21 days, so again the bladder naturally will need to re adjust.   I'm not sure if 7 day removal was a trial, or my surgeon does anything different, as most seem to be 10-14 days.   I did have non-nerve sparing.

By the way , I tended and tend to do fast pelvic floor muscle exercises, the slow 'hold ones' I couldn't hold more than 2 or 3 seconds, so rightly or wrongly I tend to do about 10 - 20 fast one's when I remember, maybe 2 or 3 times a day.      

Gordon

Edited by member 21 Nov 2016 at 01:16  | Reason: Not specified

All the best for tomorrow,passing motions too often is preferable to being constipated. Are you eating something different,are you having the daily anti clotting injections something may be upsetting your normal routine ?

For my trials without catheter I went armed with a few pads and a towel to put on the car seat just in case. On one occasion it was a very close call but I never had a disaster.

My hospital requires two lots of urine, three if there is not much volume and then a bladder scan to check the bladder is empty enough. I was told to drink slow and steady and not drink too much to fast.

Your catheter has been in longer than most but still make sure it comes out nice and easy, my catheter got stuck and was pulled out swiftly, my consultant is convinced that was the start of my stricture problems.

Hope all goes well.

Thanks Chris

Keep grinning Paul...kind regards...Nick

Catheter is out but at the moment no bladder control.....also the urologist nurse detected a lymphocele...holding about a litre of fluid.

having a CT scan tomorrow to assess the situation, the staff don't seem over concerned at this stage and say that quite often the fluid is

reabsorbed by the body...will post a separate thread on this aspect I think....Paul...

Hope all goes well with the scan.

Thanks Chris