Post Robotic prostatectomy

Many thanks for your response Steve. Actually selfish as it sounds, it is  good to know that there are people who understand what despair i am going through and yes i am an impatient man.

welcome to our group ,You are expecting to much to early, I found long walks helped so exercise as well as PFE , It took me a few months to regain control .Andy

Thank you for the kind replies.

I know i am an impatient man and am expecting too much of myself right now. But the crazy part about all this is. Now i am showing the signs of an enlarged prostate as in erratic urination. Before having the prostatectomy my only symptom was urinating approx every two hours. Now its every 15 minutes or less sometimes with little or intermittent flow. Quite often when i am unprepared. Resulting in me scurrying to the toilet.

I am keen no eager to get back to work. But want to keep my dignity in doing so. My employer has been quite understanding and has not placed any pressure upon me.  They appreciate  obviously i am at home recovering from an operation.  But to delay my return as at present i am incontinent may be something the HR dept will not sympathise with. 

Whilst scurrying to the toilet and clutching my groin in the vain hope of preventing another accident i have cursed myself and thought, why did i go ahead with this procedure as the side effects are worse than the immediate symptoms i had. Why did i note bury my head in the sand when told by the doctors what options lay ahead for me. I did actually ask the doctors, "how about i just walk out the door and we all forget i was ever in here". Their response was you will be back within five years and showing cancer in more than just your prostate. So with their words ringing in my ears i continue to scurry and dribble enroute. Curse and moan and think why me, while i am trying to aim amid wrestling through a pad.

Yes i do my pelvic floor exercises, change another pad moan and curse to myself, but i am charged with optimism after reading from this site that i am not the only person that this is all a struggle for and that one day i will be able to go out and enjoy my life with my family and friends again. I want to see my grandsons grow up and have a beer with them and hold it. They are just toddlers now so i have a lot of time to practice those pelvic floors.

Thank you for reading my concerns, yes i know compared to some people, mine are very minor but right now they are gigantic to me.

As all ready said it is early days, some guys are dry from day one I was originally almost dry from day four but subsequent procedures left me incontinent on three or four occasions,so I know how you feel.

You talk about returning to work the info on this site says two weeks if you have a non manual job, four to six weeks for a manual job. I think most of us agree that is being optimistic. I returned after four weeks be was confined to the office for the first two weeks. Your employer has certain obligations "by law" to help your situation, you are classed as disabled at the moment under the equality act. Most of us would not like to start quoting regulations at the boss but it is there as a lever. I told my boss I would be off between two and six weeks because that was the info I was given at the time and he was fine with that.

If you are urinating frequently but small amounts your pads should cope with the amount you are leaking. I put a pad in my snug briefs stood in the shower and let the bladder empty to see how well it coped, it gave me the confidence to get out and about knowing the pad would easily asborb my leak. At times I have dropped 170 ml in one go and it has all been contained. I would put some toilet paper in a nappy liner and position that between the penis and the pad to soak up a small leak, that way you can change the toilet paper and you are not walking round in a soiled pad. The tenna2 pads do have good odour control.

If you have not already done so download the toolkit, there is some useful info on dealing with incontinence and employment issues.

Are you drinking enough and drinking the right sort of fluids. I was recently told drink two to three litres of water on top of any other drinks. I was also told to avoid caffeine fizzy drinks etc, and to avoid drinking caffeine after 3 PM to aid a good night's sleep.

I had the same doubts about having treatment as you, but two and half years on despite my complications and not being out of the woods yet I am glad I gave myself the chance of a cure.

All the best for your recovery it is early days.

Thanks Chris

You should not be worrying about what work thinks right now. In my opinion, whatever leaflet suggests men might be back at work in 4 weeks is prepostorous and if that really is a PCUK leaflet they need to look at themselves. The brochure from our hospital says 8 - 12 weeks. John was given a 12 week sick note while he was still in there - as it happened, his insurers wouldn't cover him to drive until 12 weeks after the op so he worked from home from about 10 weeks.

Your urinary sphincter is still settling into wherever it has been repositioned and the stitches will still be healing - our urologist described the urethra as like a seive after RP and all those holes have to mend. Your brain also needs to relearn how to control the sphincter and associated muscles - similar to the process you went through as a toddler, learning to recognise the signals your bladder is sending. I forget how many thousands of calories your body is using each day to heal from the surgery but that makes you tired which affects your brain's ability to relearn the bladder stuff. The better the quality of your rest, the more chance you have of recovering quickly.

Edited by member 20 Nov 2016 at 11:44  | Reason: Not specified

Shocking - I am really concerned at the number of new members we have had recently who are genuinely distressed by what they perceive as their 'slow' recovery and the ridiculous lack of awareness some men have of what life will be like post-op. Much of the blame seems to me to fall on surgeons who gloss over the potential side effects. Now it seems PCUK is contributing to this :-(