Practical advice before surgery

Hi there. Yes just food bags! Getting those stockings on and off are hard work, even with moisturiser. So if you put a bag on foot first the stocking slides on over the bag far more easily and then you can remove the bag through the hole in the toes! The first few days post-op we ditched the showering, it’s was too much like hard work and hubby was exhausted. One day at a time and drop me a message any time. The first week-10 days is tough. It really is tiny steps. Once the catheter comes out he will feel so much better. Hope it all goes smoothly and you are soon over this hurdle x

I was sent home post op with pads and needed them as I leaked even with the catheter in place. Other than that all you need is spare clothes snacks mobile phone and charger. I wasn’t up to reading or anything that required took much effort or thought. Pre op get all grooming sorted - hair cut toe nails etc. I’m glad I did as it was 6 weeks before I could get out for a haircut and even now 7 weeks post op would struggle to cut toe nails! 

Tulippy , hope all goes well.

Just in case the catheter makes the eye of the penis sore, instilagel or hydrocaine are available from a pharmacist without prescription at most chemists except Boots, who require a prescription. The hospital may give you some, it is a couple of pounds a syringe, you may not need it. Slight leaking of urine and blood from the penis can happen even with a catheter in, particularly when passing a motion. I wore a pad even when I had a catheter, easier to swap a pad than the underwear.

Get a packet of your favourite biscuits for a midnight snack in hospital.

A bucket is often suggested, but medical advice is that the catheter should be supported not just left in the bottom of the bucket. I have never had a night bag leak, but did once disconnect the night bag before turning the leg bag tap off. Get an extra thigh strap from the hospital, attach the night bag tube to the leg bag outlet then attach the night bag tube to your ankle with the strap, it helps reduce the risk of pulling on the joints. PJ bottoms as suggested also help save any tangles. I wore snug but not tight underwear, it help keeps the catheter from moving around and rubbing in the eye of the penis.

Hospital should provide ear plugs and eye mask.A ward can be very noisy at night. The guy opposite me had the noisiest carry bag in the world.

Try to avoid constipation

The following has lots of ideas.

https://community.prostatecanceruk.org/posts/t29021-Practical-preparation-for-surgery#post278042

Thanks Chris 

You will probably have some idea of which food causes wind in your husband's case, beans are a well-known culprit and I was warned against green vegetables.

Good luck to him, and you.

Hi Jayney, thank you for your message, it still won't let me send a private message as I am too new!!

V-pillow sounds a nice idea :) and I'll add some prune juice to the shopping list!

He's doing the squeezy exercises on the app.

I mentioned the mattress protector last night but he really couldn't handle it and said it was bad enough he had to go and buy Tena pads :(  

Thanks for the advice on getting a post surgery pack, will do that today.

What do you mean plastic bags to get the stockings on and off?? Normal plastic bags?

Hope you're ok Jayney and thanks for making contact x

Edited by member 02 Jun 2023 at 11:36  | Reason: Not specified

I think most hospitals insist that patients must not pre-shave - it introduces a risk of infection. 

I went in the night before with just a pair of jogging bottoms and T shirt but was immediately put in a gown. Hospitals are very noisy to ear plugs and face mask helped but to be honest, I didn't get more than an hours sleep and was woken at 5am for BP/Temp and blood test. Walked into the operating theatre at 8am and work up 5 hours later in recovery.

I was fitted with inflating bags on my thighs (anti DVT) which are noisy and prevent much sleep but not much discomfort until I got back on the ward.

Very little pain from the op or the scars but the shoulder pain was really bad the next day so ask the nurse to get him on analgesics asap before it starts - probably they will give him IV paracetemol. The pain from the catheter when in bed is not bad but when you get up and it all starts swinging about (not the penis as that has shrunk to a little nub in my case LOL) it hurts the end of the penis. I have seen videos of guys in the USA who have a stick on patch on their thighs to hold the catheter pipes but it was never offered to me.

The next day I was walking around carefully and took an unassisted shower - that takes it out of you so take it easy.

Released from hospital that afternoon - NO driving with a catheter so he will need someone to bring him home.

I was given painkillers (paracetemol), anti-spasmodics, anti coagulent (Lovenox) injections for 28 days, compression stockings (which I wore one day and never again - just make sure you walk around every half an hour or so rather than sitting down all day) and some dressings for the 5 small and 1 larger holes in my abdomen. I have a nurse that comes around every day to inject me but I have heard that most people do it themselves - it's dead easy to do.

It was stressed that keeping the catheter clean and sterilised at all times is VITAL - so I have antiseptic and sterile pads for that. I was given day bags and night bags - the day bag straps to your leg and you empty it from a valve at the bottom when 3/4 full - again keeping the valve sterile after use and I have a night bag (2 litres) that attaches to the bottom of the day bag with the valve open - generally this was 3/4 full in the morning. Just a case of closing the day bag valve and emptying the night bag and disposing of it. I used a new day bag and night bag every day but it depends on what you are supplied with. Again, keep everything sterile after touching it.

The abdomen wounds healed quickly with no pain - stitches are dissolvable.

You should be drinking 1.5L of water per day at this stage to keep it all working.

Catheter was removed after 7 days - the nurse pushes some water up the catheter into the bladder, then releases the water filled ballon that keeps the catheter inside the bladder and the slowly withdraws it from the penis - a weird feeling but not in the slightest bit painful - actually a relief to get it out :)

As a side sleeper, sleeping with a catheter is mostly on your back to if you are a side sleeper then be aware of the back pain you will experience.

Then you have to wait for an hour or so until you are peeing - blood in your urine is perfectly normal although I was lucky and didn't have any.

You will have zero urine control at this point so you will need the 6 waterdrop Tena pads for the first couple of days and nights - I haven't had any leaking outside of the pads.

After a couple of days you will start to get some control over peeing - think of 'shortening your penis' and that action will use the muscles to hold it in. Standing up will create a dribble to begin with and standing at the toilet, it can start to flow without any control but this will improve over the next couple of weeks. Now I am on 2 waterdrop pads and they are more than sufficient.

Constipation is a concern so things need to move within 2 days - you cannot strain, it has to come naturally and so I took a senokot tablet the day after I came home and everything has been regular since that day - it can be a little painful the first couple of days but not for long.

So a couple of things that I have discovered - there was very little pain from the operation - the main pain was the swinging catheter, the first bowel movement and the shoulder and back pain - all can be controlled with regular paracetemol (don't wait until the pain starts, keep it going every 6 hours (1000mg tablet)). Getting control of peeing is firstly a case of thinking about that 'shrinking the penis' action when you go to stand up and holding it until you get to the loo, Try and hold it in for a few seconds before you release it. Urine flow is fairly slow for the first week or so but by week 3 you will be peeing like a horse!

On a more sensitive note, the penis is shorter after the op - not sure yet by how much as after 4 weeks there is no sign yet of an erection although I have started to be able to make my penis twitch which is a positive side and although penetrative sex is completely out of the question, I randomly discovered that you don't need an erection to achieve an orgasm - it's quite an interesting experience as it's a dry orgasm (although you may release a little urine if your bladder isn't empty) but it was one heck of a relief to know that something is still possible.

Meeting the consultant to get histology reports on the 24th so fingers crossed.

I hope that helps a bit - as I said, that was my experience and others may have been different - I'm 62 and 15 stone for comparisons.