Re: Continence Issues!!!

[Guest guest]

Sue, if my experience is any help, then Mike just needs to be patient. Mike had

four urinary sphincter muscles before surgery and now he only has two, both of

them traumatized. Those two muscles need time to recover and to be trained to

take over for the missing two.

I am seven months postop, and due to other medical issues I had the catheter in

for three weeks. At first I had no control either and would go through as many

as seven or eight heavyweight pads a day. After a few weeks I realized that I

had just barely enough warning to make it to the toilet in time most of the

time. At first I sat down because standing and getting my trousers down and

aiming took too much time. I would just " drop trou " and sit. Two weeks of that

led to my being able to stand more or less normally. After about four months I

could sleep through the night and when I did that for about a month I stopped

wearing a pad at night. Just recently I stopped using a pad at home but I still

have some leakage when I lift or make certain arm movements, so I put on a pad

when I am going out for a while. I also still have urgency and frequency in the

strict medical sense of those words, the key being that those sensations reflect

the passage of small amounts of urine at a time, not normal volumes. When I can

go two weeks without a leakage I will stop using the pads.

Now don't take my experience as typical. The urologist was very surprised at the

progress I have made and I didn't have the heart to tell him that I have never

done any Kegel exercises. Mike has to know that his mileage may vary, that it

may take 18 months to two years to get to whatever his full level of postop

control will be and not to lose heart if he doesn't go as fast as someone else,

or even if he never gets completely free of the pads. For all my progress,

nobody can guarantee that I will ever do any better than I do right now, so I

just have to wait and see too. And I am sure that no matter what level of

control he does or doesn't have that you will still be there for him and love

him just as much - tell him that.

- Dave

Hi there,

Just wanted to share my husband's good news and to thank everyone for your

wonderful responses, help and advice. THANK YOU.

Mike's pathology report was awesome. His gleason stayed at '6' and the report

said it was low grade cancer, fully contained in the prostate with the margins,

lymph nodes etc. all clear. Yahoooooo!!!

Now... my darling husband - who is very impatient - is concerned that he

isn't continent immediately. He's been doing the kegal excercises since October,

so he expected that he would just cruise into continency upon removal of the

catheter. He's only had the catheter out for 16 hours and already is frustrated.

He said he can't tell when he's peeing and has zero control. Besides continuing

the kegal exercises and being patient, any other advice that worked for you?

Thanks again for your help, Sue