Day 7 recovery, catheter removal and trial of void

Time to lose the pipework! I was very happy to have got to this day, but also a little scared as it is essentially the end of the immediate recovery and the start of the longer slog. 

It was a big day. We had to drive into the city to get to the hospital and then sit in the waiting room until they were ready to see us, which was by far the longest I've sat up since the operation was first done. After about 30 mins of waiting we were taken to the rehab ward and assigned a bed, and I was very grateful to lie down when we got there.  

The rehab ward was very chaotic and very noisy. The nurse assigned to me was lovely and extremely professional but as always seems to be the case, was trying to manage three or four jobs simultaneously. So it took a bit of time from first being seen to actually having the catheter pulled. The removal of the tube itself was pretty simple and a painless but very intense sensation. I wish I had seen the end but my eyes had closed involuntarily! It was also glorious to get the bag straps and various sticking devices off of my skin. Looks like I'm allergic to adhesives - who'd have known?

Once the catheter is out I donned a handsome pair of absorbent pants, which is a sad precursor of times to come. The catheter was bypassing the bladder entirely so before I was discharged I needed to show that I could still naturally pass urine adequately and this is what is known as the 'trial of void'. I basically drank a couple of litres of water and then waited to go to the loo. When the urge hit (and it comes on quickly - I needed the absorbent pants!) I peed into a measuring container and then called the nurse to scan my bladder with an ultrasound to see what was remaining. 

This is where it got a little complicated because it could take 5 - 10 minutes before a nurse was free, so it wasn't a really true measure of what was left after emptying my bladder. So for me it took about 5 'voiding attempts'  instead of the three that were predicted, I started off peeing around 200ml and leaving 200ml, which is not good enough, but eventually the numbers got better.  To be honest I think the nurses knew that all was OK from watching me, but they still needed to see the right numbers. 

Speaking of metrics, the volumes may have been a little low but the flow rate was glorious, it was like being a 20 yr old again and it was strange how it just gushed and then stopped instead of trickling on. Unfortunately there's also a burning pain when the urination finishes which is a little painful but apparently that is normal. My penis also looks shorter, which I'm hoping is mainly due to a lack of use of the surrounding erectile tissue. I think we'll be reviewing those at a later doctors appointment.     

I also had a visit from the lovely prostate cancer nurse who supplied me with a large bag of different pads, a sympathetic look and a warning that continence would not happen immediately.

Eventually after around 3 hours the nurses were happy to discharge me and after a quick chat with my doctor we were on our way. The doctor was happy with progress, told me I could gently stretch my back but that riding would be out for 6-8 weeks. 

We spent around 5 hrs in the hospital all up - it's not a quick affair. The drive home took about an hour and that was hard - I was on 'full clench' for a lot of the drive and still dribbled a little into the absorbent pants. Which is embarrassing but what they are there for. The effort of keeping the muscles locked left me exhausted and sore for the rest of the evening and the following day.  I wore a fresh set of pants that night but managed to get through the night with no accidents and only a couple of toilet visits, and the ability to roll over and hold my wife was supremely gratifying.