Day 8 recovery - the continence express

Corny I know

Another quiet day. I was fairly active during the morning but then settled in to watch more Mayans. It was weird not being hooked up to the catheter and instead needing to watch my bladder, and the temptation was to reduce the fluids to reduce the need to go to the loo. This is of course not recommended.

I did a bit of reading around the whole continence issue and it is something I'm going to need to tackle head on. I have an advantage with a strong pelvic floor but I still need to practice locking it at the appropriate times. This is apparently called 'The knack' and should eventually become second nature. I'm also keeping a log of when I go to the loo and what triggered it in the hope of seeing improvements. I wore absorbent pants for most of the day but switched to a 'penis pocket' at around 4pm as I was feeling a bit funky.     

I'm also still wondering how much of my general apathy is surgery recovery and how much stems from not drinking! But I'm planning to add more structure next week to try and get a few things done instead of just idly playing on the web whilst watching the TV.       

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

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! I...
Read more

One year on - continence

I let this blog go and focussed on other things after a while, so thought I'd wrap it up with a couple of posts on the longer term effects after a year. First off I am healthy. I've had three blood tests this year all showing undetectable levels of PSA. In other words the cancer did not escape the prostate. Physically I am fit and riding regularly, although a little lardy after Xmas! I still get what feels like 'pinching' pains from my surgery scars occasionally (particularly when constipated) but this is apparently to be expected.  I was carefully riding bikes around 10 weeks after surgery and was back on the dirt after around 3 months. Four months in I was jumping my singlespeed down the local trails. Six months in I came off my bike and skinned my arm, but nothing popped or broke which oddly felt like a win.  I have not had any significant continence accidents, but my toileting patterns have changed. I bought a batch of disposable pads that I used for my peace of min...
Read more

Constipation blues

May be worth skipping this one if you have a weak stomach I mentioned constipation earlier and I think it's probably the worse element of post-surgery recovery. The region around your bowel takes a fair battering in the operation itself and then the painkillers conspire to back you up. I get stress related constipation as well so had not passed anything significant on the day of the surgery itself despite the two microlax (localised enemas) taken that morning.  The documentation you are given tells you to try not to be constipated but not to strain, and it's hard to square that circle. You can feel the stool inside when you sit on the toilet seat, but it refuses to shift even if you adopt the suggested feet up position. Sometimes there is a feeling of movement but then only a fetid fart is pushed out, or a faint gurgle and the feel of an internal rearrangement. And as you sit there you are in some part straining despite your best efforts, so you are dribbling urine from your pe...
Read more