Putting on the big boy pants

Pads

and pants

The two most common longer term side effects of a prostatectomy are incontinence and erectile disfunction. And incontinence is the one you'll need to tackle first - to be honest at this point in my recovery even if I was getting erect I wouldn't be in a position to do anything with it anyway!

The initial way to deal with incontinence is the use of absorbent pads. We were issued a 'party pack' of different sized pads by the prostate nurse which I've been using during the week and there are a few different types - 

  • 'Shields', which stick on your underwear but just absorb minor dribbles 

  • Pads which also stick on your underwear but which have different levels of absorbency. The amount of liquid that can be absorbed is stated on one of the brands but not the other - it runs from level 1 (275ml) through to level 3 (710 ml). These need to be worn with briefs style underwear, they won't seal with boxers.

  • Pockets, which are a subset of pads but where your penis sits inside an absorbent pocket stuck to your underwear  

  • Pants, which have level 4 absorbency (1350ml) and also from the same brand an 'active fit' with no level rating but an absorbency of 1l
I have samples from two different manufacturers and irritatingly although they both have a 'drip rating' logo, the overall number of drips is different (one is out of 10, the other out of 8). I know it's not an exact science but some consistency would be nice! 

I used pants for the first day and first night but they were hot and uncomfortable and after that I didn't feel that I needed them. Since then I've been using level 3 pads and again, it seems to be overkill. That's possibly in part because I can just go to the loo whenever is required so there is no need to 'hold on'. I also like the pocket design as it makes more sense to me from a security perspective and also stops any wet padding from being next to the skin of my groin (they should wick away but it's not perfect). The main problem with the pockets is they are quite obvious and it looks like I'm wearing a codpiece. However when I first go out for a few hours I will revisit the pants just to be sure. 

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