Don -

I just recieved a call from my brother who had RP done last Monday.  Today
they removed his catheter.  After the doctor visit he went to lunch with his
wife and commented that he didn't notice much dripping.

The kegel exercises that he had been doing prior to the surgery and doing
now that the cath is out was described by him to me as follows:

Before surgery - stand at a toilet or urinal and begin to pee.  Stop the
flow and then start again - making a point of noticing which muscles and
sensation you feel down there.  Once you kind of know what it's supposed to
feel like - do lots of kegels - holding them for as long as 10 seconds at a
clip.

My surgery is scheduled for June 17th, so I've begun the exercises.

Good luck,
Sandy K.

Don:
   My first post op visit was about a week after the surgery, and
there was no discussion then of incontinence.  In that visit I got the
path report and the staples were removed.  The catheter was in for 3
weeks, and the day it was removed I only saw the nurse.  I'm not sure
the doctor was even there that day because that was his clinic day at
the hospital.  The catheter was removed at his office.  At the next
visit he have me a prescription for Ditropan and told me to get used
to the idea of having to do Kegel exercises the rest of my life
because, as he explained, this is a muscle thing, and exercise is
required to keep the muscles in shape.  
   That was about it as I recall.  Not much help, is it?
   Good luck to you.  I leaked 4-5 pads per day for six months, and
then without warning it got better in month seven.  I still leak, but
am down to 1-2 pads per day.  Still hoping for more improvement.
   Thank you.
David S.

Kegels and avoid caffeine.  That's all I remember.

jimhoney

My doc told me to practice starting and stopping the stream only in the
morning...and stay off caffene, be patient.  I'm a pot of coffee a day
person so this was a crushing blow.  However after about 7 weeks things
started improving quite fast and I started up with a good cup Java every
morning.  I am also a daily walker/jogger and have been for a number of
years, that maybe helped too.  When I returned from the hospital after a
stay of 3.5 days I picked up walking again a few days later.  I still
had the bag and it was winter so it did become a pain and I stopped
after a few days until I got rid of the bag.  Then I got into longer
walks again.  Walking is good and climbing, I don't have one here but I
would think a stair stepper machine would be good.  Anyway good luck and
hopefully you will be back to normal soon

Keep in mind if one guy is good to go in two months it doesnt mean you
will be, we all have a little different drying times.

Dale

My question is: What information did your doctor provide to help you
regain control?

Don

================
hi don - looking back at it, i found that the kegels didn't do that much
for me.  

my leaking was so bad that at the doctor's office, after they pulled the
catheter out, all i could do was stand there and drip.  i looked down
and it was a steady drip, drip, drip, drip.  i tried to squeeze to stop
by it didn't help.  i dripped out about 1/4 of a cup and the nurse was
finishing writing up the report and look over at me standing there butt
naked and said, "oh, you can put your depends on now."  i'll never
forget those words and just now it made me feel.

i went through three pads in just the trip home.  each one was dripping
wet soaked and couldn't hold any more.

well, i got to where i was dry during the laying down phase after two
days, then it took a couple of weeks to get to the staying dry while
sitting up in a chair.  and the last phase was slow.  i would have the
feeling that i have to go to the bathroom and by the time i walked to
the toilet, i was bone dry.  oh.........i leaked like a sieve all the
way there.

walking helps, and after 9 months, i got to  where i had stress
incontinence.  i was mainly dry unless i laughed, cough, pass gas, or
lifted something.  for the next 3 months i've been climbing on a ladder
striping paint off a garage and repainting it.  but the act of having to
stress myself while being on a ladder has paid off.  right now, i'm
about 99.5% dry.  and as the surgeon told me, that may be the best it's
going to get.  but i can live with it.

i drink my diet cokes w/caffeine right from surgery and it didn't seem
to faze the training process one way or the other.  

you've got to realize that it is the luck of the draw right from the
beginning.  but it does get better.  that's for sure.

~ curtis

knowledge is power - growing old is mandatory - growing wise is optional    
"Many more men die with prostate cancer than of it. Growing old is
invariably fatal. Prostate cancer is only sometimes so."

*Hi,
*
*I'm now at week 9 and am still have little control in spite of doing
the
*Kegel execises.
<snip>
*
*I'm about to give him a call to see if I should have been given
instructions
*but thought I'd see what you guys got from your doc first.

My uro gave me verbal instructions on Kegels and told me that if I
wanted to regain control, I would have to do them consistently.
Perhaps because of my age at the time, 42, it was quicker for me to
regain control. Now, only if I drink alot of water before bed do I get
wet, and then, I mostly wake up before the flood begins. I have stress
leakage and HBP leakage sometimes, but overall, the Kegels helped
bunches.

Al
Please be quiet if replying via email,
flames will be deleted promptly.
I won't even read the whole message...

My doc gave me Kegle instructions before the RRP.  He also told me not to do
them until the cath was out.  Otherwise, that was it.