The problem with the catheter is common.  I had it too.  I don't know about
the hardness in the abdomen.  Best to check with your doc.

Unfortunately the leakage is not uncommon.  I had it with one catheter that
was a small 12 size.  The larger ones did not leak.  My last one, a 20, I
could not get it to leak by even by pushing hard like I was trying to pee.
Keep tabs on the stomach.  Especially if you start seeing color in the hard
areas.  Let your Dr. know right away if you do.  I don't know if this is
common or not.

Dwight

ditto what the other said about the leakage.  I was shocked when I sat on
the throne and shot out a stream that landed about two foot away.  I had no
idea that was possible with the catheter.  After that I held a wad of toilet
paper around the catheter while sitting.  That required frequent changes but
did the job.

They had me taking one tablespoon of mineral oil in the morning and Milk of
Magnesia at night for a month or so after the surgery to keep things moving.
You may want to consider that if things are getting blocked up.  As the
others advised, be sure to talk to your doctor about this.

Good luck.  How long will you have the catheter?  I had to wear that thing
for three full weeks!

Perfectly normal, Fred.  This is possibly the most often asked question
subsequent to surgery.  I wonder why docs don't tell us it's going to
happen.

While not a subject of robotic surgery (I had a traditional scalpel
wielder), I did have a bit of leakage from around the catheter. According to
my urologist this was normal.

What I really wanted to mention was your comment about having some firm
spots. In addition to the radical I also had a small hernia repaired
directly above and to the side of my belly-button. When I got home my entire
abdomen was a sea of purples, blues, yellows, and reds, with a series of
what we Canadians would class as small hockey pucks where all the
multi-colours were. On the day I got home and while catching up on my news
groups a sneeze took me by surprise with no pillow or cushion available. As
it turns out I popped a stitch that was part of the hernia repair. About an
hour later I happened to glance down and both my hands and my shirt were
coated in blood. Took a few minutes to clean up the mess and my wife felt
that she could see where a stitch had popped.

We repeated this process of bleed, panic, and clean up for about a week
before I finally went to see the urologist. In addition to his attempt at
humour, "You do realize that you look like you went 12 rounds with Mike
Tyson on one of his good days." he stated that the 'hockey pucks' were blood
clots that normally would dissolve over the course of time. In my case they
were taking the easy way out and were exiting through the incision. This
went on until the last one left about 2 weeks ago (about 11 or 12 weeks
post-op). Applying a heating pad did help in the clots dissolving without
making a mess.

Charlie