Foley Catheter for Urinary Retention Before Enlarged Prostate Surgery

A little more than a month ago I went to the urgent care center after a night of severe lower left abdominal pain. An ultrasound was performed and they determined that my bladder was retaining a lot of urine so a 16 fr Coude Foley catheter was put in place which was the right type of catheter but the nurse inflated it so the balloon was in the neck of my bladder. I had it for the next five days and It was very irritating and there was a lot of blood in my urine so it was removed. After that I could not urinate at all and had chills and a fever and was rushed to the emergency room. It was hard to believe but I was never so happy to have that catheter in me again and after it was in place more than two liters drained. They found I had sepsis and I spent the next three days in the hospital being pumped full of Levaquin. Before they released me it appeared that my kidneys were functioning normally again but my white blood count was still a bit high and I was feeling weak and tired easily.

The next day I had an appointment with the urologist and he found that the urine retention was due to an enlarged prostate and that the green light laser surgery would probably be the best course of action but the catheter had to remain in place until they could do a cystoscopy the following month. Fortunately I got adjusted very well to living with a catheter but I was very tired and weak after the sepsis.

The cystoscopy revealed that I had an extremely enlarged prostate that was totally blocking the urine flow. The urologist filled my bladder completely with water to see if I could urinate but after a lot of straining I was glad to have the catheter back in me. The urologist thought that the prostate was so large that the green light laser surgery would not work and I would need the HoLed procedure which could not be done in his office. He then set an appointment for a rectal ultrasound to see if the prostate was large enough to require HoLed and then a follow-up appointment at the end of the month. After over a month in a Foley catheter, I was happy that I was very well adjusted to it and even liked the benefit of not running for bathrooms,having nocturnal leakage or getting up ten times a night to urinate and straining to the point of having a hernia to pee. Other than cleaning the collection bags an maintaining hygiene to keep from getting UTI's, I got to really like my catheter which is great since it looks like I will have it in for about three months before the procedure is done. 

My question is this - how long is one normally catheterized before the procedure is done. I know they say they want to get the bladder back its normal elasticity but how long does that take? Since I have had and enlarged prostate for so long that has caused the urine retention, will my sphincter work or will I be permanently incontinent? Sometimes I think they are just getting me adjusted to a permanent catheter since they won't be able to fix the issue but hey, I've been very comfortable in my catheter and it sure beats having to wear a diaper, and all the other problems I've had without it.

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