Life On catheter

Hello and welcome to the forum. Unfortunately, what you are describing happens more than it should. Indwelling catheters are not only uncomfortable and bothersome but also frequently cause urinary tract infections. 

To be frank, there is really no excuse I can think of for your urologist to have subjected you to an indwelling urinary catheter for what appears to be five months. My guess is that your urologist is either "old school", out of date, inept, or simply doesn't put their patient's first.

In most cases, much better than an indwelling catheter is what is called self catherization. It's a skill that can be learned by most anyone very quickly and let's you empty your blader whenever you want without having tubes in you 24/7. If that doesn't work out there is something called a suprapubic catheter than empties your blader through a very small hole in the abdomen so no tubes in the urethra. Both self cathing and suprapubic's have less urinary tract infections associated with them than the kind of catheter you are using. 

Sounds like it's time to see another urologist, preferably at a larger teaching hospital who can offer you more options such as these. They can also re-evaluate you for the TURP operation which hopefully you have been told will almost invariably leave you with retrograde (dry) ejaculations for life. There are other newer, less invasive procedures now available that might work for you.

Jim

Be careful my friend not to listen to all of the negative advice on here. Much of the negative stuff I read prior to deciding what to do was from guys who I believe never had any of the new TURP proceedures. I prolonged my decision because of some of the internet negativity which was not good for me in the end. Most guys talk about their negative experiences. The good ones just move on with their life and never write about them.

I had similar symptons as you are experiening. I had a catheter for one month due to not being able to pee. ( It started while on a vacation) The size 16 F.  Yes, it got uncomfortable and I had a minor UTI from it ( given Cipro). The doctor removed it thinking that the infection or irratation went away. I peed for a day and then it locked up. After another cathater was administered in the ER, I was shown how to self cath. That was painful and caused a lot of bleeding (probally due to my overly large prostate). 

I did not want to spend my life sticking a tube in me every 4 hours so my doctor advised the Button Plasma TURP. My prostate was too big for the UROLIFT which was my first choice.  He said that the laser or HOLEP was also a great proceedure, but my hospital did not have the equipment, so I did the Button. They are all the same thing.  They just remove the prostate tissue by different methods. Mine was removed with plasma, yours will be a lazer. 

I am 7 weeks POST and have a great stream when I pee. I didn't have much pain immediately afterwards. Yes there is the normal healing process of minor pain, frequency, and blood in the urine but that is normal, although it can make you feel uneasy. Anything other than yellow pee  can freak you out.  Red is not a good visual but the DR said Koolaid is Okay ketchup is not. Mine was Koolaid so I felt better. That comes and goes depending on how active you are. More activity causes more bleeding, so take it easy.  No biggie though once you realize that the unrinary tract and prostate area does not like being messed with. It fights back. 

I have ejaculated and semen does come out. It is about the same as when I was on the flomax and Finesteride. Not much retro and the DR says that will improve as time goes on.  I understand that many of these procedures when done by an experienced Dr have great results. Check out your Dr and see what others say.

I am 61 and my prostate was so big (over 100) that it took him 1 1/2 hrs just to do the bladder neck and one half of the prostate. But that was enough he said for complete clearance without damaging the semen duct. (That was Good News when I woke up).

Mine so far has gone pretty good. I don't need a gusher of semen to feel like a man. As long as the feeling is there (and it is) I'll be okay. It is great to pee like I was 30 again. I do not have incontinence and get an erection as strong as before. Best thing is no more meds and I can PEE no more drip or straining while urinating!

Good luck my friend.

I am glad I found this forum 53 days ago.  I took the advice of Neil and JimJames.  It was the best thing I did for my prostate and bladder in the last 13 years. In 13 years, I've done one Greenlight Laser, and two turps.  They work for a few years and then the prostate grows back again and I had to repeat the procedure three times.  The best thing, in my case was the self-cathing.  By inserting the catheter on a daily basis, when needed, it helps the bladder to regain it's strength and purpose.  This is what I've learned on this forum, and it works for me.  I feel comfortable and confident now, when I leave the house, that I won't be wondering where is the next restroom?  Give selfcathing a try. I know it sounds freaky, and makes you feel squeemish, but once you get used to it, it's no big deal inserting that catheter.

That's a long time for an indwelling catheter. I tried self-insert catheters for a few weeks but eventually one wouldn't go into the bladder so my superb urologist did an emergency supra-pubic catheter. That went very well and I had it for 3 months before my HoLep. I'm sure a pubic catheter is better than an indwelling one for more than a week or so. It has a low risk of infection and doesn't really interfere with the penis, sex etc. Personally I hated self-insert catheters but many find them OK. My HoLep went very well but does result in RE.

nktoronto,

here is also one good experience. Had my bipolar TURP on June 1st. Catheter in for 9 days. Recovered quickly and painlessly. Everything was way better than I anticipated. Had sex 3x on post op day 14 (June 15) and sex is great, very satisfying, longer lasting and recovery between sessions is way shorter. Only negative is RE but for my wife and I no problems with having RE.

My only sad thing related to TURP is that I was incidentally diagnosed with prostate Ca which was later on confirmed thru prostate biopsy.

I am scheduled for radical prostatectomy on November 2nd.

Good luck with your TURP and don't let negativity about TURP direct you to something less effective that will cost you tons of money.

BTW, I am 51.

MK