Learning to wee

Hi Allan and welcome to the group. No experience of this myself, but I am sure someone will be along to offer some advice when they pick up your post. Best wishes.

Very early days! Are you on a schedule & having to record input/output? At the moment, your neo is very small & cannot hold much, but you also have to use pelvic floor muscles to keep it closed. Then you need to learn the technique for emptying. Many men find it easier to learn to void when seated. It's the double whammy of both learning continence and how to empty - very frustrating to leak but then not be able to empty at will.

I was told to put up with leaks to try and last a bit longer each time, to gradually stretch neo to hold around 450 ml, then the pressure is not so high & continence will improve. I expect your leakage is because neo gets full. If you google 'learning to empty neobladder', you will find various hospital info sheets which give advice on techniques to empty. At the moment your muscles are still healing, so things will probably get easier when you are stronger. (As a female, I suspect my technique is different from males.) You will start to sense the feeling of fullness. I learnt to be very careful how I moved then, so as not to stress the abdomen & cause a leak - this will all improve with time. 

Patience is the key, it can take months to train neo & it can continue to improve for a couple of years or so. When I started, I only had to self cath once a day, but after about 6 weeks, lost the ability to void & now have to rely on self cathing, but I don't mind that at all. Men usually manage voiding better. 

Nights can be longer to gain control, so you will need pads or a condom catheter. You should be able to get some pads via NHS but if you need more, buy them from an incontinence store online - more  choice & better prices than the High Street. (I use ageukincontinence.co.uk)

These early days when you are still fatigued from the op are the hardest. My neo is now over 10 years old & I am very happy with it - just need to make sure I don't get over full. Best wishes for some improvement soon.