Prostate

Good Morning Mechanic 

Thanks for your post - I am still the proud owner of my Prostate (well most of it). If you read my journey (click on my avatar) you will see I had an indwelling catheter for over 10 months.

Yes it's inserted in the penis and a "water filled balloon" is inflated inside to stop it falling out  You won't know it's been fitted as it will be done at the end of surgery.

You can feel the catheter and it will feel strange at first but it won't take long to get used to weeing again. The urine travels down a pipe to a bag held onto your leg by two straps. There is a tap at the bottom to empty it into the toilet bowl.

At night you attach a larger bag and longer pipe to the leg bag to enable you to get a good nights sleep.

If you wear baggy trousers or track suit bottoms no one is the wiser you have one. In 10 months it became part of me and it became routine using it.

After a couple of weeks when it's due to come out, you just lie back on the bed, they will deflate the balloon, ask you to take a deep breath and bingo - it's gone. You can  feel it but trust me mine was painless and it was changed every 13 weeks.

I do hope this helps.

Best wishes - Brian.

Thanks and yes iit reslly does help 

Hi Mechanic. I understand that this is a worrying time for you, firstly to learn that you have cancer and then to decide what to do about it. I had prostate surgery in March and the anxiety starts to fade once you have your treatment booked whether it be surgery or radiotherapy. 
As Brian says, the catheter is fitted as part of the operation under anaesthetic so you wake up with it in place. It doesn’t hurt and is a bit of a nuisance more than anything. I wore tracky bottoms for the 2 weeks I had mine and it was discreetly hidden when I went to the shops. You can shower with it in place and you just get used to it.
After 2 weeks or so a nurse will remove this which is painless and puts you another step towards recovery.

Hi Mechanic,

The catheter is a faff, but it is put in under anaesthetic. It is a faff but doesn’t hurt at all. I wasn’t looking forward to it being taken out but even that wasn’t as bad as I thought. Got to say I did not have any pain as such through the whole journey. If you have had 3 Hours in a tattooist chair going thorough the prostatectomy was a breeze.

Hi Mechanic

Quite so, as Millibob says, the catheter is no big deal. Not even uncomfortable.