Surviving Prostate Cancer

This morning I was a little nervous, a little distracted as at lunchtime I was due to see “The Man” aka Mr Karim and have my catheter removed!

We arrived at the Bridge clinic right on time and got shown to Mr Karim straight away. He was standing there waiting for us and greetedus both with a warm smile and a firm handshake.

There wasn’t much of a meeting really. When we arrived Mr Karim was finishing burning some of the video files from my operation on to a DVD. He also, very kindly, lent us an 8GB memory stick with the remainder of the video on it. Great I thought, get down the shops and grab some popcorn. This is going to be the best home movie ever!

The Video was taken straight from the hi-definition 3d camera which, at the time, was buried deep inside me. I saw a clip or two while we chatted and the quality is outstanding. I’ll post some of the clips up here once I have had time to go through it.

The result of the meeting was that Mr Karim is very happy with my progress although he is yet to see the pathology report on my prostate. This normally takes 10 days to 2 weeks to come back so we are looking at next week at the earliest.

I then showed Mr Karim the notes I’d taken on my catheter and drain output. He was most impressed. I am now thinking of creating a spreadsheet which I will upload here and then someone else can use it to keep track of their output when they have their operation.

We touched on erections and intercourse at this point. He recommended not to have intercourse for another 2 weeks and to try to keep erections to a minimum as this will pull on the area where the prostate used to be. So although I know Mr Happy works to some degree he will need to remain asleep for another 14 days before he’s allowed out to play.

He then went on to say that he will not need to see me until the 8 week post operation checkup which is good news and also means that there isn’t anything that he is concerned about. Next step, he said, was to get the clips off the wounds and to remove the catheter.

Penny, the nurse who dealt with my drain removal yesterday was going to do the catheter and clip removal so I knew I was in good hands. She is a very kind and genuine person and this helped put me at ease. I found her to be very easy to talk to and very helpful. It turns out that she is involved with a prostate cancer charity which is all good. I’ve past the details of this blog to her to help spread the word.

So it was off round the corner from Mr Karim’s office and into the small theater room to have the removal work done. It’s all very clean and tidy in there an is very well equipped. A little James Morrison was playing in the background which was nice, and so much better than the bloody awful Take That I woke up to the other week!

Now I don’t know about you but I’ve never had “clips” to hold wounds closed before. They look like little staples and do a very good job. At no time since the operation did any of the clips cause me any problems but I did look like Frankenstein.

Clips are used to hold a wound together while it heals

To remove the clips you use a special tool which bends the clip in the middle and the ends flip up out of the wound. Think gull-wing door cars and this will give you an idea of how they work. I was expecting this part to hurt and the clips had been in for 13 days and had some time to get attached to the new skin forming. To my surprise I only felt one clip and that was because it was out of shape slightly. Once they were all out, a quick wipe with an anti-bacterial wipe and job done. I was no longer a monster!

Now came the part that was most important to me. The catheter had been in for almost 2 weeks (apart from being removed and replaced on Friday last week) and it was getting to the stage where it was starting to annoy me a little. It wasn’t painful as such, but it did restrict my movement.

Before she started, Penny explained how the catheter was held in place by a small balloon which she would deflate before pulling the tube out. She said that I wouldn’t feel the deflation at all, which was right. The catheter has a single tube coming out of the penis which splits into two, one part goes into the bag on your leg, and the other ends in a port. It’s through this port that the balloon is inflated after insertion and deflated before removal.

How the catheter sits within the bladder

I was laying down with my legs open and Penny unstrapped the bag from my leg. I was really starting to get nervous now thinking about how painful it would be. I imagined her pulling the tube out and my whole insides coming out with it! I then asked her if I could do the pulling, thinking that if I was in control then at least I wouldn’t hurt myself doing it. She gave me a look that a mother would give her small son when had been a little naughty and it was at this point I decided to Man-up and get on with it.

“OK”, she said, “I’m going to count to 3 and then pull the tube out. I might sting a bit”.

“1….. 2….”, she didn’t get to 3! I knew she’d do that but still by the time my head had registered that 3 had not arrived the catheter was out. How did it feel? Well a little like passing a small stone, or a small lump of something. To be honest it was a little strange, but it wasn’t that bad. “Is that it?” I asked, feeling foolish for being a bit of a wimp.

Once I had caught my breath I got my pants back on including a pad which would catch any leakage. There are a lot of different pads available specifically designed for men which can be purchased from chemists and supermarkets. Tena for men are a good make and come in different shapes and sizes so I would recommend these if you can get any.

After we’d finished in the theater, I was on strict instructions to go drink lots of water and then go outside for a walk until I was ready to have a wee Two cups and two bottles of water later and the urge took hold of me. However we’d timed it just right and I was standing at the door to the toilet just when I felt the first dribbles. It was a strange thing, being 39 years old and peeing into a nappy, now I know how Reece feels!

This would be the first time I had past water on my own in 2 weeks. I think my bladder had got used to not doing any work because the first time round it only dripped out. There wasn’t a spurt as such, just a continual dripping like a tap left slightly on. Still I got enough into the bottle that Penny had provided and after about 20 minutes I returned to Diana clutching the bottle and smiling away to myself.

Penny came and took the sample away and did some tests on it, and during that time I had to go spend another 10 minutes in the toilet. This time the flow was more substantial than before, but no where near the hosepipe effect I was used to. Up until this point I’d had no pain at all, except perhaps for a very slight stinging.

On my way back to the reception area (all of ten feet from the toilet) I started getting a bit of pain in my bladder. Over the next five minutes it got worse and worse. It felt like my bladder was full to bursting point and it hurt so much that I almost cried out. Mr Karim came into reception at that point to see me off and when I told him about the pain he quickly got me back into his consulting room and on to the bed.

When I explained where the pain was he got a portable ultrasound machine out and had a look inside me.

“There is still liquid in your bladder”, he said and then went on to check a little more. It was at this point that he said the words I dreaded most. “I think we’ll just pop the catheter back in again for another few days”. I was stunned. I’d come so far and now, now I was back to square one.  I asked him to give me five minutes before we went to do the catheter again because I wanted to make sure that the pain didn’t just go away on its own.

Mr Karim suggested I try sitting up and at this point I felt myself leaking again. He quickly grabbed a bowl and I managed to wee into it without getting it on either Mr Karim, or the floor. The flow was much stronger than before and I even managed to stop it mid flow before relaxing and letting the remaining wee come out. Once I’d finished, the pain disappeared in a matter of minutes.

It was decided then to leave the catheter out. I was over the moon! However Mr Karim suggested that I take a course of diasapan to help relax my body and let things happen naturally. I have a habit of holding on to my wee until I am busting and this wasn’t a good thing. Personally I think my bladder went into spasm as it wasn’t used to anything being in it and that it would take time for it to recover it’s full function again.

Another trip to the bathroom was needed, this time, more wee and no pain before I had to have a final blood test . This one was my first PSA test since the operation and is actually called a super sensitive PSA test. The nurses had fun playing hunt the vein again and eventually after much slapping and fist pumping they got the single vile they needed from the back of my hand. It would take about 10 days for the results to come back from the lab which was fine as I am in no rush to find out the new PSA score right now.

Before I left, Penny gave me some advice. “Use rescue remedy for the next couple of days to help you through”. We have some at home anyway so it won’t be too hard to get some if I feel I need any.

So there I was, un-clipped, un-cathetered, and un-drained, 13 days after my operation. “Not bad”, I thought. On the way back home the pain returned. It was worse than before because I was stuck in the cars front sports seat, which isn’t that comfortable anyway, and couldn’t move enough to relieve the pain. I got upset and annoyed and took it out on Diana which was pretty shitty of me to be honest.

Finally arriving home I hobbled to the bathroom and immediately set about weeing again. So that was 4 times in the space of an hour and a half. Since then I’ve not needed to go and I have had no pain. I think I am going to try to go to the bathroom regularly so to stop any build up which might cause some pain.

One tip I’ve been told is to not drink too much before bedtime. This should help keep me dry through the night which will be good because I don’t relish the idea of sleeping on wet sheets. I’ll have my pad on but still it’s not a nice thought.

So here I am now back home and looking forward to making a full recovery. I am also looking forward to watching the video Mr Karim made for me during my operation… Will someone pass the popcorn?

In the past few hours since I updated this post I have managed to go to the bathroom a couple of times and I have had no pain to speak of. Mr Karin called me ealier this evening to check on me which I thought was nice of him so heading for bed now, pad in hand wondering what I will wake up to tomorrow.