Tweet
Catheters, purple bruising, sex, indigestion, and no hockey stick!
This is my first post. I just wanted to throw out random info I’ve learned from my cancer experience. This was info that can be hard to find, so I’m hoping it will be a help to others. Some of it is a little graphic, but I doubt there are any squeamish people here!
1. Catheters. Following my I/O, I was (quite unfortunately) one of the 15-20% of patients who just couldn’t urinate on my own. I was told various reasons: the anesthesia, anxiety, the trauma to the pelvic area from the surgery, etc. They did an ultrasound on my bladder and saw it had 800 ml, which was pretty full, so I had to get a catheter. They put the catheter in just for a minute to drain the bladder, then took it out. There’s no point lying: it stings, and in a very sensitive area. The thing is, once they take it out, you’re still in the same boat. A few hours later I still couldn’t urinate, despite every prayer I could think of, so I had to get another catheter. This was a long-term catheter that can stay in for a month. It’s bigger than the first one and hurts more. If you’re getting this, TAKE AS MANY PAIN MEDS AS THEY ALLOW BEFOREHAND. I had two doses of Percoset, a Vicodin, and a sleeping pill. An hour and a half later it was still stinging, and I told the nurse it had to come out soon. Luckily, I finally fell asleep, and when I woke up a few hours later it no longer hurt. I went home the next morning, catheter strapped to my leg. Forty-eight hours after my surgery I took the catheter out myself (discomfort, but not painful). I was sweating bullets for a few hours, thinking I might have to have another one put it, but then I was finally able to urinate on my own. For a day or two, urination stings a bit (from catheter damage) and is frequent and in small amounts, but you won’t care: you’re just happy to have the catheter out.
2. Starting a few days after the I/O, purple bruising appeared at the base of my penis. I had used medical tape to tape gauze around the catheter, so I thought the bruising was from the tape. But I’ve heard it mentioned by other people who never had a catheter. At any rate, it certainly looked like harmless soft-tissue bruising, and was painless. It slowly disappeared over the course of 4-5 days. I was never worried about it and never asked the doctor.
3. People wonder how soon after the I/O can they have sex, and I think there’s a general concern to know if what’s left still works. I know there was for me. I didn’t want to have sex, not only because of the stitches and the risk of a hernia, but I was scared to think of what might happened internally upon orgasm: would something go wrong? I was not ready to find out. Nine days after the I/O, I was feeling pretty good with taking walks, doing stairs, etc., and generally felt my recovery was moving along well. My girlfriend and I tried sex, very slowly and carefully, so as not to risk a hernia or stress the stitches. All went as it should, which I was relieved to find. Beyond the psychological issues, there was no change to sexual function or performance. Still, I think we’ll wait a few more weeks to try again, just to be safe.
4. Indigestion/burping. Two days into radiation I started having a ton of abdominal gas/burping. Literally, a sip of water would lead to 4-5 burps within a minute. I shrugged it off, but by day four (today), the indigestion led to a fairly constant stomach pain, perhaps from all the acid. The doctor advised Gas-X or Bean-O. I’ve taken Gas-X and ginger tea, to no effect. Luckily, I then discovered that soy milk put out the fire immediately. I’ve read of people drinking Maalox. Milk also would probably work as well as soy milk, but radiation can make you lactose intolerant. Soy is good for you anyway (reduces the risk of prostate cancer), and my organic vanilla-flavored soy milk has a great sweet taste.
5. No hockey stick! I’m going to the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN. My doctor (Dr. Pisansky) said he’s had nearly identical (1% difference) results in just treating the abdomen and staying away from the pelvis versus doing the classic hockey stick rad treatment -- as long as there’s no sign of cancer in the pelvic lymph nodes (I had classic seminoma, which usually goes straight to the abdominal lymph nodes). The upside of doing just the abdomen is the remaining good testicle is not dosed, there are no intestinal radiation side effects, and you don’t get the future risk of prostate cancer (plus if you do get prostate cancer down the road, you can then have radiation there since you haven’t been radiated there yet).
And that is my long-form two cents. Hope everyone is or will soon be healthy!
1. Catheters. Following my I/O, I was (quite unfortunately) one of the 15-20% of patients who just couldn’t urinate on my own. I was told various reasons: the anesthesia, anxiety, the trauma to the pelvic area from the surgery, etc. They did an ultrasound on my bladder and saw it had 800 ml, which was pretty full, so I had to get a catheter. They put the catheter in just for a minute to drain the bladder, then took it out. There’s no point lying: it stings, and in a very sensitive area. The thing is, once they take it out, you’re still in the same boat. A few hours later I still couldn’t urinate, despite every prayer I could think of, so I had to get another catheter. This was a long-term catheter that can stay in for a month. It’s bigger than the first one and hurts more. If you’re getting this, TAKE AS MANY PAIN MEDS AS THEY ALLOW BEFOREHAND. I had two doses of Percoset, a Vicodin, and a sleeping pill. An hour and a half later it was still stinging, and I told the nurse it had to come out soon. Luckily, I finally fell asleep, and when I woke up a few hours later it no longer hurt. I went home the next morning, catheter strapped to my leg. Forty-eight hours after my surgery I took the catheter out myself (discomfort, but not painful). I was sweating bullets for a few hours, thinking I might have to have another one put it, but then I was finally able to urinate on my own. For a day or two, urination stings a bit (from catheter damage) and is frequent and in small amounts, but you won’t care: you’re just happy to have the catheter out.
2. Starting a few days after the I/O, purple bruising appeared at the base of my penis. I had used medical tape to tape gauze around the catheter, so I thought the bruising was from the tape. But I’ve heard it mentioned by other people who never had a catheter. At any rate, it certainly looked like harmless soft-tissue bruising, and was painless. It slowly disappeared over the course of 4-5 days. I was never worried about it and never asked the doctor.
3. People wonder how soon after the I/O can they have sex, and I think there’s a general concern to know if what’s left still works. I know there was for me. I didn’t want to have sex, not only because of the stitches and the risk of a hernia, but I was scared to think of what might happened internally upon orgasm: would something go wrong? I was not ready to find out. Nine days after the I/O, I was feeling pretty good with taking walks, doing stairs, etc., and generally felt my recovery was moving along well. My girlfriend and I tried sex, very slowly and carefully, so as not to risk a hernia or stress the stitches. All went as it should, which I was relieved to find. Beyond the psychological issues, there was no change to sexual function or performance. Still, I think we’ll wait a few more weeks to try again, just to be safe.
4. Indigestion/burping. Two days into radiation I started having a ton of abdominal gas/burping. Literally, a sip of water would lead to 4-5 burps within a minute. I shrugged it off, but by day four (today), the indigestion led to a fairly constant stomach pain, perhaps from all the acid. The doctor advised Gas-X or Bean-O. I’ve taken Gas-X and ginger tea, to no effect. Luckily, I then discovered that soy milk put out the fire immediately. I’ve read of people drinking Maalox. Milk also would probably work as well as soy milk, but radiation can make you lactose intolerant. Soy is good for you anyway (reduces the risk of prostate cancer), and my organic vanilla-flavored soy milk has a great sweet taste.
5. No hockey stick! I’m going to the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN. My doctor (Dr. Pisansky) said he’s had nearly identical (1% difference) results in just treating the abdomen and staying away from the pelvis versus doing the classic hockey stick rad treatment -- as long as there’s no sign of cancer in the pelvic lymph nodes (I had classic seminoma, which usually goes straight to the abdominal lymph nodes). The upside of doing just the abdomen is the remaining good testicle is not dosed, there are no intestinal radiation side effects, and you don’t get the future risk of prostate cancer (plus if you do get prostate cancer down the road, you can then have radiation there since you haven’t been radiated there yet).
And that is my long-form two cents. Hope everyone is or will soon be healthy!
Comment