My Story - After Prostate Surgery

Along with a Foley catheter, I had a drain coming out of my abdomen. The nurses emptied both regularly. The Foley catheter was very weird and a little embarrassing but morphine does wonders for such minor issues.

The next day I felt a little better so I slowly increased the time period between my button pushes. By the evening, I had mostly stopped using the morphine. The next day, the nurse removed the IV (and morphine) and started giving me vicodin for any pain. I had also received other drugs; something to calm the bladder and also another oral pain medication but I don't remember what it was. Two days after the surgery, my doctor came in and removed the drain and examined me. I was released at noon that day.
Dealing with the catheter at home was awkward and made sleeping difficult (very tough to turn over). My wife was great and took everything in stride and played the perfect nurse, providing everything I needed.

Two days after I returned home, I woke up to a surprise... a nocturnal erection. I was completely shocked. In fact, I thought maybe I was dreaming. Still having the catheter and a 5" incision, made that event fairly uncomfortable. Two days later, the same thing happened and again the day after that. I was encouraged by these events but to be honest, I wasn't sure if the erections were caused by an erotic dream (which I didn't remember), or was some random body mechanism that wasn't associated with a sexual response. In any event, it seemed like a really good sign.

The Foley was removed two weeks after the surgery. That was painful... very short but still painful. At first, I had little to no bladder control but by the end of that day, it had improved. I still leaked quite often but nothing the absorptive underwear couldn't handle. (If you find yourself in this situation, take something to the doctor's office with you, when the catheter is to be removed. There are plenty of pads and disposables available at any drugstore.) By the end of that day, the volume of leakage was greatly reduced.

After three weeks I still drip occasionally when I'm walking around. Actually, exertion of any kind (lifting, coughing, etc.) can cause a drip to sneak out but it's happening less and less as time goes on. Any pain from the incision is minimal, at this point. I have not taken any pain medication in over a week and I'm feeling stronger every day.

Also, I've been very pleasantly surprised to find that my body is indeed responding to sexual stimuli. Without getting too explicit, I do have spontaneous erections. It appears I have only lost a very small amount of rigidity and size. And this is only 4 weeks from the surgery so taking everything into consideration, I am very encouraged!