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Acute Urinary Retention after radical prostatectamy
I just under went robotic radical prostatectamy, eight days later the catheter was removed and I was leaking without any control. Later the same day the leaking completely stopped, unfortunately I could not pass even a drop and early the next morning I went to the emergency room to have a catheter installed, which I need to have for another week.r
I've read most of the stories posted on this site before making my final decision and I don't recall seeing anybody else reporting this condition, not did my surgeon mention it on the consent form.
Now when I search I find it's not uncommon, affecting 20% after surgery. I was just wondering if anyone else experienced this?
Re: Acute Urinary Retention after radical prostatectamy
Not directly on your point but here's my two penn'orth. I found great difficulty in finding out complication rates associated with urology procedures. I was faced with a radical cystectomy/prostatectomy and was presented with not very impressive success rates. "But what about the complication rates?", I asked. No info was forthcoming. When I searched the web I found eventually a study that found up to 69% complications, confirming my suspicion that this was not a low risk procedure, however frequently performed in recent years.
And so it is for the more straightforward prostatectomy. The urologist is focussed on doing his thing and moving on. He is not thinking about reporting and recording complications. He may or may not have to deal with those. It takes real effort to get at the facts - and I'm not sure that what is revealed is the whole truth.
Major surgery is risky. I think it should be undertaken only with a full and honest appreciation of what may go wrong and how often. But how to get that appreciation? There's the rub.
Seems to me that only through sites like this may we gain a true appreciation of potential problems and that appreciation is of course merely anecdotal, which causes it to be dismissed by the professionals, who don't know the truth we seek themselves!
Re: Acute Urinary Retention after radical prostatectamy
My surgeon has his patients wear the annoying catheter for 3 weeks. I'm guessing that this allows things to heal up better before removal and may reduce complications. I don't know if there is any medical truth to that. I hope things revert to normal soon for you.
