Thanks for the encouraging words.
To be exact, 16 days down, 7 to go.
I have now been back to work for the past two days. Dr. Chen said I could go back as soon as 1 week after if I wanted. I waited 2 weeks. I am an engineer and sit at a desk all day. I could not handle another week at home. Honestly, the mental aspect of healing has been the hardest. I don’t have any pain to speak of any more. Mouth is fully healed as well as the perineum incision. I am walking and being active. At times, the cath makes me go crazy. I want to take it out. In all honesty, other than the hot bag of pee taped to my leg, I often don’t realize I have one.
I use a prostate pillow for support. Its just a foam cushion with the center cut out. Sometimes I will lean forward and you can definitely feel the graft site. Also, I got in the car one day without my pillow and definitely felt the graft site. I am assuming that is normal and may take 6 to 8 months to fully heal that area. Hopefully that will not do any damage.
Dr. Chen assured me that the stitches used to put the urethra back together are strong and will not pull out. I still get nervous when you fell that little tingling in the urethra when you sit in a funny position.
One important note: If you are going to do this procedure, make sure you buy a few catheter secure devices. They are worth their weight in gold. I was sent home with the Bard Statlock. They swivel and hold the cath very well. I change them once a week. They do a great job supporting the cath and have allowed me to not worry as much about pulling out the cath. You can buy them from amazon or medical supply websites.
I am still tired and get very tired easily. I am trying to walk more and start rebuilding my strength. Some of this may also be from the fact that I have a very hard time sleeping with the cath. It should all be over in a week though. Can’t wait!