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UPDATE: 2 and a half months post-op and feeling down. Catheter has been out for a month and a half – very shortly after it was removed (maybe a week?) i felt my stream weaken; and to my dismay the burning sensation when urinating, which was my chief complaint, has seemed to intermittently return, albeit not as badly.
The most sensitive part of my penis, the area between my circumcision scar and the base of my glands, the part that used to create an electric feeling of pleasure, is still numbed (i can feel that it’s being touched but there is little “sensation”.
My ejaculation is, for the most part, no better or worse – although I think it’s less satisfying. It’s difficult to explain but it’s like… tense. Each throb doesn’t relax completely before the next. Or perhaps i’m mistaking the feeling for part of the mussels not working at all.
My glands seem cold and pale colored sometimes, and when erect they were big and glossy before; now they seem reluctant to puff up until the very end.
It’s hard to put into words how exactly i’m feeling about it… I’m not “disappointed” i had the surgery – i’m not “disappointed” with my care team or surgeon (in fact i’m quite happy with them) – i just feel like i’ve lost function that’s important to me.
As a polar question, yes, everything still works fine… but it’s like eating a cake with too little frosting, sure it’s still a cake… it’s just not a very good one.
I’m struggling to hold onto the thread of hope that is, “maybe it will heal with more time”.
John B.
PoorTony,
That 1 week of antibiotics is not a very long course. Also, if they didn’t test your urine after the antibiotic was finished they can’t be sure they killed the infection completely.
Also, since 1 type of antibiotic does not all all kinds of bacteria, it’s possiable that the antibiotic you were on killed one type of bacteria you had but left others behind, that are now taking over and growing.
Maybe you should ask your doctor to culture your urine – that way they can identify the various types of bacterial colonies and choose an apporiate antibiotic for them all.
Keep seeing your doctor till the issue is resolved. Infections can cause scaring, and scaring can cause strictures. Good luck!
John B.
Hey HIM, the stream is great! My problem was never with retention (luckily). Pre-op I had an intense burning 80% of the time when I would urinate. No burning to speak of and the stream is more forceful too!
My bladder IS a mess though; and when I let it fill up too much it starts to burn and I start to get spasms (yikes!); and when I’m done urinating my bladder keeps clutching down trying to make more come out. Really uncomfortable.
BUT it’s all to be expected after 3 weeks with a cath. I’m not worried, it will relax over the next few days I’m sure.
I’m so used to having to “push” urine out I’m sure that’s part of my problem too – damn bladder’s too strong. 😉
I feel myself tense up just before the urine is released, in antipitation of “the burn”, but the burn never comes. Puts a smile on my face. 🙂
John B.
UPDATE: Catheter is out!!! The surgeon reviewed the RUG x-ray and said that she couldn’t even find the repair site – things had healed that well. Really pleased with that.
Said 1 more week with no sex and then take it slow from there. I still have some of that swelling i mentioned previously (hard ridge-like swelling parallel to the incision) but it’s about 70% resolved and the Dr. examined again and told me she wasn’t worried.
Catheter is out and now i’m retraining my bladder – it’s not a fun feeling after having your bladder empty for 3 weeks, to have it filled up again, but i’m trying to hold it as long as i can to help things stretch out.
Problem list: Swelling near incision, and numbness on underside of penis. I hope in a few months when i give my next update that i’m all better and feeling normal!
Stay positive guys, John B.
Hey Poortony, Sorry that you have to go through this. A few things i can think of that i hope will help:
Keep in mind that just because you’re have lower urinary tract symptoms doesn’t mean it’s the stricture again. A UTI, prostatitis, or some other process not related to the stricture/surgery could be causing this. If you saw your GP and they only did a flow test, then i think you should go see a specialist/urologist.
Strictures do come back in 5-10% of people – this is unfortunate but is a known risk. I would request a cystoscopy; that way they can visually confirm if there is a recurrence or any other abnormality. If there is a recurrence, often they are flimsy and can be successfully opened up by DVIU.
I’ve read a lot of posts here and it seems like a slight decline in flow rate is totally normal. Pain after a year is not.
I can’t stress this enough – IF YOU ARE IN PAIN, DEMAND AN EXPLANATION FOR IT – If the Dr. is not 100% sure why something is happening they need to do the diagnostics to figure it out. Go to a different doctor if they won’t.
DON’T PUT IT OFF. Too many men (including me, for 25 years) put off this stuff and it never helps. Just go in and get it done. Good luck man and keep us posted.
Chris, thanks so much for the encouraging words. I hope over the next month or 2 you get the rest of the feeling back; regardless it sounds like you’re happy and that this surgery has been a good thing for your sexual function rather than one that hurt it – so that’s nice to hear.
I have another call into my surgeon because I started to get a little blood (it’s a small amount) and a lot of mucus/white discharge from around my catheter again. This recovery process has been really frustrating for me – I felt so good a couple of days after the surgery and then I got this big edema (it’s fluid filled tissue – feels like a really hard mass the size of an egg) under my right testicle connecting to the flesh on the right of my incision; the surgeon said it’s nothing to worry about. It just doesn’t feel right that this would pop up a week after surgery. 🙁 I just hope everything is healing fine.
UPDATE:
Emailed my surgeon with some questions; she said the erections are fine, even if i’m getting that many of them a day. Said that theres no evidence of erections during healing causing issues with sexual function down the line (I.e making it not heal correctly).
I also asked about the numbness on the underside of my penis – she said that the skin numbness is likely from the incision that was made and the nerves that innervate the skin. She said they do not typically affect the perineal nerve during a urethroplasty. (the perineal nerve is the one that give feeling to the underside of your penis). She said that the numbness can last a few months after surgery but sensation should return over time.
A day or 2 after getting the email from her i felt really good and decided to get out of the house. I was out for about 4 hours; but that was 90% siting/driving (i got a hair cut and then visited people at my office). That night i ditched the jockstrap and slept commando – i found that one of the problems with getting erections is that the jock is so tight that it rubs on your penis and stimulates it more (for me).
I later found out that if you cut a hole in the front of the jock for your penis to stick out of; then your testicles will be well supported and you can get erections with out the uncomfortable rubbing on the jock – it’s helped me a lot while sleeping.
Anyway… I didn’t sleep with anything on the night and i woke up in the morning with a jumbo-egg sized swelling on the right side of my incision just underneath my right testicle (it was pushing the testicle up). I put in an urgent call to my surgeon and spoke with/sent some photos to the resident on call that day – he said it looked like a hematoma and shouldn’t be anything to worry about.
The next day i get a call from the surgeons assistant and she said that the surgeon saw the photos and wanted me to come in for an exam. :/
Thankfully the exam was uneventful; she said that it looked like a seroma/edema (which is basically fluid buildup under the skin). She couldn’t guarantee it wasn’t something more but after seeing it in person she said she was relieved and not worried.
She told me i need to take it easy and wear supportive and compressive underwear (jockstraps) and ice the area. With the exception of the seroma everything is healing up wonderfully. I did get some light bleeding (more like blood residue), and a little bit of white discharge which i thought could be puss from around the catheter this morning but it was just a small amount and it seemed to go away quickly, so i’m just gonna watch that. Can’t wait to get this catheter out – 2 more weeks!
Hey Karlit, hope all is well. Do you have any update for us? I have another personal question for you if you don’t mind; besides the visual difference of the sperm just oozing out – does it still fell good? does it feel the same as before? Do you still get the rhythmic contractions? I had a urethoplasty done a week ago and am mostly worried about orgasms not feeling as good because of the ejaculation stuff. Hope the question isn’t to personal – just a worried guy here trying to prepare. Thanks, John.
