Incontinence Issues

johnclass

My husband was diagnosed with T2a N0M0 bladder cancer in January, and he had RC Neobladder Surgery at IU Medical Center on March 31, 2009. (That hospital was a great experience, by the way.) They used the DaVinci Robot, so his recovery time was five days in the hospital, which was great. The pathology report came back just before we left the hospital, and they found no other cancer except in the bladder, which is a blessing at this point. His Foley catheter was removed last Wednesday (4/22) and he has been dealing with incontinence ever since. He is very depressed that he has not been able yet to conquer daytime incontinence issues. He has not been able to "read the signs" to know when to urinate on his own, and so he has lots of issues with not being able to control himself and is depressed with everything -- incontinence, diapers, etc. He was wondering if anyone could share what he might look for to help him know when to react and what to expect. We were kind of given the impression from the clinic when they removed the catheter, that it would not take lone to conquer the daytime incontinence issue, but what is "not long"? I think otherwise he is doing good, but he is very depressed and I don't know how to help. Any advice?

Martha