cath out

griff 1

i wanted to ask anybody about when they take the cath out, when i had the camera up the old junk it felt like a 35mm camera going in and worse coming out. what i want to know is how bad is it coming out. the cath line is bigger than the camera line. it is just such a bad feeling i can,t explain it, like they are pulling out your insides with it? any info wolud be great. thanks griff

Trew

You need to take you mind on
You need to take you mind on vacation- go somewhere nice with it- certainly don't go traveling with it up big tubes up the you-know-what. What is the fun of that?

BRONX52

CATH OUT
IF GETTING YOUR CATH OUT IS ANYTHING LIKE MY EXPERIENCE YOU HAVE NOTHING TO WORRY ABOUT. TAKES A FEW SECONDS AND THERE WASN'T ANY PAIN INVOLVED. ONLY RELIEF THAT THE CONTRAPTION WAS FINALLY GONE !!!

lshick

I second BRONX52's remarks
I second BRONX52's remarks. If your experience is like mine was, there's no pain whatsoever, just a huge feeling of relief that it's gone. The extraction was really a non-event.

DanKCMO

lshick said:

I second BRONX52's remarks
I second BRONX52's remarks. If your experience is like mine was, there's no pain whatsoever, just a huge feeling of relief that it's gone. The extraction was really a non-event.

What Bronx said +1
What Bronx said +1

Ended up being less than 2 seconds of moderate pain for me. No lingering pain either.

Far far less of "hurdle" than I had built it up to be in my mind.

Once the catheter came out my recovery really took off.

Good luck!

Dan

griff 1

DanKCMO said:

What Bronx said +1
What Bronx said +1

Ended up being less than 2 seconds of moderate pain for me. No lingering pain either.

Far far less of "hurdle" than I had built it up to be in my mind.

Once the catheter came out my recovery really took off.

Good luck!

Dan

dan and all
thanks for the info and positive posts. i am sure it will be alot easier than i think it will good luck to all griff

ProfWagstaff

cath out
During the 10 days I had the cath in, any number of "helpful" friends and acquaintances would give me horror stories about their own experiences with cath removals. This is like women who share their painful labor stories when a friend announces her pregnancy. Needless to say, I was worried. It was needless. Removal of the cath was a piece of cake. A slight burning for a few seconds while the air returns to a place it hasn't been for a few days and then I was fine. I underwent the DaVinci procedure from a world-class Uro. By FAR, the worst experience from screening, to diagnosis, to surgery, to cath removal was the biopsy. If you've already had that, you've had the worst of it - at least in my case.

Kongo

ProfWagstaff said:

cath out
During the 10 days I had the cath in, any number of "helpful" friends and acquaintances would give me horror stories about their own experiences with cath removals. This is like women who share their painful labor stories when a friend announces her pregnancy. Needless to say, I was worried. It was needless. Removal of the cath was a piece of cake. A slight burning for a few seconds while the air returns to a place it hasn't been for a few days and then I was fine. I underwent the DaVinci procedure from a world-class Uro. By FAR, the worst experience from screening, to diagnosis, to surgery, to cath removal was the biopsy. If you've already had that, you've had the worst of it - at least in my case.

ProfWag
That's a great story and am so happy that you had such a hassle-free passing to the other side of tretment. I too felt the original biopsy was a very unpleasant experience and decided that when the urologist tells you that "this might be a bit uncomfortable" what he really means is that it's going to hurt like hell.

Would you mind sharing your statistics at diagnosis and how you came to choose surgery?

ProfWagstaff

Kongo said:

ProfWag
That's a great story and am so happy that you had such a hassle-free passing to the other side of tretment. I too felt the original biopsy was a very unpleasant experience and decided that when the urologist tells you that "this might be a bit uncomfortable" what he really means is that it's going to hurt like hell.

Would you mind sharing your statistics at diagnosis and how you came to choose surgery?

cath out
Gleason was originally read as 3+4 at biopsy. Urologist that did my biopsy recommeded surgery because of my age (54 at the time). He went over the pros and cons of all treatment options. His office does not perform surgery but it is connected to a hospital with a cancer treatmewnt center where radiation is done yet he didn't suggest that as a first option. That told me a lot about how urgent surgery was as an option. I was stage 2 with capsule penetration in at least 2 places. I asked about how many "hits" I got on the biopsy and he said it was three on one side and while looking for the number on the other side he said someting about "extensive" cancer found. At that time I told him I didn't need to know how many hits were on the other side. That word "extensive" trumped any number he could give me. I also had the luxury (?) of seeing my younger brother go through the surgical option 7 months before. He was already back to virtually normal. He was already back playing in his over-50 lacrosse league and haad been continent since three months after surgery. I felt I could handle that. Urologist he used (and I eventually went to for surgery) was recommended to him by Dr. Walsh at Hopkins. Yes, the author of "Surviving Prostate Cancer." My brother called Johns Hopkins to speak with him and Dr. Walsh called him back! Told him there are about 5 guys nationwide who really shine with DaVinci and one was in Update New York where we live. When I went to see him to interview him as a surgeon, i found out that he had done over 1600 of these already so he is certianly experienced. Since my prostate was over 50% cancerous already, they told me my options boiled down to 2 - radiation and surgery. However, they recommend surgery first. The logic begind that is that if you try radiation and it doesn't work, then the prostate is so scarred that surgery is no longer an option. My first goal was to get the cancer the hell out of me! As to the side effects (the 2 i's) urologists make their living dealing with those. Quickest way to get the cancer out and begin my emotional recovery was surgery. Post surgery Gleason was 4+3

lewvino

ProfWagstaff said:

cath out
Gleason was originally read as 3+4 at biopsy. Urologist that did my biopsy recommeded surgery because of my age (54 at the time). He went over the pros and cons of all treatment options. His office does not perform surgery but it is connected to a hospital with a cancer treatmewnt center where radiation is done yet he didn't suggest that as a first option. That told me a lot about how urgent surgery was as an option. I was stage 2 with capsule penetration in at least 2 places. I asked about how many "hits" I got on the biopsy and he said it was three on one side and while looking for the number on the other side he said someting about "extensive" cancer found. At that time I told him I didn't need to know how many hits were on the other side. That word "extensive" trumped any number he could give me. I also had the luxury (?) of seeing my younger brother go through the surgical option 7 months before. He was already back to virtually normal. He was already back playing in his over-50 lacrosse league and haad been continent since three months after surgery. I felt I could handle that. Urologist he used (and I eventually went to for surgery) was recommended to him by Dr. Walsh at Hopkins. Yes, the author of "Surviving Prostate Cancer." My brother called Johns Hopkins to speak with him and Dr. Walsh called him back! Told him there are about 5 guys nationwide who really shine with DaVinci and one was in Update New York where we live. When I went to see him to interview him as a surgeon, i found out that he had done over 1600 of these already so he is certianly experienced. Since my prostate was over 50% cancerous already, they told me my options boiled down to 2 - radiation and surgery. However, they recommend surgery first. The logic begind that is that if you try radiation and it doesn't work, then the prostate is so scarred that surgery is no longer an option. My first goal was to get the cancer the hell out of me! As to the side effects (the 2 i's) urologists make their living dealing with those. Quickest way to get the cancer out and begin my emotional recovery was surgery. Post surgery Gleason was 4+3

Thanks for sharing your
Thanks for sharing your info. Glad that you are doing well and that you got the cancer out.
I'm 55 and my Gleason was 4+3 pre surgery but flipped to 3+4 Post surgery.
You mentioned upstate NY. My wife is from a small town about 1 hr South Of Albany.

Larry

griff 1

ProfWagstaff said:

cath out
During the 10 days I had the cath in, any number of "helpful" friends and acquaintances would give me horror stories about their own experiences with cath removals. This is like women who share their painful labor stories when a friend announces her pregnancy. Needless to say, I was worried. It was needless. Removal of the cath was a piece of cake. A slight burning for a few seconds while the air returns to a place it hasn't been for a few days and then I was fine. I underwent the DaVinci procedure from a world-class Uro. By FAR, the worst experience from screening, to diagnosis, to surgery, to cath removal was the biopsy. If you've already had that, you've had the worst of it - at least in my case.

pro
i dont remember the biopsy to drugged up. the worst was for me was when they put a camera up my junk, it was terrible it felt like a 35mm nikon man. my dr. sayed the same, this will be a little uncomfortable. oh sure. ha ha anyway that was the worst for me. all of you goodluck and laugh when you can. griff

ProfWagstaff

griff 1 said:

pro
i dont remember the biopsy to drugged up. the worst was for me was when they put a camera up my junk, it was terrible it felt like a 35mm nikon man. my dr. sayed the same, this will be a little uncomfortable. oh sure. ha ha anyway that was the worst for me. all of you goodluck and laugh when you can. griff

Thanks, Griff. It's amazing
Thanks, Griff. It's amazing as I read these boards how we all had such different experiences. I never had the "thrill" of being "visited" by intrusive photographic equipment. You've got me there. My hat's off to you on that one. I also wasn't given any drugs before my biopsy except anti-biotics. So for me, the biopsy was my last 'undrugged" physical procedure and the most uncomfortable. The most emotionally draining day was when I had the 4 hours of staging tests at the hospital just after my positive biopsy. Bone scan, CT scan, chest x-ray were all virtually painless but just knowing what they were looking for was almost more than I could handle. That was in March of '09 and I still regard it as the worst day of my life. Everything has been better since then. Last month, I took part on the Survivor Lap of our local Relay for Life. That's where I found out about this site. I found that lap very inspirational as I met people who were 35 year cancer survivors as well as a few kids under 8 who were undergoing chemo. I recommend the experience to all survivors. Next year I'm going to assemble a team and do the whole overnight thing at the relay. Ny best to all fellow surviors.

gumbyrun

Cath removal was a non-event
I echo the comments on the cath removal. It felt a bit "funky" but was done before I knew it. It was removed by my Urologist's PA (sweet young thing) with my wife (RN) watching.
The best part of that 6 week visit was finding out that the cancer was contained. My wife and I went to "Primani's" in the 'burgh and had a sandwich, an IC lite, and a good cry.