Two-stage urethroplasty: stage 2, day 14 after surgery – catheter removal

About four hours driving today for a 15 minute hospital appointment but neither I nor the surgeons who did the urethroplasty really trust my local urology department.

The surgeon seemed very happy with the appearance of the wound. I agree, they did some really neat suturing. There’s one suture at the foreskin end that’s sticking out a bit and he said I could remove that myself.

He pulled out the catheter without any trouble and it wasn’t really any more uncomfortable than usual. I had an early lunch and had a pee before getting back in the car, my first normal pee since October 2015! The flow seemed good and strong and it wasn’t too painful.

Later in the day it was getting a bit more painful and there was a hint of blood but I’m guessing that’s just irritation of the wound on the inside.

The only instructions I got were no sex or cycling for another two weeks and to generally avoid strenuous exercise that might affect that area. Once I get to four weeks after surgery I can apparently do whatever I want.

I’ll have an appointment at my local hospital in about a month for a urine flow measurement. The surgeon was very emphatic that they shouldn’t do anything else and I should contact him with any questions rather than the local urology department.

Two-stage urethroplasty: stage 2, day 4 after surgery

We walked into town for lunch today and the only problem I had was the usual discomfort from the urethral catheter.

I’d had a shower earlier in the morning and my husband changed the dressing for me afterwards. That meant that I got to see how the wound looks and get some pictures.

It’s looking surprisingly good, considering what my penis has been through over the last few years. Not very much bruising and really neat suturing, you can hardly see the stitches. At the foreskin end you can see that the wound veers off to one side; I think that’s where the surgeon took a little bit of skin to repair the fibrotic area from the temporary urethral opening that was there.

Two-stage urethroplasty: stage 1, 8 weeks after surgery

Still no major changes. The stitches are dissolving gradually, only a few are left but one of them in particular seems to be digging in a bit and causing an occasional spot of blood.

This is what it looks like this week.

Since the dressing came off I’ve been using male incontinence pads under my normal underwear. Fortunately I haven’t had any problems with incontinence but there was some seepage from the wound. That’s pretty much stopped now but I want to keep the wound clean and also hold my penis pointing upwards and prevent rubbing.

One good thing since the post-surgery swelling died down is that the curving of my penis when it’s erect is gone. It’s now back to how it used to look, apart from the gaping wound on the underside.

After having had the catheter for so long I was expecting more trouble with retraining my bladder. At first I was having to run to the toilet quite often, and urgently, but that seems to have passed now.

Two-stage urethroplasty: stage 1, 6 weeks after surgery

Not much change since last week. The stitches are still gradually coming out. Almost all of the stitches round the edge of the graft seem to be gone, along with the ones going from the graft up towards my foreskin. There are still a few of the stitches holding the graft down and they seem to be causing a little bit of irritation and bleeding just now; I hope they’ll dissolve soon. The ones in my scrotum also seem to be hanging on, although they’re not giving me any trouble.

No pain but some occasional slight discomfort when the stitches pull.

This week’s photo.

Two-stage urethroplasty: stage 1, 5 weeks after surgery

Here’s the latest picture of the healing wound.

Quite a few of the stitches have fallen out or disappeared, although they seem to be causing bruising before they give up. The graft itself is still looking nice and pink and isn’t seeping as much as it was. The best part is that I can now sleep through the night without any painkillers. I’m still seeing some blood spotting from time to time but it’s very little and now seldom.

According to the surgeon I should be able to resume most activities about six weeks after surgery. That’s next week but if the stitches are still there or there’s any bleeding I’ll have to put off swimming a bit longer. At least I’ll be able to start going to the gym again and working off some of the flab I’ve accumulated during my enforced idleness.

Fourth week after operation

The suprapubic catheter they put in (held in by stitches) before I was discharged from the hospital is a bit different from the others I’ve had. It has two separate parts: the narrow catheter tube itself (clear silicone) and the adapter to connect it to a drainage bag.

Unfortunately the two parts can be separated quite easily and this occasionally happens if the catheter tubing slips through the adhesive catheter holders. On Tuesday morning it pulled off and I didn’t notice until the urine had soaked through my t-shirt. This time I’ve arranged it so that one catheter holder is holding the adapter and the catheter tube has plenty of slack.

I got an appointment for the cystourethrogram for Wednesday the 10th. After that the doctors will be able to decide whether my urethra has healed and isn’t leaking. If everything is OK the suprapubic catheter will come out and I’ll be back to peeing normally.

I also got an appointment with a nurse on Monday the 8th. There was nothing to say what the appointment was for so I contacted the urology department. It turns out that they’d messed up the scheduling and the nurse was going to remove the suprapubic catheter before the x-ray appointment. They fixed it so that I’d just go up to urology straight after the cystourethrogram.

I’d thought the worst of the night-time erection pain was over, but in the early hours of Thursday I woke up with one and was just dozing off again when I felt three sharp pains inside my penis, along with a strange snapping sensation. I’m assuming it was some of the remaining stitches that had partially dissolved and were snapped by the tension. Since that I don’t get any pain with erections, just a sensation of tightness along the urethra.

Things are starting to look more normal, the scar is fading nicely with just one reddish patch. I can still feel inflammation along the whole repaired stretch of urethra but I had the same after the urethrotomy and that seems to take a couple of months to go away.

Third week after operation

The bladder spasms came back with a vengeance on Tuesday, with quite a bit of leakage through the urethra. Even worse on Wednesday. It felt like my bladder was full when I woke up and there was very little in the night bag. The leakage also caused some pain and bleeding in my urethra.

My husband somewhat forcefully arranged an appointment for me at the urology clinic (it’s sometimes very useful being married to a doctor). I was seen within ten minutes of arriving at the hospital and the nurse flushed out the catheter and spoke to a doctor to get me a prescription for tolterodine for the spasms.

The flushing and drugs seemed to work. I had a few spasms later in the week but they were much milder and didn’t cause leakage.

My penis was looking less swollen and the bruising was almost gone. With an erection there’s a noticeable downward curve that it didn’t have before. I’m hoping that will go away once all the stitches have dissolved and the internal swelling has gone. The external stitches had all come out by the end of the week. The scar on my cheek is still irregular and noticeable but not giving me any trouble. Click here for photos.