Hi Ohio Male, I have only been a member here a couple of days and I am a woman. Still because I have been incontinent most of my life, a whole lot of urologists have told me a whole lot about urology. Also, in January 2007, when my husband Don was 74, his annual physical showed a significant elevation in his PSA. Don's father had been diagnosed with prostate cancer in 1961, long before PSA was invented, and died of that despite having surgery. Consequently since PSA was approved Don has had them twice a year. His primary physician referred Don to a urologist the day the bad PSA came back. Don phoned me at my office so I could be with him when he met his own urologist for the first time. That is an entirely different urology office than the one treating me.
The second PSA done by the urologist agreed with the other as to numbers, and all the ultrasound and other tests pointed to prostate trouble. A surgical biopsy was schedules. The finding as an agressive prostate cancer. By then Don had been using a lot of research I have been doing for decades, so he understood the treatment options. His father had tried radiation, then chemo and finally had surgery, which in 1962 was really life-changing. Then Don's father also was 74. Coincidence.
The way Don thought, and I agreed, is that he has three adult children with his late wife and we have a daughter. Given the type of cancer, chemo was a long-shot. Radiation might slow it. The new robotic prostate surgery has a high success rate and recovery of bladder control now almost always happens. With my full support Don asked to be scheduled for the robotic surgery and his medical plan agreed. The good news is it only took Don six weeks post surgery to regain bladder control.
Even before the surgery Don's urologist had a physical therapist and physician's assistant coaching and counseling Don. Right away Don told them his late wife and I are incontinent. Nevertheless this support team explained all the options including catheters and collection bags as well as different kinds of diapers.
Okay, Ohio Male, what does your own urology support team have to say about selection of containment options?
Don does not mind changing my diapers, as he sometimes did for his late wife, but he had never changed himself. Still he realized that he would be incontinent for a spell and would dribble after that.
We bought Don some classic poly-plastic and also newer cloth-like briefs. In addition we bought him a bag of Depend Adjustable. Don tried them first, in the days following the biopsy. He needed no practice wearing those pull-on undies, which had more than enough capacity to deal with dribbles and minor spurts. Don found that for him following surgery the pull-on undies were no less convenient than ordinary boxers or cotton briefs.
The advice Don got from his support team was that slip-in and guards work a lot better for women than for men. You might want to talk to them about pull-on undies. Depend will be introducing the gender specific kind in April, but already many stores have them. For men that are similar to Adjustable, but offer advantages for women.
I'm new here :smile: [adult male]
I'm incontinent, but the degree varies quite a bit, and I don't always wear diapers. Often I get by with just a guard, and sometimes I don't need anything at all.
But that means that occasionally I'll get into a situation where the guard isn't enough, and it starts to leak. Or I'll be without any protection at all, thinking that I didn't really need it, but find myself unable to hold it due to bad planning or some unpredictable chain of events.
hmy:
I'd be interested to hear from others who have had this experience.
LM
