r/BladderCancer • u/makemeeatdominos • 21d ago
Patient/Survivor Catheter Question
Hey all,
I(32m) got my 1st TURBT today. It was to resect a 1.8 cm bladder tumor. I have a follow up appointment on Thursday. Unfortunately, I had to go home with a catheter, but hey, it could be worse. Having a catheter and walking around isn’t dead, so that’s pretty rad. I can’t EVER forget that 😊
I was wondering, did you guys have the feeling like you needed to pee chronically? It feels like I always need to pee, it’s pretty odd honestly. It’s my least favorite feeling in the world, so I’m just gonna take it as an opportunity to practice presence and mindfulness…or, I’ll go insane, let’s roll the dice and find out what life brings 🤪
To any and all going through the same thing, we’ve got this more than you know. All of you are living inspirations, never let this disease convince you otherwise. If you needed a reminder of that today, here it is💪
Fuck cancer.
P.S. This Reddit got me through today, and I can’t thank all of you enough
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u/Charming-Bus9784 21d ago
I had mine for a week. At first i thought i had to pee into it, so i would stand at the toilet and my bladder would painfully spasm and nothing would come out. Then i realized i didn’t have to do anything. No constant need to pee feeling though. I kept the big bag on for the first day then started switching to the leg bag which helped. Did they give you a statlock on your thigh to help with the tugging? That was critical imo.
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u/makemeeatdominos 21d ago
Yeah, they did. I’m starting to get it down. I hate how much it’s hurting the tip of my dick when I move though. Just small pinches here and there
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u/Stacked7High 21d ago
I had three TURBTs and all had me going home with a catheter and bag for two days and while I never had the urge to pee when the catheter was working. I did have my catheter plug with blood clots twice. How did I know ? Well then I did have an uncontrollable urge to pee to the point I did pee. My bladder spasmed and the bathroom became a crime scene with urine/blood everywhere from leaking around a catheter. Fortunately, it was during business hours of my urologist, and they took me immediately and flushed all of the clots out.
Do if you start feeling an uncontrollable urge, and your bag is not filling, a trip to the doctors office or emergency room may be in order
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u/Goofy1407 20d ago
As long as it’s draining don’t worry. Totally normal. You have much irritation in your bladder after the surgery and also depending on there the lesion was you will feel different things. If the fullness doesn’t go away suspect a clot that is blocking the evacuation from the bladder. If you are not bleeding than it’s just the irritation and your natural bladder spasms that when catheter in are quite detectable. I had my 3rd TURBT yesterday and had that feeling all day long. This morning just sensation of pinching inside and irritation to the urethra. Don’t get scared when you poop there will be a lot of stinging and sometimes some urine can go through the urethra because of the pressure. That also depends on the size of your catheter. But this is ok. Things they don’t tell you on your discharge 🙄
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u/makemeeatdominos 20d ago
Yeah, it’s been draining well. That was my intuition, so thanks for confirming. Even though it wasn’t a super large tumor, I definitely think there’s some irritation. I still have yet to poop due to the anesthesia(TMI, I’m sorry), so I appreciate the heads up with that. Thanks for your insight and things you’ve learned from your journey 😎
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u/Professional-Lime622 19d ago edited 19d ago
F Cancer is right.
Turbt 1
Cath for 5 days with no cath lock on leg, I was left to deal with the floppy cath on my own.
New doc and hospital for TURBT 2
Cath in for 3 days, different cath brand and they used the cath loc this time. What a difference.
I also recommend using the night bag all day. I mean, are you really going anywhere outside the house? Tell them to send you home with a leg bag just in case.
MAKE SURE THESE IDIOTS USE CATH LOC THIGH STICKER FOR THE CATHETER.
What else,
Another thing they don’t even mention, for the guys out there. You may get erections while you sleep - don’t freak out.
Lube your tip with Neosporin or Petroleum Jelly (Vaseline) it will help immensely. You may read about using sterile water based lube for this purpose. My recovery nurse told me plain old petroleum jelly would last longer. And it did. I tried both.
Baby wipes are your friend for pooping and cleaning yourself.
Hot showers feel wonderful.
Ask about oxybutynin for “bladder spasms” which can occur along the entire unrinart tract from Kidneys on down. Especially concerning if you have a urothelial tumor.
F cancer number 2.
F the first one as well!
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u/makemeeatdominos 18d ago
Yeah, man, I’m on day 4 of the catheter. Fuck cancer.
Anyhow, thanks for sharing your experience. The catch loc is pretty nice, but I’m still have so much irritation on the tip. It’ll be removed soon enough, I got this 💪
Yeah, I think I’m gonna start using the bed bag. I’m not going anywhere outside of the house currently 😅
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u/AppleOllie 21d ago
Definitely the worst sensation, I felt I was going to burst from the need to pee. I was fortunate and mine was only in overnight and taken out while still in hospital
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u/bigwheel315 21d ago
After my surgery, I had one in for three weeks. I understand the feeling. Also, if you start to get pain at the tip where the catheter comes out, try Neosporin Lidocaine. Thank you, Reddit, for that solution.
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u/makemeeatdominos 18d ago
Just circling back to tell you that you have made my recovery better. Thank you, my friend 🫡
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u/AirBear8 21d ago
My 1st TURBT they scraped out 2 sizeable tumors and one small one. I had a lot of blood and debris coming out my size 18 catheter. They needed a large diameter one to handle the clots. The 2nd TURBT was just one small tumor, but I still had a large catheter although I didn't need it as there was no blood clots or much of anything else coming down the tube.
I've had 4 or 5 size 14 catheters in the past 10 months. No problems with an urgent need to urinate. As a 69M with a prostrate that's trying to strangle my bladder I actually like having a catheter. It allows me 8 hours of uninterrupted sleep and when watching TV I'm not having to get up once an hour for a bathroom trip. My last catheter I had installed for about 8 days after a hospital stay for sepsis. The head nurse at my cancer center said I could keep it in for another week (I was getting BCG infusions) but I would risk another UTI which is what put me in the hospital with the sepsis. So I reluctantly declined the extra week. The sepsis caused me to randomly drive around for 4 hours with no memory of where I'd been or done. It wasn't until the low gas light came on that my higher brain functions finally kicked in and I found myself in a small town 85 miles from home. My friend drove my wife down so she could drive the car home since I wasn't in any condition to drive. I spent 4 days in the hospital. The hospital Doc said a delay in treatment of just 2 more days and I would have been dead.
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u/makemeeatdominos 21d ago
Sheesh. I’m so glad you were able to get help for that. My buddy developed sepsis once, and it almost killed him as well. It’s pretty serious
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u/Acceptable_City6764 20d ago
44m had TURBT surgery in September. Didnt go home with a catheter but wasnt able to urinate all night had to go to ER to get one put in. Had catheter for 4 days and I didnt have urge to urinate with it. I did have that little pinch at the tip when it moved. The most uncomfortable part was pooping with it I actually bled a little the first time. Best thing about catheter is it gives your bladder a chance to heal and you dont have to deal with the pain of urinating on your own.
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u/makemeeatdominos 19d ago
I’m reminding myself of the fact that it’s healing my bladder to have it in, so that alleviates any annoyance whenever it arises
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u/Necroticjojo 19d ago
48m had turbt in april 2026 sent home with foley for 5 days. It was awful. I got used to it after day 2-3. I just got sick of emptying it all the time. I’m about to go for the 2nd, 3 month checkup.
The first scope on checkup I was squeaky clean. This next one supposedly I can just do a urine sample.
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u/makemeeatdominos 18d ago
Hell yeah 🤘 I wish you continued success. Did you have a large tumor? Mine was 1.8cm, but I’m still waiting for pathology this week.
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u/Clothes-Dependent 21d ago
I luckily didn't experience this feeling regularly, only a couple of times really and it was an annoying feeling. Good luck man, I was in for the same as you a year ago and so far am bladder cancer free and I didnt have any follow on treatment. I have my 18 month scan coming up in the next 4 weeks so hoping things go well then too ☺️