The nice people at the hospital gave me some replacement bags for the catheter to drain into. 2 big ones, and some smaller, more discrete ones for when I didn't want other people to know that I have normal biological functions. They had me put a small one on for the trip home. It could hold 600 mL, and was mostly full by the time we got home, about 30 mintues later. So I threw that one away and hooked up another big bag. I never used a small bag again.

I did go out in public with the big urine bag, so I could see a Ghibli movie in the theater (it was wonderful, BTW). I just put the bag in a shopping bag so people couldn't see it unless they were being nosey, and all was good.

The enlarged prostate had stranged my urethra so I wasn't able to pee quickly. The stream was always weak. Now that the thing was out, I was peeing like a firehose.

Anyway, over time the foley catheter started to hurt. Not the part inside, but it was bothering the glans of my penis. It was like there was an imp living in my underwear, and every once in a while it decided to hurt me. Then it would take a pin and jab it into the glans. That hurt. A lot. I'm pretty sure this is why I wasn't supposed to drive with the catheter; they don't want someone to suddenly lose control of their vehicle because they suddenly doubled over in pain.

After almost 2 weeks, I went in to see the surgeon, and he removed the blasted thing. He used a syringe to deflate the balloon, and was just talking with me. As I was answering a question he pulled the catheter out. Again, that felt very strange. Not painful, just a strange, intense feeling.

After that, no more pain. Really, having it removed was one of my top 5 days.

Really, things were pretty good. Over time the number of times I needed to pee at night went down to about 2, which is so much better. For a while the urine stream slowed down, but it's picked up again. I can pee like a firehose just by squeezing my bladder.

Incontinence — I had all of 2 incidents in 8 months. Just bed wetting. I hadn't been doing the kegel exercises, so that looks to be something I'll have to keep doing regularly. My pattern is to do clench-and-hold 50 times, followed by clench-and-release as fast as possible 50 times. YMMV.

Erections — This hasn't come back yet, but it's only been 8 months. I can have orgasms. And my wife likes giving blowjobs because they're much easier; and she can get the whole thing in her mouth. It's a little harder to get an orgasm without an erection, but that's because an erections holds where you want to stimulate still and gives something to rub against. I still have a while before I'll be concerned that they're not coming back, and even then there are solutions.

But, what to do? Not being able to have an erection is … troubling.

Penile Rehabilitation. Now there's a term you probably haven't heard before. But you should know about it.

In the US, it's common to start with pills to get erections going again. In Europe, they start with injections (!), which are more reliable. If you're using pills, and aren't getting hard, you may try a penis pump. Don't use it for more than 10 minutes a day!

The VibErect is a vibrating device that's approved by the FDA for use to get an erection.

Using these products can help rehabilitate your penis so you can have erections again.

I haven't had luck with pills (viagra, cialis). But I'm having some luck with a urethral injection. This is a gel that you self-inject into the urethra (about 1 mL, so not much).

Next step after this is self-inject into the sides of the penis. This is the thing that they use in Europe. Still kind of squicked about it, but may need to.