Interview 17

Age at interview: 63

Age at diagnosis: 62

Brief Outline:

Diagnosed with prostate cancer 1999, prostatectomy 1999.

Describes how some found it surprising that he looked normal

And how has people's reaction been to you?

Well they were quite surprised because I was fine, I was doing everything that I'd always done. I remember I play bowls and I was on the bowling green in a match one day and I just happened, it came up and I happened to tell somebody and he couldn't believe it (laughs). 'You can't be, you look normal,' well of course I look normal.

How do you feel when people react like that to you?

Well faintly amused I suppose, yes.

So it didn't change any relationships within the family?

No, no, no in no way.
 

Comments on how he found the catheter no problem at all.

How did you find having a catheter in hospital?

No problem at all, absolutely no problem, it was a practical answer to a problem that they had to solve because of the operation and it just worked like a dream, I didn't find any problem at all. Mine had to stay in longer than other people because mine was a full operation

You had radical prostatectomy.

That's right.

Is that what they call it?

Yes, I could never remember that full name and I used to call it drastic instead of radical (laughs) but because the urethra had been cut and sewn together then obviously the catheter had to go in until that was all healed. So that stayed in a number of weeks and it just worked and was fine. Of course you have to drink during this time and a lot of people were loath to drink

And you describe what sort of, how having a catheter at home affected your lifestyle?

Not really very, very much because you can get up and about and it's, the bag is strapped to your shin, your lower leg and you just walk around as normal, it's hidden beneath the trousers and you just open the drain tube at the moment into the loo whenever it's nearly full

And what about at night, how did you manage it at night?

At night the bag goes into a frame standing on the floor just outside of the bed and you empty it obviously before you go to bed and next morning it will not be overflowing because it holds a tremendous amount.

That's good.

I can't remember how much it holds but it's a lot.

Did the hospital provide this frame for holding the catheter or did you have to buy that?

No, the hospital provided all the bags that you could want, but we bought the stand.

I had to go back to have the catheter out on 10th October because it was a radical prostatectomy. And that was no problem coming out, I was a bit wary about that, because I didn't really know much about them, I didn't want to know about what was inside but they just, it's a bulb as you obviously know that's inside the bladder and it's filled with water and they just release that water so the bulb collapses and then they draw it out it's no problem at all.