Ileal Conduit or Neobladder?

Bacibear,

I am 6 months post radical cystoprostatectomy with an ileal conduit. I went through all the same research and decided that the IC was the best choice for me. I don't have a desk job and I'm moderately active all day climbing ladders and such. I have had no issues with the IC in doing anything I want to do. I have also had no leaks and regularly get 1 week out of each appliance. I spend only about 20 minutes once a week in changing the appliance.

I chose the IC for a few reasons. I didn't want to make a decision that best suited me now at 45 years of age that made life more challenging as I get older. The IC can be maintained by a caregiver if that's where my journey takes me. More importantly, I chose the IC because for me, I saw it as the quickest way to adjust to a new normal and get on with life. I knew, personally, that I would struggle with the mental fortitude to train a neo bladder. 6 months later, I have no regrets.

Best of luck to you.

Joe

What usually happens when this question is asked --- answers will usually be positive for whatever procedure one has. I have the Ileal Conduit. I had a friend who had a neo-bladder and I was able to speak with him about his experiences, like what are his daily procedures, what did his procedure require in area of need for various supplies needed to support the Neobladder. I also was able to speak to folks on here about the Conduit. I was 72 so I chose Conduit because I did not want to deal with consequences of a Neo not going absolutely correctly. Both procedures require adjustments and my personality seemed to fit having the conduit. Being a Bagman, dealing with not being able to pee anymore, who ever thought you would miss that --- but you do. With the Conduit dealing with finding a (pouch)that will not irritate, and allow most comfort sometimes takes awhile. Also talking to your physician about possible sexual drawbacks from both procedures will be more than helpful. There are things that be done after procedures again it is helpful to look at what may have to be done with both procedure. My main focus was to do whatever was necessary with the most info I could gather so I could have best chance of continuing to continue --- and here I am. Is it a difficult road --- yes --- there will be those trhings that come up no one thought of --- for instance I got what is referred to as C-DIF which is a bad infection that takes super anti biotics to kill and I ended up getting it twice in my attempts to recover --- but again here I still able to annoy my family and friends and watch doing whatever it is doing. Not sure this helpful but I was passing by Take Care Herb

Thanks for the advice. My surgeon specializes in bladder cancer and uses the Davinci system to do the surgery laparoscopicly.

My surgeon told me I can choose from an Ileal conduit or a neobladder. Any thoughts on advantages/disadvantages?