I had this happen to me after my first surgery. Only a trickle would come out and it would take all my concentration to get that out. Not to scare you because this probably isn't what's going on with you but my difficulty urinating was due to an abscess that developed in my pelvic area and it was putting pressure on my bladder because it was so large. I also had a fever so that's what tipped me off that something was wrong.

Most likely for you it may be the lasting effects of the anesthesia. I know for me my bladder takes forever to get back to normal after surgeries. If it persists though, check in with your doctor. And yes, I would say its normal for you to feel like you can't empty the pouch all the way. It takes some time for your body to get used to your new plumbing. That feeling still happens to me from time to time.

I've had this with some of my surgeries. Pain meds can often cause urinary retention/hesitation. Are you still on them? I had issues with Dilaudid but it cleared up very quickly as soon as I switched to something else.

I appreciate both of your responses!

I am still on pain meds-so that could very well be it, in addition to the anesthesia. I go back to the doctor on Monday, so if I'm still having an issue, I'll be sure to bring it up.

I to had trouble urinating afer my second surgery, I had three stage. My surgeon at Cleveland Clinic told me that the nerves of the bladder get stunned during surgery I had single port laproscopy. The nerves take some time to wake back up, I saw a Urologist also at Clevland and he confirmed the same thing. They put me on valium because it relaxes the muscles and it worked, but I did not fully start to urinate until about a year after my take down. With the pouch not being empty your body is adjusting to its new plumbing like mgmt10 said. It takes a while to get use to everything everyone is different. I still feel like my pouch isn't completely empty and it will be three years this October I had my take down, give it time.