I was diagnosed with Gleason 8 in Aug of 2022 and decided on RARP, which was scheduled at the end of November, 2022. Two days before I was scheduled, I contracted the flu (not Covid, but the actual flu!) so my surgery was rescheduled. On Jan, 31st, 2023 I underwent the RARP. Surgery was started at 8 am that day and I was home the next. Before I was dreading not only the surgery but the thought of having a catheter in for a week afterwards. As it went, neither was anywhere near as bad as my imagination had led me to believe. In fact, the catheter was more of an annoyance than anything else.

What I found very helpful before surgery were a myriad of videos on YouTube from patients whom had gone through the procedure as well. They really did help to allay much of my fears and, if you're inclined, go there and search " Mark's Prostate Cancer Experience". He video'd many milestones of his experience, starting as recently as 2 hours after surgery.

My pathology downgraded my Gleason to 7, 100% contained in the prostate and no lymph node involvement. As I've posted elsewhere, my 2 PSA tests since have been undetectable.

I'm almost 1 year out now and doing fine.