@pmclarksr -- I saw your question to @heavyphil and thought I'd weigh in as well since I had bilateral NS RALP at Mayo Phoenix in late 06/2024. I'm 70, 5'11" 187 lbs reasonably fit (not excessively so). Recovery from surgery has been excellent. The week of the catheter was unpleasant, but pretty much as described.
Pain after surgery never exceeded 2 on a scale of 10, although I strictly followed surgeons advice to take OTC pain meds (Tylenol and ibuprophen). Once the catheter came out I had Depends and pads ready, but never had any incontinence except a few accidents as things do feel different. I stopped using the Depends after a day or two, and stopped bothering with pads by about day 4 post catheter. I do still sleep with a pad under the sheet, but haven't had 1 accident during sleep. As I said things do feel a bit different, but every week I feel more confident. No leakage lifting weights at the gym, but if I try to fart I will have some leakage (which I attribute to relaxing the muscles to fart basicly allows the leakage). I did do kegals about a month before surgery and resumed them after surgery when allowed. I have no idea if they helped, although I would guess they probably did. Now on to sexual function. I don't have normal sexual function, and I think that'll take longer to recover (if it does). I am taking Viagra nightly as part of penile rehab to help blood flow. I started trying to have intercourse about 4 weeks after the catheter came out. When I try to have intercourse, I do get a response but it's far from satisfactory. I have seen improvement, but it's too early to know how much sexual function I'll recover. At this point I'm getting maybe 65% firmness (as compared to before surgery) and just barely adequate to allow penetration. My wife is very supportive and patient with me, and a major factor in the limited success I've had so far. I have had 3 climaxes during intercourse, and of course they're dry climaxes and frankly less satisfying than before surgery. But I'm encouraged I was able to climax at all. To be fair, before surgery I had needed Viagra so I wasn't starting from a pristine state. Progress is slow but so far I am still making progress. If I don't recover my sexual function to a satisfactory level, then there's a range of treatments I've yet to explore. As far as everything else (appetite, sleeping, general feeling of health), overall I feel great; just like before surgery. My wife and I are hikers and spend a lot of time together, and other than my reduced sexual performance, we can still enjoy ALL our other activities. For me this has been a big plus. On a positive note, without the prostate my urine flow is great; like I'm 20 years younger. After surgery, the pathology report on the prostate found both Cribiform and IDC in the prostate, which is bad. When I read that I was pretty happy I had the surgery . The margins were clean and indications are they got it all, but time will tell. At this point (almost 9 weeks), I'm pretty happy with my decision to have the surgery but again, time will tell. Of course, every case is different and everybody responds differently to treatments, so I have no idea what's best for anyone else. I wish you all the best in figuring out how you should proceed. If there's anything I didn't cover that you'd like more information about, just ask. I have no reservations sharing anything about my experience.