What is a Prostatectomy Like?

Do we know each other ?

Surveyr, hang in there. Things will improve. I know exactly how you feel. My surgery removed not only my prostate (which had teathered to my rectum), but both nerve bundles, seminal vessels, the bladder neck, and 21 lymph nodes. I was COMPLETELY incontinent for 3 months, but with specialized physical therapy, seven months later I am 95% continent with mostly just stress incontinence. This isn't normal, but it is definitely manageable. I am permanently impotent - pills and pumps just don't work. I'm looking into Trimix injections but now that's on hold. I'm not technically depressed (my wife might argue this point), but my mental outlook is impacted. All that said, and acknowledging everyone's experience differs, almost everyone will improve. I too was in despair initially, but things got better. I weighed every pad/diaper and kept a log. One day I could definitely see decreased leakage. Nights improved first, next mornings improved, and eventually I saw improvement in the afternoon & evening. Ice tea, coffee, and beer certainly made my leakage worse. Work hard on strengthening your pelvic floor and core muscle groups, eat right, find things to distract your attention, and soon you will realize things are getting better. You said that that with RARP "your cancer will be gone." That is indeed the hope, but make sure you do your followup PSA monitoring, as reoccurance (BCR) is a very real possibility, even with clear margins. Seven months ago I had an RARP at Mayo, I had BCR at three months. Now I'm on ADT (Eligard, Zytiga + Prednisone) and soon I'll start 45 sessions of IMRT. Again, hang in there and don't let your situation dominate your life; 3 months from now you will notice a definite improvement!

I had no real incontinence issue after surgery, I did all the exercises and luckily everything worked out. Only issue now is sometimes if I move a certain way when lifting a heavy item I get a drip.
In this process you will hear over and over again "everyone is different" hard to hear but its true. I and my doctors expected my T to be back on tract right after I stopped taking Orgovyx but it took 7 weeks.

Well said, buddy…good luck on your procedure.
Phil

What can I say, your experience as you relate it is unfortunate.

As I say in other posts, statistics, Bell Curve, standard deviations, mean, mode, average...

My experience, I chose surgery in March 2014. It was an either or, surgery or brachytherapy. Imaging at the time was MRI and CT so while my urologist ordered it to determine if my PCa had spread or was localized, looking though the lense of time, we know it didn't stand a chance of locating any metastatic, particularly micro-metastatic PCa.

So, I made the best decision with the clinical data I had and the state of the art at the time.

Within two weeks, catheter was out, zero incontinence, I was back to exercising, albeit starting slow, but within three months I was lifting weights, playing basketball, rising my bike. I travelled to Saint Louis from Kansas City to watch the opening round of the NCAAs...erections gradually returned, albeit different, no ejaculation and no longer "spontaneous but with physical and mental stimulation, very functional.

Yes, my PCa came back, I knew that statistically, there was a 30-40% chance it would. Of course, that meant a 60-70% chance it wouldn't.

Why, well, two reasons, darned good surgeon and perhaps a lifetime of being physically active played role. I have to admit, didn't do a single pelvic floor exercise. My urologist said some men he operated on presented "challenges." I took that to mean health, weight....

So, my experience, not yours. In statistical terms, mine was several standard deviations to the left on the Bell Curve., what you describe may be several to the right. As you can see from the responses, others have like and different experiences.

I hit the 11 year mark, fourth treatment, see my clinical history. Mine is high risk, GS B8, GG4, 18 months to BCR, PSADT and PSAVC, yet, here I am. Of those 11 years, three have actively been in treatment. Why, I don't know, it has never spread to my bones or organs, why, I don't know, perhaps because I have stayed on top of my PCa, regular labs, consults, treating early and decisively, perhaps not. I did have Genomic testing done, no aberrations there so there's that.

You don't say why you chose surgery. Today De Novo PCa has a plethora of treatment choices.

I close with my rules that over time through the school of hard knocks, guide my journey:

My rules:

I walk in the door ready to start the conversation at a different level. I don’t have to spend time talking about the basics, things like Gleason grade and clinical stage and what they mean. I already know. I can have an intelligent discussion about the merits of a particular treatment for my cancer, my likelihood of being cured, and risk of side effects.

Once I make an informed decision and carried it out, I never look back. Well, that is not entirely true, I look for lessons learned from that decision. The path is always forward: I continue to learn about PCa and always look ahead. What counts is today and what lies in the future. Yesterday is gone, so forget it, well, learn from it.

I educate myself as completely as possible and took the time I needed to make my decision, I always know that no matter the outcome of a particular choice, I made the best possible decision. That knowledge that I have thought my decisions through carefully is what is really important—and may be more important than the decision itself.

I am in charge. Not my doctor. They need to be consulted, and their opinions and ideas should carry weight as I make my decisions. But I never forget; it is my life, my today, and my future. I have made the best possible, fully educated decisions that makes sense for me, with the focus on long life. I "own" the decision.

Kevin

yes.

How

Don’t you just love that? “Hey buddy, got the time?”
“Yes”

Climber @stevemaggart，
Hello! I saw your post two days ago, and I think you are a very amazing person, recovering well, thank God! We were in the same situation. I cut 123 grams. But it's been more than two years since the operation, and now there is still 70% incontinence, which is very painful. Knowing you, I feel lucky and happy for you!
I want to know what the specific content and process of special physical therapy is.
Can you tell me?
Thank you!

Can you explain sport underwear? Where do you get them? My husband has to lift heavy metal at work and we are looking for additional options. Thank you