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@packman7

I’m curious to follow your progress as I feel I’m headed toward the decision of a RALP this year . I’m back in for a new PSA in April , currently at 16 however Gleason of 6 . Do you think there is significant incontinence with RALP or only on this site where more people with issues respond ??

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Replies to "I’m curious to follow your progress as I feel I’m headed toward the decision of a..."

I think the guys you are most likely to run into here are those that have issues or are gathering information. To that end, it seems - at least anecdotally - that more guys have some form of incontinence than do not. This is purely speculative based on my interactions here, and the level of incontinence varies greatly from occasional stress incontinence to full. For me, that was the one thing that I knew I had some small measure of control over and spent months preparing for in advance, we’ll see this Tuesday if that was useful as an immediate remedy or if my work pays off over time.

Since incontinence can impact either radiation treatment or RARP, I think that is something you are always likely to worry about, although my research indicates that long term incontinence is a very small percentage of men overall - regardless of treatment choice.

The single best thing that you can do to help yourself is to work on mastering your pelvic floor, because that is how you will control your bladder going forward. Essentially we take away the extra sphincters that we are given over women to control our bladder and now use the same single mechanism as they do and it takes getting used to and strengthening muscles we never had to worry much about before.

Then again, I’ve read plenty of stories of guys that never had a single dribble of a leak, from the day the catheter was removed - and that’s the goal I’m shooting for.

I agree with Survivor5280's comments.
I have been fortunate and most grateful to have been continent since surgery at age 72.
Best wishes for your health.