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It's Official I have Prostate Cancer
Prostate Cancer | Last Active: 4 days ago | Replies (40)Comment receiving replies
My surgeon told me that he got clean margins immediately after surgery. Obviously until the surgical pathology came back and showed he didn't get clean margins, I had hoped that he was correct but I now know that his statement was premature. My surgery was complicated by the fact that 3 months earlier i had laparoscopic inguinal hernia and umbilical hernia repaid with mesh so he could not take a chance and disrupt the mesh to do lymph node dissection. I know I need to be patient but it is hard not knowing what my future holds. I am struggling with the Kegel exercises and remain incontinent. I wish I could say after ~3 weeks I am seeing less incontinence but not the case. You were smart for hammering your core and pelvic floor before your surgery. I was not so smart. where was your RP performed? Mine was at Mayo in Phoenix.
Replies to "My surgeon told me that he got clean margins immediately after surgery. Obviously until the surgical..."
Mish, Didn’t your surgeon know beforehand that your surgery was going to be difficult because of the hernia repair(s)? Did you both discuss this before going in?
IMO, if node dissection was going to be off the table, you probably could have gone on ADT as soon as you learned you were G9; the surgery could have then been done 3 or 4 months after that to provide for additional healing.
But it’s water under the bridge now and node dissection or not, you’d be in the same place regardless of what was found. Additional treatment would be warranted in any case.
Everything about this disease sucks, OK? EVERYTHING from diagnosis to treatments to complications, disappointments and failures. You really learn what you’re made of when suddenly YOU are the cancer patient and not the bystander.
Your current situation is not that unusual at all, as many here know already; it is merely compressed into one long episode right from the start. The good news is that you won’t have years of anxiety wondering if your slowly rising PSA means your cancer is coming back; you’re gonna get after it NOW… You’ll get through this - don’t ever doubt it!
Phil
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Mine was UCHealth in Highlands Ranch Colorado. My doctor was one of the first adopters of the DaVinci robot and is one of the top robotic surgeons in the country.
Interesting history: the same doctor used the same robot to remove my kidney and then used the same incisions from 2014 for my prostatectomy. So no new scars. I thought that was cool he could do that.
I do believe working hard on fitness and pelvic floor strength ahead of time was a game changer. For me I never even felt different and I don't feel as though I can hold my bladder for less time than before. Quite literally I can sense or detect no change whatsoever between pre and post op. I was prepared for the sensation of holding or releasing your bladder to be significantly different, but it hasn't been.
This is all to say that when you do regain continence and have a strong pelvic floor then you won't hardly even know anything happened. Keep working on the kegels!