Hi -husband had the surgery on 2/28…he saw a pelvic floor therapist and started doing kegels like almost a month prior to his surgery. He had his catheter removed on Monday and has not had much of an issue with leaks…I attribute this to the kegels..he resumed these after kegels after he had the catheter removed..his scrotum was extremely swollen for a while but has since gone down…so far happy with the surgery…Dr also removed 13 lymph nodes and all clear!!
I'm 6 weeks post-op RARP. I was told by 9 different doctors that they recommended RARP over radiation at my age (54) because the side effects of radiation might impact me before the end of my natural life. I have no regrets, I'm fully continent and no ED. That's not everyone's history with RARP, but it is mine. With a couple months to prepare, you could start working your pelvic floor and core muscles to better improve your recovery and even prevention of both incontinence and ED.
Radiation has some appeal, as do alternative treatments, because the side effects are often less, but you never know the true scope of your cancer until they remove it and analyze it.
If you haven't talked to multiple doctors, you should do so now. Nobody here is qualified to tell you which path you should take, but your doctors absolutely are. The best we can do is tell you how it went for us - and remember that most of the people here, me excluded, are here because they either are new and have questions - like yourself - or they continue to have issues. The success stories have no reason to stick around, but there are plenty of RARP success stories out there, I had a hell of a time finding them because they don't participate in these types of forums anymore so I'm trying to stick around to sprinkle some good news over all the bad that comes with this terrible disease.
Yes!! My husband had his surgery on 2/28….he was very swollen after surgery but as far as incontinence, the pelvic floor exercises have helped immensely!! That and a very positive attitude!! I tell my husband every day how proud I am of him for being such a trooper through this whole thing…
Yes!! My husband had his surgery on 2/28….he was very swollen after surgery but as far as incontinence, the pelvic floor exercises have helped immensely!! That and a very positive attitude!! I tell my husband every day how proud I am of him for being such a trooper through this whole thing…
Todd, I’m no Doctor but with a Gleason score of 3+4 and 4+3 which is middle score for aggressive, I asked my doctor what he would do since I trusted him being a friend of large donor friends of mine . He also knew how important my sex life is and will always be , he tried to spare the nerves but in one side could not . With my bad luck my PSA after surgery showed some cancer still there which pet scan confirmed. Just finished 6 weeks of radiation and waiting for next PSA plus another hormone shot which I dread. Since I’m much older than you I can’t advise you fairly but I wish I opted for no surgery. My sex life for 6 months is dead despite pills and a pump. When hormone shot wears off will strongly consider implants especially after hearing a nice gentleman who spoke on the last Webinar who only had radiation. At your age losing your manhood abilities would be more than I could handle . At 78 I struggle each day in various degrees of sadness , anger and occasional depression which I fight off the best I can , get a second opinion, I didn’t but probably my outcome would be the same . Quality of life will always be a priority for me . Wish you good luck and a return to a normal life
Hey hogy, Pretty good info on that Dr Grimm website. Took me a while to figure out those graphs and how to manipulate them, but they still leave me somewhat confused.
I plugged in robotic surgery and different EBRT regimens and they don’t seem all that different to me. Seed therapy, however, seemed to be better than both. Am I reading this correctly?
Thanks
Phil
Sorry for my delay phil.
Yes you are reading correctly. With external beam radiation, they have to quit radiating you because they are also dosing the other organs. At some point, they have to quit shooting.
With seeds they can dose a bit higher because the radiation emanates from inside the prostate
Sorry for my delay phil.
Yes you are reading correctly. With external beam radiation, they have to quit radiating you because they are also dosing the other organs. At some point, they have to quit shooting.
With seeds they can dose a bit higher because the radiation emanates from inside the prostate
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Hi -husband had the surgery on 2/28…he saw a pelvic floor therapist and started doing kegels like almost a month prior to his surgery. He had his catheter removed on Monday and has not had much of an issue with leaks…I attribute this to the kegels..he resumed these after kegels after he had the catheter removed..his scrotum was extremely swollen for a while but has since gone down…so far happy with the surgery…Dr also removed 13 lymph nodes and all clear!!
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7 ReactionsYes!! My husband had his surgery on 2/28….he was very swollen after surgery but as far as incontinence, the pelvic floor exercises have helped immensely!! That and a very positive attitude!! I tell my husband every day how proud I am of him for being such a trooper through this whole thing…
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6 ReactionsSorry..meant to reply to another post…did not mean to do a repeat …
It is OK , I am also here for my husband and my brain is frazzled too 😉 ...
Todd, I’m no Doctor but with a Gleason score of 3+4 and 4+3 which is middle score for aggressive, I asked my doctor what he would do since I trusted him being a friend of large donor friends of mine . He also knew how important my sex life is and will always be , he tried to spare the nerves but in one side could not . With my bad luck my PSA after surgery showed some cancer still there which pet scan confirmed. Just finished 6 weeks of radiation and waiting for next PSA plus another hormone shot which I dread. Since I’m much older than you I can’t advise you fairly but I wish I opted for no surgery. My sex life for 6 months is dead despite pills and a pump. When hormone shot wears off will strongly consider implants especially after hearing a nice gentleman who spoke on the last Webinar who only had radiation. At your age losing your manhood abilities would be more than I could handle . At 78 I struggle each day in various degrees of sadness , anger and occasional depression which I fight off the best I can , get a second opinion, I didn’t but probably my outcome would be the same . Quality of life will always be a priority for me . Wish you good luck and a return to a normal life
Sorry for my delay phil.
Yes you are reading correctly. With external beam radiation, they have to quit radiating you because they are also dosing the other organs. At some point, they have to quit shooting.
With seeds they can dose a bit higher because the radiation emanates from inside the prostate
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1 ReactionOn the graphs, try drawing a dot on the elipse endpoints, then draw a line through the dots. Reading the lines is easier than the blobs
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