I know I wrote this somewhere but I will risk being repetitive, PT and Kegels are wonderful and helpful, but not a guarantee of continence. I went to a pelvic floor specialist two months before my RALP and got high ratings for the strength of those muscles. I did my Kegels faithfully until the surgery and when I was given the okay after the surgery I did them again. Six months later, my urologist was not satisfied with my progress so referred me to PT at his facility but an hour away from my house. After 6 weeks there two things happened; I was able to get into a clinic in my own town with a DPT specialist in pelvic floor issues, and two, my original therapists said there was nothing more they could do for me, that my pelvic floor was in as good a shape as they could get it. Now, four weeks later, my new therapist is saying the same thing to me. My pelvic floor is in excellent shape. So why do I still have stress incontinence? Perhaps, the surgery wasn't as perfect as my urologist claims it was? Another option is my anatomy prior to surgery. Years ago in another state far from my current one, that urologist ran a urodynamic test on me and discovered that my bladder was distended, stretched out so much the muscles couldn't empty it well. My career didn't allow for bathroom breaks very often so I had to hold it in, and the result was the distended bladder. I am wondering if that history ever made it to the desktop of my urologist here in my new home. Yes I should have brought it up, but when you are told you have prostate cancer and you have to decide what to do, bladder distension from 15 years earlier isn't the first thing that pops into your head. My PT hypothesizes that my bladder neck may have been distended too, making this quest for continence more challenging. So what I am saying is, there are other factors that enter into our recuperation. Not all surgeries are alike, not all bladders are alike, and not all recoveries are alike. Those of us struggling to achieve continence can only keep working at it and hope for that miracle day to happen.

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