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Post by Rick Redner on Oct 14, 2013 7:48:56 GMT -5
Hello, I had robotic assisted radical prostatectomy on September 23, 2013 at Cleveland Clinic. I am 60 years old. Working on urinary continence at this time, dry all night but still using lots of Depends and pads. Trying to stay positive and Rick's book really helped prepare me for post surgery. The mental aspect of dealing with incontinence is a challenge. My prostate cancer was found incidentally after a TURP procedure in June. My Gleason score was a six until my prostatectomy when it was "upgraded" to 7. I hope to go to back to office work in one more week. Keep up the great work!
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Post by Rick Redner on Oct 14, 2013 8:03:34 GMT -5
Welcome to our post-surgery forum. Glad to hear my book was helpful. Coping with the loss of urinary control is emotionally challenging. How many times do you need to change your pad/diaper per day? Are you doing kegles on a daily basis. I would write more but I'm out of state and don't have access to wifi until Thurs. Rick
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Post by garrymoh on Oct 14, 2013 13:51:22 GMT -5
Right now I am changing about 6-8 pads/diapers a day. At night I wake and go to the bathroom 1-2 times like normal and when I wake in the morning I am able to go. Standing or any activity like walking causes me to leak. But if I sit with legs up, I will have the urge to go and be able to go normally. Seems to improve daily with my Kegel exercises. Will wait to see how it progresses.
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Post by Rick Redner on Oct 17, 2013 20:54:20 GMT -5
You'll see a huge improvement somewhere around the 3-4 month. You'll doing well given your surgery date. From my perspective it the ED that takes way too much time, but I didn't focus my attention on that until I achieved some degree of urinary control. You seem to have a great attitude as you see yourself progress. Rick
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Post by barry61 on Dec 18, 2013 2:29:01 GMT -5
Hello All, I'm new to this site, but am on a few others. That is how I found this site. I had my biopsy 12/31/12. Found out I had PC the first week of this year at the age of 51. A PSA of 10.36 and a gleason score of 7. I got rushed through the system and had my robotic assisted RP on 2/14/13. I really never had a chance to research anything as I was dealing with depression and anxiety. Doctors painted a real rosey picture of what my life would be like after surgery as far as ED goes. In their predictions of returning to prior capabilities prior to surgery they failed to mention the great need of assistance to be able to do so. I regained continence fairly quickly with in less than 2 months. From about 2 months after surgery I was using a VED and prescribed Cialis 20mg twice weekly, which of course did not produce anything usuable for sex. Now using VED and trimix injections. My last PSA was .06 and my next test will be in a few weeks.
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Post by Rick Redner on Dec 18, 2013 11:05:18 GMT -5
Barry, Welcome to this forum. Relatively speaking you very young to have such a serious case of PC. My surgeon also painted a rosy picture of the return of sexual functioning. Almost 3 years post double nerve sparing surgery, still waiting. How are you doing with injections? Rick
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Post by lcollum on Dec 18, 2013 15:00:04 GMT -5
Hello Rick, new to your site - I like all of the others have PC - diagnosed on 9-4-13 (65th birthday) with 5.85psa and 3+4=7 gleason - after much 2d opinions I choose the ROBOT on 10-28-13 - my results for the surgery were quite good with prostate confined and no sv - no margins - no lymph and no perinuel stage pt2a - still dealing with continace issues down to 2-3 pads daily doing 40-50 kegels per day - biofeedback has helped - nothing but dudsville on the ED stuff - Dr says that I should not be concerned about this till I am dry and hopefully that will be sooner rather than later (2 months). Will not have 1st post op PSA till early Feb 14, as doctor again says that the early PSA before 3 months are not reliable. I left my prostate in Allentown, Pa.
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Post by Rick Redner on Dec 19, 2013 14:57:43 GMT -5
Hello, I had robotic assisted radical prostatectomy on September 23, 2013 at Cleveland Clinic. I am 60 years old. Working on urinary continence at this time, dry all night but still using lots of Depends and pads. Trying to stay positive and Rick's book really helped prepare me for post surgery. The mental aspect of dealing with incontinence is a challenge. My prostate cancer was found incidentally after a TURP procedure in June. My Gleason score was a six until my prostatectomy when it was "upgraded" to 7. I hope to go to back to office work in one more week. Keep up the great work! Welcome to the forum. My thoughts about going back to work when you are dealing with moderate to severe day time urinary incontinence is to delay returning to work if it's possible. It will be detracting and time consuming to be changing pads throughout the work day. Additionally in my case was having multiple leaks and wetting my pants. I stayed home 3 months. I wasn't sorry I did. That's not to say all men should stay home that long. A frequent comment I do hear from men is they returned to work too early. Rick
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Post by barry61 on Dec 19, 2013 22:02:03 GMT -5
Rick, The injections has been somewhat a tricky road. First time outside of the office had an errection that lasted right around 4 hrs....Finally had an ideal dosage, but there was still a few times nothing much happened. Still working on locations and lately have increased my dosage, went from 3 units to 6 units right now. Has been an emotional roller coaster for sure and with my testerone level only being 175 last blood work I had done I'm sure isn't helping things. One problem I have been having lately is being able to reach orgasm. Very weak at best right now, but I'm not giving up on it.
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Post by Rick Redner on Dec 30, 2013 18:43:39 GMT -5
Gary, How are you doing at work? Has there been any progress with incontinence? Rick
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richm
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Post by richm on Jan 24, 2014 22:16:02 GMT -5
Rick Glad I found this forum.Diagnosed 1/13 PSA 4.2 biopsy 5 cores positive 7 negative . 4 Gleason 6 , one 7 Researched lot of info on line, John Hopkins, Sloan Kettering NYC. After 4 months of agonizing over treatment Options with some Family influence ,I decided on Robotic Surgery 5-17-13 @ Sloan Kettering Memorial, Brady Urological institute.Post op pathology was very favorable,contained In prostate, no LNI no SVI no surrounding or bladder tissue invasion. 90 day PSA < .05 follow up PSA due in 2 weeks. Wrestled with moderate incontinence 3 - 4 months Erectile function ( not a priority at the time )was non existent with the low dose cialis I was recommended to start as soon as catheter was removed. Incontinence is much improved and focus shifted to ED. Was recommended to try VED & Cialis which produced "usable erections" albeit cumbersome process. Started Penile Injection therapy 1 Training session with Therapist and first self injection produced optimum results < 2 hr erection.
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Post by Rick Redner on Jan 24, 2014 22:25:08 GMT -5
Rick, The injections has been somewhat a tricky road. First time outside of the office had an errection that lasted right around 4 hrs....Finally had an ideal dosage, but there was still a few times nothing much happened. Still working on locations and lately have increased my dosage, went from 3 units to 6 units right now. Has been an emotional roller coaster for sure and with my testerone level only being 175 last blood work I had done I'm sure isn't helping things. One problem I have been having lately is being able to reach orgasm. Very weak at best right now, but I'm not giving up on it. Barry, Because I've had an detectable PSA for 3 years, I'm looking into the possibility of testosterone supplements. I don't know whether that will help or not, but I'll find out whether the Dr will do that with my level at 400. Surgery can impact the intensity of orgasms. For some men it's more intense, others less intense, and some with no change. Stay will injections, they will speed up your recovery. I'll share my experiences with testosterone if I'm given the supplement.
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Post by Rick Redner on Jan 24, 2014 22:27:46 GMT -5
Hello Rick, new to your site - I like all of the others have PC - diagnosed on 9-4-13 (65th birthday) with 5.85psa and 3+4=7 gleason - after much 2d opinions I choose the ROBOT on 10-28-13 - my results for the surgery were quite good with prostate confined and no sv - no margins - no lymph and no perinuel stage pt2a - still dealing with continace issues down to 2-3 pads daily doing 40-50 kegels per day - biofeedback has helped - nothing but dudsville on the ED stuff - Dr says that I should not be concerned about this till I am dry and hopefully that will be sooner rather than later (2 months). Will not have 1st post op PSA till early Feb 14, as doctor again says that the early PSA before 3 months are not reliable. I left my prostate in Allentown, Pa. Welcome, Sorry it took me so long to get back to you. Please watch this video on penile rehab:
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Post by Rick Redner on Jan 25, 2014 10:27:42 GMT -5
Rick Glad I found this forum.Diagnosed 1/13 PSA 4.2 biopsy 5 cores positive 7 negative . 4 Gleason 6 , one 7 Researched lot of info on line, John Hopkins, Sloan Kettering NYC. After 4 months of agonizing over treatment Options with some Family influence ,I decided on Robotic Surgery 5-17-13 @ Sloan Kettering Memorial, Brady Urological institute.Post op pathology was very favorable,contained In prostate, no LNI no SVI no surrounding or bladder tissue invasion. 90 day PSA < .05 follow up PSA due in 2 weeks. Wrestled with moderate incontinence 3 - 4 months Erectile function ( not a priority at the time )was non existent with the low dose cialis I was recommended to start as soon as catheter was removed. Incontinence is much improved and focus shifted to ED. Was recommended to try VED & Cialis which produced "usable erections" albeit cumbersome process. Started Penile Injection therapy 1 Training session with Therapist and first self injection produced optimum results < 2 hr erection. Richm, Welcome to our forum! I'm sure you know Sloan Kettering is one of the top prostate cancer treatment centers in country. They say post-surgical results are greatly influenced by the skill of your surgeon, and obviously you had a skilled surgeon. Additionally you were blessed with the ideal pathology report, no evidence pc spread outside the prostate. That's fantastic news!! Your way ahead of the curve and demonstrated a high degree of courage by starting penile injections early, so you are protecting yourself from developing venous leak. You are doing everything very well!! I found it necessary to grieve the loss of my pre-surgical sex life. Orgasms were not as intense, and for me dry orgasms took a long time to get use too. I liked the pleasurable feeling of ejaculation. For more than a year I dealt with profound sadness after each orgasm. So much so I wanted to avoid sex for good long while. I didn't mind, because my libido once very high seemed to drop off to non existent post-surgery. I shared all of that for a reason. Just because everything is going well medically, that doesn't mean everything is going well emotionally. So how are you doing emotionally? Rick
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richm
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Post by richm on Feb 5, 2014 17:48:16 GMT -5
Rick
You nailed it! Last 6 months very depressed/ emotionally Over the ED part, which I rationalize as maybe selfishness On my part? Feeling better now as my latest PSA yesterday was < .05 & follow up with Surgeon being honest saying it could take up to 2 yrs and to "stay the course" with injection therapy ,Viagara low dose on "off times" His opinion on the VED as therapy was that there Has not been enough clinical data collected to offer positive evidence of any therapeutic effectiveness. Although it has it merits for interim applications. Your Posted Video injection Therapy , Dr John Mulhall Was who my Surgeon referred me to on Staff @ MSKCC Who appears a SME ( subject matter expert) on this Topic He is every bit impressive in person as the video portrays.
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