New here - WOO-HOO. Need some insight

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  • RayAmbers
    RayAmbers Member Posts: 1
    #22
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    Kurt - I had the DaVinci
    Kurt - I had the DaVinci surgery last January at age 56. I was early staged, but wanted to be done with it all, and figured I had a better chance at full recovery while and am young and in good health. I did pelvic wall exercises (kegal) for 6 weeks prior to the surgery. I never had a single episode of incontinence. After 6 months out I'm still working on ED issues but I hear that may take a bit more time. I've had 2 PSAs since and they were both 0.0. Everyone had to make their own treatment plan, but for me, I just wanted to put it all behind me. Could not see going thru this in my 70s.
  • Swingshiftworker
    Swingshiftworker Member Posts: 1,017 Member
    #23
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    RayAmbers said:

    Kurt - I had the DaVinci
    Kurt - I had the DaVinci surgery last January at age 56. I was early staged, but wanted to be done with it all, and figured I had a better chance at full recovery while and am young and in good health. I did pelvic wall exercises (kegal) for 6 weeks prior to the surgery. I never had a single episode of incontinence. After 6 months out I'm still working on ED issues but I hear that may take a bit more time. I've had 2 PSAs since and they were both 0.0. Everyone had to make their own treatment plan, but for me, I just wanted to put it all behind me. Could not see going thru this in my 70s.

    Is It Behind You?
    I respect your (and other men's) choice to opt for surgery to treat your cancer BUT I think the belief that surgery is the best choice because it removes the prostate is patently false and frankly naive.

    Removing the prostate will NOT necessarily put the cancer behind you. Fact is, you can never remove all of the prostate because of the tissue boundary it shares w/the rectum and other organs. If there is any cancer remaining in the tissue that the surgeon has to leave intact, the cancer can (and often does) return.

    There are many men who choose surgery who never overcome the problems of ED and/or incontinence following surgery and there are many men who experience a return of the cancer because the surgery did not remove all of it. In these cases, further surgery and/or radiation and/or hormone treatments may be required to deal with the subsequent problems.

    Furthermore,even if you PSA level has dropped to "safe" level after treatment, all men (whether treated with surgery, radiation or otherwise) will have to regularly monitor their PSA for LIFE in order to make sure that the cancer has not returned. So, you can NEVER be sure that the surgery (or any other treatment) will put the cancer entirely behind you.

    In any event. I'm happy for your apparent progress and I wish you success in overcoming your continuing ED problem following surgery.

    Good luck!
  • starr15
    starr15 Member Posts: 32 Member
    #24
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    Swingshiftworker said:

    Is It Behind You?
    I respect your (and other men's) choice to opt for surgery to treat your cancer BUT I think the belief that surgery is the best choice because it removes the prostate is patently false and frankly naive.

    Removing the prostate will NOT necessarily put the cancer behind you. Fact is, you can never remove all of the prostate because of the tissue boundary it shares w/the rectum and other organs. If there is any cancer remaining in the tissue that the surgeon has to leave intact, the cancer can (and often does) return.

    There are many men who choose surgery who never overcome the problems of ED and/or incontinence following surgery and there are many men who experience a return of the cancer because the surgery did not remove all of it. In these cases, further surgery and/or radiation and/or hormone treatments may be required to deal with the subsequent problems.

    Furthermore,even if you PSA level has dropped to "safe" level after treatment, all men (whether treated with surgery, radiation or otherwise) will have to regularly monitor their PSA for LIFE in order to make sure that the cancer has not returned. So, you can NEVER be sure that the surgery (or any other treatment) will put the cancer entirely behind you.

    In any event. I'm happy for your apparent progress and I wish you success in overcoming your continuing ED problem following surgery.

    Good luck!

    "Fact is, you can never
    "Fact is, you can never remove all of the prostate because of the tissue boundary it shares w/the rectum and other organs"

    I dont mean to quibble, perhaps you misspoke, but the ENTIRE prostate can be and is regularly removed surgically. What can be left behind is cancer that has spread directly outside the prostate. That is called a positive surgical margin. Also, PC can spread to distant sites or nonremovable lymph nodes.

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