male sling

duque
duque Member Posts: 8
edited March 2014 in Prostate Cancer #1
I had RP 18 months ago, and as I still have urinary incontinence y will have male sling surgery in 10 days. Could somebody that have had this surgery give me some tips about how to cope with pain or any other tips for post surgery? Thanks Duque

Comments

  • harvs
    harvs Member Posts: 54
    #2
    Hello duque

    I have a similar incontinence problem and am considering surgery. Can you tell me why you chose the sling and not the artificial urinary sphincter?

    Thanks
  • duque
    duque Member Posts: 8
    #3
    harvs said:

    Hello duque

    I have a similar incontinence problem and am considering surgery. Can you tell me why you chose the sling and not the artificial urinary sphincter?

    Thanks

    Hi harve> The main reason is that my inconinence is mild only 2 / 3 pads per day and I donot want to have inside my body big devices. This procedure is done in many other countries that they have more advanced technologies. Fortunately I live in DC and here this procedure is used frequently.I do not know where you live, in California MD are using this procedure with an 85% of success.
  • edmund
    edmund Member Posts: 19 Member
    #4
    I too had a long time recovering. After 18 months I am 99% dry. I only leak when I do something strenuous without tightening the muscles. In May I took the physical therapy that was offered at my Uro's office. They measure the strength of your pelvic floor muscle or anal sphincter. They then make sure that your are doing the Kegels corrctly. This is then followd by a series of electronic muscle stimulation I had good success with this procedure and I continue to improve. I no longer wear any pads except when I golf and I only experience minor leaking when I play. If you have not tried this I would do so before having the surgery. I had about given up on ever being dry again. My therapist was very good and kept on saying keep working and give it time. She was right. Best wishes on a complete recovery. Edmund
  • duque
    duque Member Posts: 8
    #5
    edmund said:

    I too had a long time recovering. After 18 months I am 99% dry. I only leak when I do something strenuous without tightening the muscles. In May I took the physical therapy that was offered at my Uro's office. They measure the strength of your pelvic floor muscle or anal sphincter. They then make sure that your are doing the Kegels corrctly. This is then followd by a series of electronic muscle stimulation I had good success with this procedure and I continue to improve. I no longer wear any pads except when I golf and I only experience minor leaking when I play. If you have not tried this I would do so before having the surgery. I had about given up on ever being dry again. My therapist was very good and kept on saying keep working and give it time. She was right. Best wishes on a complete recovery. Edmund

    Dear Edmund: Thanks for your info. Did you have pain after surgery? can you give some tips of how to cope with side effects after the procedure? I already tried with Kegels, anyway I will have surgery Setember 20.Thanks
  • tpelle
    tpelle Member Posts: 184
    #6
    duque said:

    Dear Edmund: Thanks for your info. Did you have pain after surgery? can you give some tips of how to cope with side effects after the procedure? I already tried with Kegels, anyway I will have surgery Setember 20.Thanks

    duque: Is the sling surgery you are having on September 20 the AMS InVance Sling system?
  • duque
    duque Member Posts: 8
    #7
    tpelle said:

    duque: Is the sling surgery you are having on September 20 the AMS InVance Sling system?

    Tpelle You are right is the AMS inVance Sling
  • edmund
    edmund Member Posts: 19 Member
    #8
    duque said:

    Dear Edmund: Thanks for your info. Did you have pain after surgery? can you give some tips of how to cope with side effects after the procedure? I already tried with Kegels, anyway I will have surgery Setember 20.Thanks

    Duque/ I think you misunderstood my post. I did not have the surgery for the artificial sphinctor. I was saying I was dried up by the electonic therapy that stimulates the pelvic floor muscle. This dried me up. I had the procedures done 5 times as was recommended. This 15 months after my LRP. It took 3 months more until I dried up. I was suggesting that all with incontinence try this before having any more surgery. Best wishes. Edmund
  • tpelle
    tpelle Member Posts: 184
    #9
    edmund said:

    I too had a long time recovering. After 18 months I am 99% dry. I only leak when I do something strenuous without tightening the muscles. In May I took the physical therapy that was offered at my Uro's office. They measure the strength of your pelvic floor muscle or anal sphincter. They then make sure that your are doing the Kegels corrctly. This is then followd by a series of electronic muscle stimulation I had good success with this procedure and I continue to improve. I no longer wear any pads except when I golf and I only experience minor leaking when I play. If you have not tried this I would do so before having the surgery. I had about given up on ever being dry again. My therapist was very good and kept on saying keep working and give it time. She was right. Best wishes on a complete recovery. Edmund

    edmund: Did your urologist perform the prostate surgery? Did he recommend the physical therapy for the incontinence? I have not heard others mention electronic muscle stimulation but it sounds good. Is the procedure widely used? May I ask where you are located? My urologist has offered no treatment or recommendations for incontinence except for the AMS Artificial Sphincter which I am not ready for. Good luck with your program.
  • edmund
    edmund Member Posts: 19 Member
    #10
    tpelle said:

    edmund: Did your urologist perform the prostate surgery? Did he recommend the physical therapy for the incontinence? I have not heard others mention electronic muscle stimulation but it sounds good. Is the procedure widely used? May I ask where you are located? My urologist has offered no treatment or recommendations for incontinence except for the AMS Artificial Sphincter which I am not ready for. Good luck with your program.

    tpelle: My surgery was not performed by my urologist. I live in central Florida, near Inverness. My surgery was a LRP done in Miami area by a surgeon specializing in LRP. My local urologist does not perform LRP and did not mind my going elsewhere. He did suggest the therapy after I had steady but slow improvement with my incontinence. It was performed in his office by his PA nurse. It really did the trick for me. This procedure is widely used and paid for by most insurance plans. I am pad free now and only leak with heavy exercise and it is minor. Ask your uro about this. I will look for a website with info and will post it here if I find it. Best of luck. Edmund
  • edmund
    edmund Member Posts: 19 Member
    #11
    tpelle said:

    edmund: Did your urologist perform the prostate surgery? Did he recommend the physical therapy for the incontinence? I have not heard others mention electronic muscle stimulation but it sounds good. Is the procedure widely used? May I ask where you are located? My urologist has offered no treatment or recommendations for incontinence except for the AMS Artificial Sphincter which I am not ready for. Good luck with your program.

    http://www.ifess.org/Services/Consumer_Ed/Incontinence.htm tepelle: check out this site. Many sites out there. Edmund
  • bajakid
    bajakid Member Posts: 38
    #12
    Did you get the sling and did it work? Mine didn't.
  • lion1
    lion1 Member Posts: 241
    #13
    edmund said:

    tpelle: My surgery was not performed by my urologist. I live in central Florida, near Inverness. My surgery was a LRP done in Miami area by a surgeon specializing in LRP. My local urologist does not perform LRP and did not mind my going elsewhere. He did suggest the therapy after I had steady but slow improvement with my incontinence. It was performed in his office by his PA nurse. It really did the trick for me. This procedure is widely used and paid for by most insurance plans. I am pad free now and only leak with heavy exercise and it is minor. Ask your uro about this. I will look for a website with info and will post it here if I find it. Best of luck. Edmund

    Nooticed you Live in Central Florida
    Edmund,

    I came across your posting and noticed you live in Central Florida. Based on your LRP Surgery, I am betting that your Surgeon was the one and only Dr. Arnon Krongrad. He is excellent. He was my surgeon three yrs ago. Dr Krongrad did mention the chances of incotninence and ED, but he never elaborated on that. His focus was of course LRP-Getting the cancer out. As I talked to him over the years through email, he had told me to wait two years and if nothing got better, try the Sling or AUS route. I know if you look in his website, you'll see all the testomonials of guys talking about their wonderful experience and how well they are doing, however, not one mention about incontinence. This would lead one to believe that that all his patients were continent. That's what I believed before the surgery, because after looking at his website, everyone is just great, no problems.

    Let me just say that I am ever so thankful of the job Dr Krongrad did---he was awesome--I just wish I was one of his total success stories. Anyway, I am now considering after three years of incontinence getting some type of surgery for my incontinece. I went through all the bio-metric exercises and urodynamics--no luck.

    Just wanted to share that with you-----Life is still great!!!!

    Lion 1

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