It's been 6 months since my DaVinci - One perspective

Hello everyone, I am 59 years old, just wanted to share 6 months after surgery with those who don't know what they can expect. Although my experience is unique and may differ from yours, it it positive and hopefully makes you more hopeful.

It's been interesting following this board. I was pretty active 6 - 8 months ago on this bulletin board as I was looking for answers but went away for a while as I was contemplating, adjusting and moving forward.

Six months ago, almost to the date, I underwent the robotic surgery. I did a lot of reading, my wife did even more reading as she was scared I may be one of those that would not make it. The decision came down to surgery, simple, as any form of radiation in my humble opinion would only 'radiate' and make a mess of things inside of me, and surgery would at least cut out the part I no longer wanted there.

Looking back the surgery went amazingly well. My doc here in San Francisco called me his poster boy so I felt I made the right decision. I was up walking the day after surgery, slowly up the stairs, slowly down the stairs but within a couple of days I walked the neighborhood, tube and bag taped to my leg. It is important to have someone at home with you that first couple of days out of the hospital and my wife was amazingly supportive.

I got used to the catheter very quickly, kept a positive attitude 'isn't this great, I can drink all I want and I can pee lying down without wetting the bed'. Early erections came already which made it a little difficult with the tube sticking out, but that was good news anyway. Removing the thing was kind of interesting, no pain, a quick pull and the tube came out with kind of a funny feeling. That first day without the catheter was a disaster. There was no stopping the flow and I made a mistake of eating lunch out at a restaurant quickly filling a pad and no place to go.

A couple of days after removing the catheter things settled down. I had a hard time doing kegel exercises, felt strange to do those, so I was not very good doing any of them. I used about 5 pads a day at the time, was active walking the hills of San Francisco but felt that it took a pad a mile. After a week I noticed that I no longer needed pads when sleeping at night and I used less pads when doing office work compared to walking around. I made sure I didn't drink anything after 7pm, that helped and at first did not drink any alcohol or real coffee.

Riding a bike was a different story. It was very painful to sit, the pad in between the legs did not help, so I kept it to short trips only for a while.

Sex was not as I hoped for. A weak erection for a long time, the pills gave me a headache so I decided not to take those, not worth having a headache all night long, practice, practice, practice.

1 month after surgery back on strong black coffee in the morning an a glass of wine at night. No significant impact on the bladder control.

Things were getting better. 3 months later I no longer needed that extra pad per mile of walking. I managed to keep it inside as long as I visited a bathroom a mile or two from home. I still occasionally get up in the middle of the night to pee, but I can handle that. Still practicing sex ....... getting slightly better with a little helping hand.

4 months later and I was down to 1 pad during the day. No pad at night, no pad early in the morning when I have tea, coffee and breakfast. No pad at night when I watch TV.

5 months later, sex is back as usual. (Except it is a dry spell) Strong erections, yippee.

6 months later I am traveling, not paying attention anymore to what I drink and when I drink, having beers when I want, a glass of wine with dinner, coffee after, sex any time (OK my wife has something to say about this also). Life is good! Yes there is the occasional unexpected drip. (Should I have done my kegels?) so I am wearing half a pad during the day. A few months ago I started cutting them in half as I don't want this stuff between my legs, only in front where it may leak, and that makes a big difference.

Just got my 6 month PSA score back. Less than 0.1 which is amazing.

In other words, things are pretty good! Sex is back and I got used to a different kind of sensation, I feel confident and above all I pee like a 17 year old again.

Good luck everyone and I hope all your recoveries may be as good as mine.