Question:
All you having the daVinci should consider yourselves very fortunate (or at least as fortunate as someone with cancer can feel). I live in WV and the closest daVinci site to me would have been 4-5 hours away, so I had an open prostatectomy in July 05. Now there's a daVinci machine and experienced surgery team here in town at the hospital I can see from my house.
The less body trauma, less blood loss, less catheter time, shorter surgery are all such plusses. I gave 2 units of my own blood and needed both; I had the catheter for 3 weeks; my surgery was 3 hours and I was off work for 6 weeks. During recovery I had a urinary stricture; I don't leak but I can't urinate standing all the way up or sitting all the way down so I 'hover' and contract my abdominal muscles and the urine just kind of runs out without much pressure in the flow. I empty OK but it takes a while. I've been told I pee more like a girl than a guy .
Overall I'm so thankful I don't leak, I'm not impotent, apparently the cancer's gone and especially that it was caught so early (age 48, PSA 4.6) so I'm happy with my experience....but if it happened now I'd run to that daVinci machine.
Answer:
My husband is scheduled for the Di Vinci prostatectomy May 4th. I'd like to hear more of the experience, how many days in hospital, etc. The more he learns about the procedure the more it may ease his mind.
Thanks for your help.
Hey ray43;
Spent quite a bit of time in Watertown, WI back in the late 60's & early 70's. Romantically involved with a gal there as I was attending Naval training in Great Lakes. Met her on a train from Chicago to Mauwaukee. Offered to carry her bags and asked her for her phone number and we struck up a romance that lasted for quite a few years. Her family was in the sod farming business and they also owned a restaurant in Watertown so I ate good when stayed with them.
As far as days in hospital, I stayed there for 48 hours. Not too much discomfort. Catheter is bothersome. I had two IV drips connected because they said they wanted me hydrated as much as possible to flush out any possibility of infection. I had leg massagers to ward off blood clots. I had five small incisions. Four of them were stapled and glued and one was still open with a drain inserted. I had the cath removed after 14 days. I had some incontinence initially but not too bad. Usually one pad a day, sometimes two if I drank too much coffee. I'm wearing a pad now but only for minor dribbles. I'm dry most of the time. They told me to force fluids as much as possible after I went home so as to ward off infection in the urethra. They made me check my temp orally with a digital thermometer three times a day for signs of infection. That was during the first month post-op. I'm almost 10 weeks post-op and feeling rather good. Back to work since last Wednesday. I swim at our local YMCA and I'm up to 20 laps which is about half of what I could do before my surgery. I figure I'll get to my usual 40 laps in the next couple of months. Not pushing too hard. I never considered any other treatment but surgery. I had a urologist who had done over 1000 da Vinci robotic LRP procedures so I felt real good about his experience level. All in all, I would not have done anything different. It was much easier than I ever thought it would be. I was concerned about it for months before and it wasn't necessary. Oh yeah, ED is still a bit of a problem. Need to use Viagra and those type of meds. My uro gives those out as free samples and so he supplies them for me when I need refills. Anyway, considering I'm showing <0.01 PSA now, it was just a minor speed bump!