Scared and worried about upcoming prostate removal

Hi Mark,

First, take a deep breath. It is perfectly natural to be scared. I'm having the HIFU procedure tomorrow (for prostate cancer) but it has minimal side effects compared to a prostatectomy and I'm still apprehensive.

Can you give a more detail as to your situation and how you came to the conclusion that a prostatectomy is the right choice?

What is your Gleason score?

Job #1 is getting rid of the cancer

Job #2 is maintaining continence 

Job #3 is maintaining sexual function

Ideally all three will be achieved.

Your best chance of achieving all three depends on the volume of surgeries your surgeon had performed.

I forgot to say that "nerve sparing" surgery best preserves sexual function close to what it was before surgery.

My husband has prostectomy in Jan. The surgeon said as his cancer has leaked out of his prostate they would have to remove more, so he was told before surgery he would never be able to have sex again even with viagra. He leaks during the day but mainly when he stands he is down to wearing 1 pad a day.

Main thing is he is still here, talk to ur surgeon he will be best to iron concerns out.

had my prostate removed over 2 years ago with nerve sparing. Every thing has returned over time although I need a bit of help maintaining an erection during intercourse. Every one is different and the time to recovery varies. 

I was lucky in that  most functions returned after 3 months. I know some recovery have taken a lot longer.

I hope this helps. Remember you are on a well trodden path

all the best

mike

Hi

First you should think more of a successful outcome of the operation, is sex more important than life it's self!

However to calm you down if the operation is done with Nervesparing surgery and this will depend whether or not the cancer is contained in the prostate, you will be able to have sex and if you work on the pelvic exercise the incontinece will go away, you may get the odd drop under stress

I had a prose tony 20 months ago and I lead a normal life and quite often wake up with a hard on! (Only need a Willing partner)!

By the way I am 66 years young!

Be positive is the main thing sex is different so I understand, you can even squirt a little after having sex and you have no ejaculation, so to speak but you do organum try a bit of good old massage (hand job) get your par tenet involved etc,

Gosh shall I draw a picture.

Get FIT FIT IT is important be the correct weight don't over do it with alcohol Have a healthy outlook and you will be fine.

I served my country Army for 39 yrs my first thought was why Me! Even a small tear the first night after I was told those devastating words you have got Cancer, but you have to fight young man, like an Olympion you want get paid so much has ONE! think if all the money spent on Olympic competitors was given to the NHS think how it could be improved! I digress! I was listening to Kent radio a Thanet area talking about how nice it was to give well off competitors who get lots of money from advertising even more and give them a gong! Well done in Rio but disgraceful so much money is spent what happened to The Spirit of competition without all the money, Give it the NHS because yu want get the millions Boris promised you !

You may gather I am also REMAIN but very Patriotic to my country even though I live in Germany! Had my OP here Brilliant 4 door tech and all that.

I wish you well don't worry so much and don't forget to take the catheter out before you begin!! Think about it, it's good a little humor!

Mark, everything I have read on this post I believe is reasonably accurate. And every man must choose his own solution based on what he feels is best for him and what he feels he can live with. If you do go forward with a prostatectomy the probability for a good outcome rest in the skills of the surgeon. When it comes to a prostatectomy, I don't think anything else is more important than this.

Having said that, if the prostate cancer is only Gleason six and it is isolated to your prostate, please investigate the HIFU procedure. I had my procedure done yesterday. After 2 1/2 hours in recovery, I walked out of the clinic and went back to my hotel room. I have no internal pain. The only pain I'm experiencing is from the catheter which I must wear for five days. I am documenting my experience on this forum, giving a somewhat play-by-play of what I'm going through. Do a search for HIFU EXPERIENCE on this forum. You and I are the same age and I agree that preserving/extending your life is the most important thing. But if you can do that with minimal side effects, then to me that is a better solution.

Last night was not A fun night as I was experiencing pain from the catheter. But this morning, at 5:15 and then again at 7:40, I had two erections. They were not strong enough for penetration and not comfortable (with a catheter in place) And I really wanted them to go away but I must say, it was nice and very surprising to see the plumbing working the very next day.

One last thing, if the cancer comes back, and it does about 15% to 20% of the time (regardless of which option radiation, prostectomey, or any other treatment, the HIFU treatment can be repeatable. That's not possible with any other treatment that I know of.

Best of luck to you for whatever decision you make.