I had a Simple prostatectomy 5 weeks ago

Prostate was 900 cc

I am dumbstruck !!

Me too! According to the Guinness World Records, the largest prostate removed from a human was 2,410 grams in Sept 1997. There is a term called "Giant Prostatic Hyperplasia (GPH)." Converting Nick's 900cc to ounces, it is 30.4326.

Nick has not shared whether his removal was because of cancer, BPH issues, or both.

It was just a BPH issue.

It would be heavy to carry around 😃 It must have caused a bulge in his stomach. My father in law had a very large one but I can't remember the estimated size as it was before I new much about prostates. My wife had asked him why his tummy looked so big and he thought it was because of constipation. He later had a fall in the street and was taken to hospital passing bloody urine. The put a catheter in and evidently got litres out. He was not fit enough for surgery and they fitted a stent but it furred up and he needed a permanent catheter.

I have done at Mayo in Rochester, MN. Prostate size 900cc

It was a Simple Computerized Prostatectomy.

Hello, Nick:

In August 2018, I had a Simple Robotic Prostatectomy performed and have not had any issues, including right after having the foley removed. My procedure included five (5) 1-inch incisions in the abdomen for the robotic tools/instruments to enter, and one (1) 3-inch incision above my belly button so the surgeon could pull out my 265g prostate in one piece (I have a picture of the removed prostate if you would like to see. Private message me).

I was on foley for 10-days post procedure so the bladder could heal. Access to my prostate was through the bladder. My remove was because the prostate had become too big and I went into an acute retention. No cancer, thankfully.

I am now 14-months post procedure and no issues. Never had any burning. Urethra was not disturbed, nor was sphincters, bladder neck, or nerve bundles. I sleep through the night and drink water all the time.

Did your surgeon use robotics like mine, or did your surgeon open you up and use his hands & eyes to remove your prostate? Was everything left intact (urethra, bladder neck, sphincters, nerve bundles, etc.)? Was yours a complete radical removal of the prostate?

Dave

Dave,

I had a Simple Robotic Prostatectomy for a BPH. No cancer.

Everything is in place. Did you have flow issues after the catheter was out? If you had how long took you to regain the normal flow?

How is you flow?

Nick,

Glad to hear no cancer. I did not, nor do I have, any flow issues. There is a term that I have shared on this forum that my Uro promised me before the procedure, and that was he was going to give me a "garden hose." I can confirm that is exactly what happened. He delivered on his promise.

The morning, post procedure, that the foley was removed, my Uro had me do a flow test and I gave him everything back that he pushed up into my bladder. I left his office and my wife and I went to lunch. Had lunch and before leaving, she wanted to go to the bathroom. I thought, me too and let's test this out. I went into the stall to have more privacy and as I pulled it out, off it went and I actually overshot the toilet. Total surprise at the volume and force. To this day (14-months later), I am still amazed. Regardless of how much I drink, or how long I have held it, when I go to the bathroom, I fully void in seconds and I still have a very strong stream. I hit the water on purpose just to hear the sound. Mentally, I am passed the years of BPH symptoms, weak streams, and worries of retention. Now I do not even think about it anymore.

Hopefully, you will have the same result soon.

Dave

Howard, what are your indicators? Gleason score and PSA?

Radical removal versus non-radical, or less-radical is a big difference when talking about having your prostate mass removed. I can see (or try to understand) the result of a radical removal. While others might consider mine "radical," I would beg to differ when compared to a radical removal where many things are disturbed.

I hope you are doing well.

Dave

Your understanding is correct. Radical means many organs, tissues etc are disturbed or removed: the entire prostate and seminal vesicles, countless lymph nodes near the prostate etc. Simple prostatectomy means only part of the prostate is removed.

Hi Barney,

That is correct. My huge prostate was shelled out like an avocado leaving the lobes intact. Complete mass removed measured 4"x4," which brings up an interesting point. If the "mass" is the problem with our BPH (i.e. the size is restricting our urethra, pushing up into the bladder neck, etc.), then to me it is like the iceberg in the water. In other words, we try to treat the tip of the iceberg (TURP), or we are trying squeeze the iceberg (UroLift), or we are trying to shrink the iceberg (PAE, meds). It begs the question, how do we get rid of the iceberg, the mass, for those of us that suffer because of how big the prostate has become? From my experience, it is removal.

Dave

Your reasoning makes a lot of sense to me, who is somewhat learned about prostate cancer (as I am living with one) and is not so read up on TURP and similar procedures.