I’m 22 months post RP. My Gleason was 9, and the pathology showed that the cancer had just breached the capsule, making mine a Stage IIIA cancer. My worst fear going into surgery was having a catheter for a week+. I knew I would have incontinence and some level of ED, but it was the catheter that bothered me psychologically.
Afterwards, I had the catheter for 8 days, and it wasn’t pleasant. When that was removed, I had what seemed like 100% incontinence, which quickly got better as I did kegels. As for ED, the docs had done a great job with the “nerve-sparing robotic surgery,” and Mr. Happy was back at about 80%, without Cialis. Within 6 months, I was leaking less than 1 ounce per day, and on some days as low as 0.2 ounces/day.
Then, at one of my post-RP screenings, my PSA showed up again. This led to radiation and hormone therapy. I seemed to weather those really well, until about 4 months afterwards. At that point, I began having radiation-induced bladder problems - spasms - and lots of incontinence. The docs have been working on that, and my spasms/pelvic pain are manageable, and I’ve learned to live with the on-going leakage (which is about 20 ounces/day). When this started, I thought my life was over, but I’ve learned to manage. I can do most of what I did before surgery, and my cancer is still gone.
Having recounted all the above, please understand that all of this puts me in the <5% of cases. You have a 95+% chance of a better outcome. Even in the worst cases, though, my experience suggests that you will learn to manage the side effects. Best of luck. Be strong.
