Getting back to normal activity after a prostatectomy

Hello Walnut55 and belated welcome.

There are quite a few men on here who have had your experience and I'm sure they will tell you their stories.

Look up gunwharfman as he is a long distance walker and his profile may help you.

Gunwharfman is just one of a number of men though in your situation. Rest assure they'll be along

I would say that if you are on light pads after only two weeks you are doing remarkably well. I love walking and my motorbike and the incontinence was my biggest problem.I was determined from the outset that I wanted to dictate what I did and not the incontinence so a lightweight backpack with spare pads and bags went everywhere. App on mobile phone showing location of toilets and worked a way of changing pads using the shelter of bushes if the countryside without it looking too rude.

Eventually changed to external catheter for long walks (sheath plus bag). Trusty backpack with plastic bottles to empty leg bag.Had to work on muscle control to help with stress incontinence when pulling motorbike onto stand, standing up and bending but just carried on regardless.I have to say that I have been lucky that this has been the only real problem and even this has not been that bad.

I hope things will progress well for you and you find yourself back on the mountains in a reasonable time. DON'T OVERDO THINGS!! It is a major op and you have to be sensible.

All the best

Kevan

There is a strong school of thought that getting back on a bicycle too soon after RP can prevent you from recovering erectile function. John was banned from cycling for 7 months - the surgeon said there was no point doing nerve-sparing just to have all the good work undone.

He had his op (was open RP though not Da Vinci) in January, was off work for almost 12 weeks (mainly because he wasn't insured to drive until 11 weeks) but worked from home from about 9 weeks. Was back in the gym as soon as he could walk standing up and back on the rugby pitch just before the end of the season. He had to get on with the walking etc because he had agreed to climb Kilimanjaro in between the op and the RT

Talking of stirrings on the trouser dept....

Has anyone had the experience of some ( very transient) penile fullness on defaecating? I had it once, maybe twice, there, but so short lived to think I had imagined seeing it. In no way am I thinking this means erectile recovery- it's just that we are told that surgery has caused trauma to the nerves and blood vessels responsible for erection, so it was unexpected- but it got me wondering where it came from.

OK, I get the trauma thing. So that is one reason for the  use of a vacuum pump- to draw blood into the penis and temporarily trap it there. An understandable way to get round the issue. Some external mechanical  force is used to change blood flow- and doing it in a very crude way- but it's the best available- or is it? More of this later.

Back to my original observation-  I'd guess I'm not alone in that, pre -surgery, occasionally , when 'taking a dump' ( defaecating), an erection would spontaneously occur. Presumably because the pressure in the rectum pressed against the prostate and associated structures causing a pleasurable sensation, or maybe the pressure just altered the venous leakage from the penis. Anyhow, the result could have been a stiffy. I'm not aware of any penile rehab measures that harness this phenomenon.

Now I understand that it's not a good idea after surgery to shove things up your bum, or to strain- there's the risk of all sorts of trauma- rectocele, damaging the anastomosis etc, but it does serve to  highlight the fact that direct stimulation of the external member is only using a small portion of the sensory area available - and this might have implications for rehab...Is anyone prepared to climb the wall of prudery to discuss this?

Anyhow, back to vacuum pumps.  I'm yet to get to that stage  where I could try one out-  but once again, I like to try and reason out why and how things work. Why do none of the vacuum devices have a stroke facility, i.e akin to the action of masturbation?

From a rehab point of view, surely this would be far more beneficial than merely sucking blood in and tourniqetting it. Whilst this technique may expand the corpus cavernosum and allows the possible resumption of some sexual activity, it sounds as if the period  inside the pump is spent in an entirely passive manner.. There does not seem to be a facility with vacuum pumps to provide sensory stimulus via a simple  up/down stroke whilst in the vacuum. All the action takes place after vacuum assistance- i.e. at a time of relative disadvantage.  I noticed that there were sex toys of poor quality that had this combined vacuum pump/ stroke facility- so it would seem it is do-able.  Maybe it doesn't get translated into a useable rehab device for reasons which I am ignorant of- or maybe it's just a mix of cost and complacency..

I had my prostate removed by robot in April 2015 a few days after my 70th birthday. I was incontinent for two weeks and then gradually gained control again. I believe in the idea to stay as fit as one can so within 3 days of getting home (with catheter in, out 5 days later) I drove daily to a local wood and hiked 3 miles a day until the end of May, practicing my pelvic exercises as I walked.

On the 1st June I declared myself OK. My first post op blood test said I was OK as well, as did my surgeon, so I just got back to normal life. As my main hobby is long distance backpacking I 'celebrated' by hiking and camping 7 days of Offas Dyke Path. I had hoped to complete it all but I began to leak urine, but only when scrambling downhill stretches, it was the jarring I believe. Anyway it proved to me that I still had a problem to overcome.

I came home and continued with my wood walking circuit and ongoing pelvic exercises. On the 23rd July 2015 I went to Hendaye on the Bay of Biscay and over the next 45 days hiked, camped and hosteled on the GR10 across the Pyrenees (about 500 miles) to Banyuls Sur Mere on the Mediterranean. On Day 17 I found that I had a hernia, a consequence of my prostate op, so wasn't pleased. I managed to buy a truss so carried on to the finish.

My hernia was repaired near to Christmas 2015 and by the end of February 2016 decided I was again back to normal! Please note Mr. Hunt, the Tory geezer, I was operated on a SATURDAY! Admitted in the morning, operated on and home by 5.30pm!

I'm now back to my routine 3-5 mile off road jogging and/or walking most days of the week and so far I'm still feeling good.

I'm toying with the idea of hiking the Pennine Way in April 2016 and then to choose between the GR5 (Lake Geneva to Nice) or the GR10 route again, but this time from the Med to the Atlantic. For an 'old' bloke like me I like something to look forward to!

I am left with a couple of 'downer' issues but I do consider they are minor to me! Although I have full bladder control I am still aware that if pushed (e.g. too much beer) I cannot hold onto it as I could before my op. Secondly, I can no longer get an erection! I'm not too bothered about this, I just take the view I would rather be alive, well and continent than moping about my sex life. The one thing I am really pleased about is, that I am not on any medication and haven't been from day one after my operation. Lastly, my blood tests have all shown '0' and I have been discharged from the surgeon and other doctors care.

Gosh, no-one ever referred to me as a troll before - or unconstructive. I have been around here long enough to be neither. You on the other hand seem to know a little bit and then misunderstand .. or to be a very knowledgeable person having a laugh at members' expense. I haven't decided which yet but am happy to promise not to try to help you ever again.