I thought I'd share my story, which started back in May, when my annual check up and blood test revealed my PSA had jumped from a consistent 2/2.5 to 4.5. I'm 66 years old. A repeat test confirmed this, and my consultant surgeon (I have private health insurance) sent me for a 3T MRI scan. I had had no symptoms and a DRE also revealed nothing. The scan showed 2 areas where a significant tumour(Gleason 3+4 or higher) was very likely, so a biopsy was lined up. There were 21 biopsies taken from 19 sites, and there were two 3+3's and three 3+4's, so 3 of them didn't show up on the super-duper scan.The consultant discussed the options with us, but was firmly of the opinion that a robotic prostatectomy was the way to go. For reasons that aren't really relevant we changed consultants at this point, and the new guy, also a surgeon, was of the same opinion. He lined up an appointment with an oncologist who also confirmed a RP would be the best course of treatment. This all happened at the beginning of July, and the RP was scheduled for 30th August. The anaesthetist, who I met in early July, ran the show and gave me a health regime to follow ahead of the op; no alcohol, no white carbohydrates, no caffeine (no fun!, especially as we were off to Spain for 5 weeks.) He also wanted me to do 45 mins on an exercise bike every day, walk as much as I could, and drink 3 litres of water daily.
The RP went smoothly, the surgeon had a 3D model of my prostate which he had with him during the op., and in fact took a picture of it next to my actual prostate to show they were identical, and proudly showed it to me within an hour of me coming round! : I was in hospital 2 nights and never needed a painkiller once I left there. The surgeon said he spared all the nerve on 1 side, and 50% on the other, so anticipated it would take 12-18 months to regain erections. He also said the margins round the prostate were clear.The catheter was not much fun, but was more of an inconvenience rather than painful, and it was removed after one week. It's now 10 weeks after the op., the incontinence is much improved; nothing at night, and minimal during the day. I'm on 5mg Cialis daily, and have had much success with the Osbon ErecAid vacuum pump which I started using after 6 weeks. It's done the trick for me....
I had a PSA test last week which showed a reading of 0.0; I have another scheduled for 3 months time.