Hi Simon,
My OH had his surgery on the same day as Ivan. He is slightly older than you at 73 but I too am alot younger than him. It’s so difficult to make a decision. Surgery really wasn’t an option that anyone pushed for Rob, but he really wanted the tumour removed along with lymph node, knowing that he would almost certainly need ART at a later date.
He had his catheter in for 4 weeks but since it’s been removed his continence has been much better than I thought it would be. He’s dry at night but if he’s awake he gets up for a wee (maybe a couple of times), throughout the day he’s fine when sat, when he stands he often feels like he needs to wee but can make it to the toilet. Walking around he’s getting the odd dribble but generally really pleased. No idea if it will stay this good and of course everyone is different.
In terms of ED we are still waiting on a prescription for sildenafil and pump. He has been on HT for 5 months so at present has no desire for sex anyway. Initially we thought he would be on HT for life so we already had the conversations about sex life etc. The surgeon did manage to save 50% nerves so we’re hopeful he will get some function back in the future. We were so worried they wouldn’t get all the cancer though so nerve sparing became a much lower priority for us.
Best of luck with whatever you decide.