PSA AFTER prostatectomy

You are right without a prostate it should make no difference, but medics have boxes to tick, they are just told to tell the patients things like, no exercise, no ejaculation, blah blah blah. Also if the result comes back as <2.9 you will be told you have a normal PSA. Which is not true if you have no prostate. In the modern NHS you need to manage your own treatment, NHS staff are too busy, filling in forms to look after patients.

Hopefully the first one comes back with the magic "<" in it and then it's a case of making sure you have them every 3 months for at least the first year.

Good luck!

Hi Barry.

Great result mate! Long may they continue.

I was T3a and Gleason 9 (4+5). I've got my 18 month post op PSA test next week, and I'm hoping, like all the previous, it will be <0.02. 🤞

Hi Dave, good to see you got the key "<".

Re the Kegels, I had my RP two weeks before you and it wasn't until week 10 that I seemed to have a step change in my continence. I've eased off the Kegels a little - I was doing 6 reps of 10 fast&slow each day - but I began to realise that the Kegels were giving me the wrong impression about my recovery and were making the leaks worse later on during the evening. So I've switched to 4 reps starting at 2pm, which means I'm more or less pad free in the mornings. Things get a little worse as the day progresses, but even then only one light pad (if at home I wear boxers and maybe have a bit of dampness occasionally). My daily runs are a challenge, but they too are way better than just a couple of weeks ago. As I said, a "step change" around week 10.

So you may be closer than you think. I hope you are. I wonder if you too have sensed that the Kegels, though important, do actually seem to make matters worse for a short time after? 

Personally, I find wearing pads to be uncomfortable. I've just received some washable underpants with little absorbency built in to try.