Coachgaz, agree with the above. I had surgery some years ago (I am about your age now) but being dry at night seems a reasonable stepping stone. My experience was that things improved over the following weeks and months but leakage was still a risk - I have never been pad free. It may take a little longer for an older patient, but not necessarily.
I am not sure I entirely agree with the suggestion is that a key factor is the competence of the surgeon. The surgeon's main aim is complete removal of the prostate and the cancer. The difference in anatomy between different men, and the fact that the sphincter at the base of the bladder isn't visible during surgery, means that no surgeon can be sure there isn't damage to that sphincter.
(That inner sphincter, or "sphincter vesicae", is made of smooth muscle, and since both the bladder wall and the urethra below the bladder have smooth muscle walls it is impossible to tell which bit functions as the sphincter - basically it depends on the nerve supply. It is not unusual for the functional sphincter or at least part of it to be partially within the bit of urethra which is inside the prostate, in which case it will be damaged during removal of the prostate).