hello , how is everyone that has had the surgery doing????

[imnotcrazy]

its been a while since i have been on here. my life is pretty much back to normal .THANK GOD!

but i would like to hear from the guys who have had the surgery and give us some updates.

i dont see anything current or detailed . thank you.

i pray for us all every day!     GOD BLESS!!

[Arnon Krongrad, MD]

A few of the surgical patients have posted stories on the Prostatitis Surgery site, some fairly new. The site update also includes a video interview of David Radford at 2.5 years after his surgery.

[imnotcrazy]

yes i read that,and saw the video . but i was looking for more of the men and current updates.
detailed and how their lives are going...
thanks

[Robert Patterson]

I have a long write-up on the web-site as well. I had surgery 11 months ago and I feel better than I have in a long long time. All sorts of energy, no pain or discomfort, and a digestion system ( no pills ) that works. Yesterday I was up at 6.30, had a 1hour work-out with my personal trainer, drove 90 miles to work, returned in the afternoon, and then played 16 holes of golf before the sun went down.I am now ( next morning at 8.00 am ) going to airate my lawn before I go golfing again. Needless to say, any one of those things-workout, drive, or golf-would have done my in for 3 or 4 days prior to last May.

The only downside at this point is my bladder is still not perfect and I do ware a small pad although there are many days I do not need it. If I was not very active, I would not need it at all. I am still hopeful I will see more improvement in this area. This issues is more of a nuisance and keeps my beer drinking down which may be a blessing in disguise. The erectile dysfunction is also an issue but is clearly improving and not having any detrimental effect on my relationship with my wife.

I hope this helps.

Bob

[Nik]

Great to hear it Robert. It can take 2 + years to reach the maximum recovery so I think you will see further improvements. When you have a true love with your wife, sex is only the icing on the cake, not the cake itself. All the best.

[imnotcrazy]

that is great to hear . hope you get back to normal in all ways . keep us posted.
GOD BLESS

Robert Patterson said:

I have a long write-up on the web-site as well. I had surgery 11 months ago and I feel better than I have in a long long time. All sorts of energy, no pain or discomfort, and a digestion system ( no pills ) that works. Yesterday I was up at 6.30, had a 1hour work-out with my personal trainer, drove 90 miles to work, returned in the afternoon, and then played 16 holes of golf before the sun went down.I am now ( next morning at 8.00 am ) going to airate my lawn before I go golfing again. Needless to say, any one of those things-workout, drive, or golf-would have done my in for 3 or 4 days prior to last May.

The only downside at this point is my bladder is still not perfect and I do ware a small pad although there are many days I do not need it. If I was not very active, I would not need it at all. I am still hopeful I will see more improvement in this area. This issues is more of a nuisance and keeps my beer drinking down which may be a blessing in disguise. The erectile dysfunction is also an issue but is clearly improving and not having any detrimental effect on my relationship with my wife.

I hope this helps.

Bob

[Arnon Krongrad, MD]

With Robert's permission, I will add perspective:

1) Robert was 61 years old at the time of his laparoscopic prostatectomy. He had prostatitis since age 29. Despite a prostatitis history of more than 30 years, numerous failed treatments, and a terrible quality of life, he is relieved of his symptoms.

2) Robert had had failed, partial prostate operations: Bladder neck incision and transurethral prostatectomy (TURP). Despite this, a laparoscopic radical prostatectomy worked. This pattern has been observed in other patients, including Merlin Gill, who got relief with laparoscopic radical prostatectomy but not partial prostatectomies and after many years of pain.

3) Robert talks about progressive post-op urinary continence. His pattern is common and is on course despite having had three bladder neck and prostate operations. One wonders if his recovery would have been faster had he had only one operation, but this is not knowable.

4) Generally speaking and based partly on observations in men with prostate cancer, it is extremely unlikely that a man will have permanent incontinence after laparoscopic radical prostatectomy. Many men, like Robert, have temporary incontinence, wherein nocturnal continence usually returns before daytime continence. A third sub-group has immediate continence. Behavior matters in managing incontinence. For example, drinking beer is not useful. Conversely, timed voiding is useful.

5) Generally speaking and based partly on observations in men with prostate cancer, erectile function varies as a function of many variables: Age, pre-op function, illnesses such as diabetes, medications, obesity, smoking, depression, libido, motivation, cooperation of a sexual partner, and many more. For example, men who are 61 years old do not recover as fast as men who are 31 years old. That said, age alone -- or any other variable alone -- is not an adequate marker of post-op recovery and motivation. Consider that Dr. Muff, who was 64 years old at the time of surgery, reports erection adequate for sexual intercourse a few months out from surgery.

6) Many men, if not most men, want the "icing," to use Nik's terminology. So do many of their lovers. Which brings up the social context. Men have reported to me that prostatitis has interfered with their marital relations and one even blamed prostatitis for his divorce. In other words, the lovers of men with prostatitis often suffer, too. For example, the wife of my most recent surgical patient, who reported immediate relief after surgery, seemed as relieved as he seemed, happy to get past a multi-year period of his disease and hopeful that with improvement he will interact more vigorously with her and their young children.

There are other facets to this disease, but above is some material for thought. Thanks, Robert, for permitting an open discussion.

Techincal note: When you click "Reply to This," you are often pointed into an empty text box. Our platform automatically copies in italics the text to which you are responding. Please delete the italicized text. It is redundant and merely crowds the thread.

[Nik]

Very well put on No 6 Dr Krongrad. My wife & I often dream of being able to go travelling again, able to sit on long distance flights without a suitcase full of medications. I would also like to be well enough to get another job, something I have been unable to do since being made redundant. My wife is supporting us both at the moment, she is a heroine to me.

If our IVF succeeds, I will want to be able to be a proper father to my child, not a crippled man who cannot sit or even lie on my back comfortably. When I look at what else is missing in my life right now, erectile dysfunction would pale into insignificance, even though it probably will recover at 39 years old. Even if it did not, the operation would still give back more than it took and my wife & I would have considered it worthwhile. I am not even worried about permanent incontinence in the hands of an experienced surgeon.

[imnotcrazy]

god bless you nik . i hope you get cured soon. it is a living hell. hope to read more positive stuff from more men.
thanks

Nik said:

Very well put on No 6 Dr K. My wife & I often dream of being able to go travelling again, able to sit on long distance flights without a suitcase full of medications. I would also like to be well enough to get another job, something I have been unable to do since being made redundant. My wife is supporting us both at the moment, she is a heroine to me.

If our IVF succeeds, I will want to be able to be a proper father to my child, not a crippled man who cannot sit or even lie on my back comfortably. When I look at what else is missing in my life right now, erectile dysfunction would pale into insignificance, even though it probably will recover at 39 years old. Even if it did not, the operation would still give back more than it took and my wife & I would have considered it worthwhile. I am not even worried about permanent incontinence in the hands of an experienced surgeon.

[CHARLES]

Hello imnotcrazy,

It has been 15 months since I had my surgery done. I am doing great. No more pain or weakness. Erection is slowly coming back but I find out that Orsborn erectile aid works well, we are happy. Will keep you posted. Thanks.

Ike

[imnotcrazy]

great to hear. please keep us posted. i would like to hear about all the guys. cause everyone is different . with recovery process . also is there anyone that has had their prostate removed and are still in pain??? with no change?? that woud suck but im sure that has happened .
good luck ike!! god bless!!

[Arnon Krongrad, MD]

You made a critical point: Every patient is different. What this means, in essence, is that you can draw no specific inference from any other patient to any other patient. Collecting more stories does not negate the inherent limitation of inferring from other patients to yourself.

To get a sense of likelihood of success and failure requires scientific study. Without this, we cannot quantify, for example, the likelihood of 50% relief by 6 months. Such a study has not been completed for laparoscopic prostatectomy for severe chronic prostatitis. One is ongoing.

[imnotcrazy]

i would still like to know all of they outcomes good and bad.
once you have lived with this hell and gone through all we have as much info as possible is always helpful .
thanks dr. k