Dear fellow chaps ! - i am a 58 yo in generally good health and was diagnosed in May 18 of prostate cancer. At this point i had NO symptoms except a persistent lower back ache for about 3 / 4 months. My PSA was 4.5 and subsequent biopsies showed 2 types of cancer still contained in the prostate. I cant actually remember my Gleeson score but it meant i was stage 2 . I was eligible for surgery and chose to have my prostate removed by way of DaVinci robotic surgery / day surgery. While this is day surgery ...its no walk in the park. Quite sore afterwards and had a catheter fitted for 2 weeks. Post operative bruising ( can be impressive !), aches and pains have pretty much gone after about 2 weeks , and the catheter was removed - then the fun starts !! - this is the point i wish i had read about before, is how to manage ones temporary incontinence. - Pelvic floor exercises are an absolute must - engage the muscles and hold for 5 seconds and repeat 10 times. Do this 5 times a day . There are many incontinence solutions available out there and i chose the external catheter method ... right up until my 6 week check up , where my consultant advised me to go with pads only, as ones sub conscious needs to get involved. He was of course absolutely right , and within 2 days , my incontinence had improved 50% . i have just had my check up (4 months post op) - PSA 0.01 (hooray) , no longer wearing pads at night and only 1 pad per day . Energy levels are almost back to normal , but for the first 3 months i needed to snooze every afternoon for about 1 hour. If you are involved in manual work ,i would allow about 3 months before trying to do a full days work . Very impressed with the NHS - i did have health insurance , however it was 3 weeks from the biopsy results to the operation itself, which was quicker than private !
