I had the Da Vinci removal of my twenty year old irradiated prostate this past Friday. Side effects minimal so far except for pain at robot introduction site above my navel.
I am familiar with long ugly scars from previous hip replacement and fractured femur and legs and I am so thankful to not have those issues now.
Go back for catheter removal on Thursday, kind of enjoying not having to get up to go pee all the time but probably should not even suggest that.
Never thought I would be at this point after all those years of ADT and all those SEs but this is the path my God has put in place for me.
Prayers for all those who are waging a much harder fight than me.
Written by
Pmann
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I had the catheter for a whole month and 3 cystographies. The ones at 6 and 15 days showed leakage. Some irrisponsible doctors remove it blindly just playing the odds.
I was cautioning against "internal" leakage not external. Anastomosis* is the surgical joint of the pre-op downstream the prostate urinary track to the post sphincter of the bladder.
In engineering terms this would be called splicing. The trouble is that there is a considerable difference in diameter between these two parts. The bladder side is much wider than the other. The surgeon will try to bridge the two in a mechanical way with suture. Tightness will be performed by the body growing new tissue to fill any slits. The catheter bypasses this splice point to give the body enough time to seal the joint. If the catheter is removed earlier than needed urine will leak inside the patient's body, a dire situation.
* "Stoma" in Greek is mouth and the preposition "ana" is indicative of doing something again.
Hence, anastomosis is the formation of a new mouth piece.
Had great luck with the DaVinci procedure 5 1/2 years ago still have an erection and no incontinence. Only problem was the hernia left from procedure, dieting and exercise took care of it quickly
Excuse me, but God does not "enjoy making people sick" The Bible says that he "Heals our diseases; He redeems our life from destruction; and He crowns us with lovingkindness and tender mercies". That's my God!!
@Pmann - If I understand this correctly (I believe some people may have missed this) - you had salvage surgery to your prostate AFTER having it treated with radiation 20 years ago?
This is the treatment scenario so many urologists claim can't happen?
Yes sir you are correct. I was led to believe the same for many years. After five years of looking for metastasis and finding none we did MRI followed by positive biopsy, MO referred me to urologist specializing in robotic surgery and we took it out. Don’t really know what this means long term but excited it happened. Can’t really hurt except for new side effects and that is OK.
VERY interesting. I don’t think I have enough prostate left to even DO a biopsy after my radiation but we can’t locate the source of my rising PSA anywhere....will be interested in how you ( and your PSA) progress after this procedure....
Are you hoping( expecting) that removal of the remaining prostate tissue will also remove what remaining cancer you have??.... is there reason to believe this is the case?? Rooting for you.
I think that is the case but when I go to urologist tomorrow that will be my first question. They did dissect a couple of lymph nodes nearby and those results will be importantOf course getting my Eligard shot as well as usual but that’s OK
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Button procedure 
225Ac-PSMA-617 - amazing results / side effects
Has any one had the Urolift procedure after radiation
Liquid biopsy procedure
The amazing vitamin C! Dr. Linus Pauling would have enjoyed seeing this. 
