Hello ,thank you for all so much for your honest stories of your journeys with prostate cancer .You've been a great support to my Husband and me in making his decision on treatment choice.

Hello Susan (Susann99af03 (3c6a6a96f0b544cc8d8f80a82d29ac42)) 

Welcome to the group, although I am so sorry to find you joining us.

I am please to read your post and happy that we have been able to help. As you are well aware this is a "couples cancer" and we are more than happy to help you both as he continues his treatment journey.

Do feel free to ask any questions - nothing is too trivial.

Best wishes - Brian.

Thankyou Brian.Its a lot of information to take in at the initial diagnosis appointment .We ve  found the forum very helpful 

Hi

My Husband is having a radical prostectatomy before Christmas.Is there any advice you can give us regarding recovery once home?We re hopeful of getting home within a day of surgery but we live couple of hours away 

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Hello Susan (Susann99af03 (3c6a6a96f0b544cc8d8f80a82d29ac42)) 

Thank you both for the update and I wish you both well with the surgery. I am sure others who have had the operation will be along with advice (I still have my prostate!).

Here's two pointers:

* Our notes on surgery - Prostatectomy-for-prostate-cancer.

* I understand that once the catheter is removed the pelvic floor exercises are important.

Do keep us informed of his progress.

Best wishes - Brian.

Hi Susan

I had my prostatectomy in January and my recovery was fairly swift thereafter.  There are a few niggles in the first few days - pain in the shoulders from the gas, a bit of soreness round the wounds but these soon pass.  The catheter is annoying but you can put up with it for the 10 days or so it has to remain.  I was able to remove my own catheter at home which was relatively easy and painless, it might be worth enquiring if this is an option with your hospital - especially as you are 2 hours away.  The most useful tips for recovery are in the first instance to make sure he takes the movicol to get his bowels back in action - it can take 3 or 4 days. Also encourage him to take as much exercise as he can as this will speed his recovery.  My surgeon told my wife that I wasn't to do any heavy lifting for a few weeks but I was perfectly fine with jobs like washing up and vacuuming which she was happy to enforce! Once the catheter is out he will benefit from doing the pelvic floor exercises if he has an issue with incontinence and he will need to be ready with some pads in case - I found the Tenamen pads the most comfortable. The more lingering effect will be ED but it is difficult to predict whether, or how long, that will take to recover and you can only be patient and take what help is available down the line.  For me the most important thing is I am now free of PC.

Hope all goes well

Dave

Hi Dave I hope you don’t mind me asking and please if you would rather not answer   as it’s a personal area. I note your nerve sparing which sounds similar to what the surgeon apparently managed to attain for my husband. His surgery was back in February of this year and has very little erectile recovery. Are you/have you seen much recovery on the ED front? Medication isn’t working at all for him, the pump works well. Thank you 

I have a bit of recovery but not great. Spontaneous erections are definitely off the cards but can be achieved with some stimulation, although they don’t last long! Tadalafil helps a bit but I don’t like taking it as it gives me a headache the next day. Like your husband, I find the pump the most useful. They say it can take up to 2 years to recover so I remain hopeful.

Thank you for your response yes we are still hopeful for a bit more recovery. My husband takes 5mg Tadafil daily and 20mg twice a week. We find the pump very useful only takes a couple of minutes! Hope you and my husband see more recovery soon we remain hopeful