THERE WAS NO RESPONSE TO AN UPDATE REMINDER IN 2015 SO THERE IS NO UPDATE.

In March of 2013, I was wondering how my Cholesterol was, so I scheduled an appointment with my doctor for a physical. He said it had been 8 months since my last Cholesterol check, and the insurance wouldn't pay for one until it's been a year. He decided to do a blood test and check me for diabetes. When the results came back, he said everything looked good, other than my PSA had elevated since my last test 8 months ago. He said it hadn't spiked, just elevated from something like 4.5 eight months ago to around 5.5, so he suggested seeing a Urologist. I was able to get into the Urologist about 2 weeks later. He suggested taking 6 weeks of a prescription he gave me, then get another blood test. After 6 weeks, my PSA hadn't moved, so he suggested scheduling a Biopsy. When I went to schedule it, they had just receieved a cancellation and was able to get me in 3 days later. After waiting for almost 2 weeks for the results, the Urologist called and reported 1 of the 12 needles detected cancer, he wanted to schedule an appointment to discuss the options.

The appointment was the following week (early June). I took my former girlfriend (we had just broke up a month before) with me, just in case she could think of something to ask that I might miss. We both got very good feelings about the skill of this doctor. He said he is starting to wind down in his career (he's probably in his early 60's). He had been doing at least a couple of the Retropubic Prostatectomies a week for the past few years, he trains other doctors on the procedure. He said he now does around 30 a year. He explained the risks, and he stressed the problems with incontinence and ED after having the prostate removed. After the discussion, I decided there was no way I would have the radiation treatment, so that left his surgery, or the robotics. This doctor said he could schedule me as early as the last week of June if I decided to go with him. He also said there was no rush, if I have a vacation planned in September or so, I can get the procedure after then.

When I got home, I checked the reviews for this doctor and found little negative (usually complaints about how long they have to wait in the waiting room for their appointments). A friend of mine that's a Patholigist at another hospital had contacts at Tucson Medical Center (where my Urologist does his procedures). They told her that if their husbands needed the surgery, they would have them go to my Urologist. I also tried to get in to other doctors for second opinions. Found my insurance wouldn't cover Mayo at all. It was also going to be 2 months before I could even meet the reputable Urologist in Tucson that I would be interested in using for the robotics.

I decided to go with the Retropubic Prostatectomy with Nerve Sparing and he scheduled the surgery for 8/14/2013. I started having a lot of second thoughts about getting it done. I had no symptoms, no pain. I had been able to have sex everyday (when I could find a willing girlfriend) and I didn't want to give that up. I was also very concerned about the incontinence afterwards. I recently talked to a co-worker from across the country. He had the perinial surgery 4 years ago when he was my age. He said a week before the surgery was the last time he had sex. I almost felt like cancelling the surgery.

The surgery was performed at 07:00 AM. I was up and walking that evening. My doctor had said he would be out of town after the surgery, he'd have another doctor check on me. Turns out his scheduler messed up, I wasn't seen by a doctor for 2 days afterwards, and ended up staying at the hospital 3 nights. When I finally saw the doctor, he reported the Pathology after the surgery came back as all good, they got all the cancer. I read about the surgery here, in my opinion, it was painful and I wouldn't want to do that again. The catheter is also as bad as most have reported here. I had it for 2 weeks, I was counting the hours for its removal. I found you can do the kegel exercises with the catherter in though, and I did them so often, I found I was doing them without thinking about it. Four days before my 59th birthday, the catheter was removed. Doctor said no sex for at least 2 weeks, no riding bicycles, lifting weight, or anything to strain myself until he gives me the OK. He said no hiking, but I can go on moderate walks.

It's been 8 days since the catheter was removed. I'm so pleased with the results so far. I have almost no problems with the incontinence. The first night, I wet the bed, but after that there's been almost nothing. I wear a pad for drips and dribbles, and usually the only moister in it at the end of the day is just sweat. The doctor also gave me a 30 day sample of Cialis. I started taking them 4 days ago. I'm able to get an erection almost as good as before. It takes a little more work, but I'm glad to see it's there after only 3 weeks since the surgery. I will be going back to work next week, after missing 4 weeks. I wanted to put a positive post on here. With the right conditions and a good surgeon, things could get back to a normal life. I'll update this later with my conditions and cancer results..

I just wanted to update my current status, today is the one month anniversary of my surgery.

I went to work last Monday, and had no problems. I even worked a few hours Overtime this week. My job is not physical though, mostly analyzing data. I had very little, if any incontinence. I wear the Depends "for drips and dribbles" pad whenever I leave the house for insurance. This week, I've yet to get a pad wet, they're always dry at the end of the day. Bladder control does feel different, I try to pay attention to it when I move, cough, laugh, etc. Actually this week, the only time I've ever felt like I'm going to drip a little, is if I don't think about it and pass gas...

For the expected ED issue I believe I'm going to be OK. I started taking the 5 MG Cialis less than 2 weeks ago. I was able to have sex last night. I wouldn't say it was the same as before, but I was surprised to have an erection before we even got in bed... Orgasm was pretty mild, but last night was less than a month since surgery, I just need more practice.. Hopefully I'll get to the point of not needing the Cialis..

I'm not posting this to brag about my results. I'm posting this for people who are considering their options (I really considered postponing the surgery, I didn't want to be inconinent or have ED). I feel this surgery was the way to go for me. At this point, I feel almost normal. The only pain I have is mild pain around the incision when I wear jeans. I'm also not lifting anything until I get the OK from the doctor.

I'm scheduled to have a PSA test in a few weeks. I'll post the results then...

It's 2 days shy of 2 months since my surgery. Just got the results of my PSA last Tuesday, 0.0!! I wanted to post that I feel almost normal. The expected incontinence problem is almost a none issue now. I've gotten to the point that I don't need to wear the "Drips & Dribbles" Depends now when I go out. I have noticed when I go to the bathroom, I need to stand there for 10-20 seconds after I think I'm done because there's just a little more in the pipe I didn't feel. Other than that, it's good.. I also have been able to have sex almost normally too. I started taking the 5MG Cialis 2 weeks after surgery. I'm not consistent about taking them, I forget about taking them daily some days (I'd never cut it as a drug addict, I forget to take my pills). I still have 7 days left from the 30 day box. I'm really pleased about my current ability, I can have pretty normal sex even on the days I forget to take them. The orgasm isn't what it used to be like, but it gets better each time.

I want to publicly say THANK YOU to my doctor and suggest if you need treatment and you're in Southern Arizona, look up Dr. James MacDonald with Southwest Urology. I was impressed with him from the first time I met him. After getting the results of the biopsy, I was pleasantly surprised how much time he spent with me discussing my options. He's very easy to talk to, and he knows his stuff...

Jim's e-mail address is: swjim1 AT cox.net (replace "AT" with "@")

NOTE: Jim has not updated his story for more than 15 months, so you may not receive any response from him.