Surgical issues

[Guest guest]

Right after I wrote the last mail to address the issues

raised by court colt I received an update from

a man contributing his experience to the Yana site, Like court colt, he is

shortly to undergo surgery and you can read his story here: http://www.yananow.net/Mentors/BillJ.htm

Some of the key issues which he posted are these:

<BIG SNIP> A couple of weeks ago I did pose several

written questions to my surgeon based upon the experiences shared here on YANA and also from other support web sites. I am glad

that I did. Some of the answers provided by my surgeon are as follows;

Penile Rehabilitation - There is a protocol established at

this university based medical center for prostatectomy caused ED. In my

case at 3 weeks after surgery I will be started on one of the three ED

medications. Most likely it will be Viagra. They will eventually

try all three to see if there is a different response. I am hoping for a

quicker then normal return of erections. My tumor is not near the margin

so I am a good candidate for the bilateral nerve sparing procedure. If

the medications do not provide a quality response in erection then a VED will

be prescribed. I will also be offered the injection approach if I so

choose. Like a lot of you out there the thought of sticking a needle in

my penis is difficult to accept at this point but if that is what it takes then

I will definitely do it.

Kegel Exercises - There is no data that supports that

doing kegels prior to surgery improves continence post surgery. While

that is the case there is nothing wrong about doing the kegels and if I want to

do them then go ahead.

Catheter - The amount of time that the catheter stays in is

dependent upon the size of the bladder neck that is formed. A larger neck

requires more time sometimes up to 10 days. The norm for this medical

center is 6 to 7 days.

Bladder Spasms - I was concerned about this as several men

have reported awful experiences with this occurring. I will be prescribed

medication that will prevent these from occurring. <BIG SNIP>

All the best,

Terry Herbert in Melbourne, Australia

Diagnosed ‘96: Age 54: Stage T2b: PSA 7.2:

Gleason 3+3=6: No treatment. August '06 PSA 27.4

My site is at www.yananow.net

As a physician, I am painfully aware that

most of the decisions we make with regard to prostate cancer are made with

inadequate data: Dr “Snuffy”

Myers.