Re: Re: Adverse Effects of Robotic-Assisted Laparoscopic Versus Open Ret

January 17, 2012

Have you looked into Brachytherapy , If not why?

To: ProstateCancerSupport Sent: Tuesday, January 17, 2012 4:09 PMSubject: Re: Adverse Effects of Robotic-Assisted Laparoscopic Versus Open Ret

Hi,

I am 56 years old and will be using the robotic assisted method for removal of my prostrate. I choose it as it seems to have more control by the surgeon to keep vital nerves intact as best as possible. I hope this works out best as once done that's it no going back to try a new idea. Has anybody done well on Cialis? This is the hospital's choice and I believe they use the daily use one.

I would also like to know why all post are repeated over and over?

Thanks,

Guy

January 17, 2012

> Hi,

>

> I am 56 years old and will be using the robotic assisted method

> for removal of my prostrate. I choose it as it seems to have

> more control by the surgeon to keep vital nerves intact as best

> as possible. I hope this works out best as once done that's it

> no going back to try a new idea. Has anybody done well on

> Cialis? This is the hospital's choice and I believe they use

> the daily use one.

Guy,

As for whether Cialis works well, I haven't tried it. I've tried

Viagra and Levitra and both of them have had some effect for me,

though not a dramatic one.

My understanding is that all three drugs, Cialis, Levitra, and

Viagra, have the same mechanism of action and about the same

effects. The main difference between Cialis and the others

appears to be the length of time it remains in the body before

degrading.

In all of the postings I've read about these drugs I can't recall

anyone saying that one of them worked for him but the others did

not. If anyone here has had that experience, please let us know.

One thing you could do is to get a prescription now and see how

it works for you before the surgery. If you feel nothing, then

nothing is probably what you'll get after the surgery. If you

feel a lot, maybe it will be a big help. However, it usually

takes some time to recover from the damage done by the surgery

and, even with drugs, it will take time to recover function.

There is a very good chance you won't recover as much function as

you had and, unfortunately, some chance that you won't recover

any function at all. It's major surgery and s**t can happen.

Terry Herbert's website " You Are Not Alone Now " has a very large

number of personal experience stories by men who have had

laparoscopic surgery. See:

http://www.yananow.org/exp_data.php?query=where+pri_treat+like+%27LR%20Surgery%2\

5%27+order+by+name & desc=Laparascopic+Surgery

You may find a lot of useful information there.

> I would also like to know why all post are repeated over and

> over?

I haven't noticed any repeating posts. Is it possible that

you're just seeing different posts with identical subject lines?

If someone replies to a posting their reply will usually say

" Re: ... " where " ... " is the subject line of the posting they are

replying to.

Another poster ( Weber) asked if you had considered

brachytherapy. I don't have an opinion about whether surgery or

radiation is better, but I do think it makes sense to talk to at

least one radiation oncologist and one surgeon. It's useful to

know all of your options before choosing one. Perhaps you've

already done that.

Another thing that I think is important is to be sure that the

surgeon or radiation oncologist you have chosen to treat you is a

really good one. As you say, once the procedure is done, it's

done, and there's no going back. So you want a doctor who will

do the best job for you. That may or may not be the first doctor

you happened to see. You want someone who does a LOT of these

procedures, probably one or more each week, and has already done

50 or 100 or more of them. There are doctors out there who are

real specialists in robotic surgery and do 200 of them every

year. Those guys have seen everything and really know what

they're doing.

The first surgeon I spoke to turned out to be a urologist whose

specialty was female incontinence and, oh yeah, he also did a

half dozen or so prostate surgeries every year. When I found out

about his real background (by checking his website) I decided he

wasn't the right guy to perform surgery on me.

You also want someone whom you judge to be careful, honest, and

committed, not a salesman who tells you how great he is and how

all his patients come out continent, potent, and cancer free. If

he says that he's almost certainly lying and really just wants

your money.

Best of luck with whatever you decide to do.

Alan

January 17, 2012

Concerning the use of Cialis after surgery, I'm 4 weeks post-surgery and am

using Cialis, and I can see a noticeable improvement with it. I was using Cialis

for a few years before the surgery, too. The surgeon's office (I had the surgery

done at Vanderbilt) gave me rehab info that called for the use of a low-dose ED

drug daily, either a quarter of a 20-mg Cialis or half a Viagra or Levitra pill,

anda whole pill and attempted intercourse at least once a week. The clinic

seemed to prefer Levitra or Viagra, because those had a more powerful response,

but said Cialis would work OK. I asked because I already had Cialis on hand and

a prescription for it. I will meet with the surgeon in a couple of weeks, at

which time I'm supposed to get prescriptions for all three drugs and, I

fervently hope, samples of all three, too.

I would say that on a scale of 1 to 10, where one is overcooked spaghetti and 10

is being 15 again, my erectile function is probably around 3, which might not

sound that great but is far better than I'd expected at this point. The great

thing about it is that I'm supposed to exercise it a couple of times a day.

Doctor's orders: Play with yourself. Who'd have thought it?

Re: Re: Adverse Effects of Robotic-Assisted

Laparoscopic Versus Open Ret

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