With all of the concerns we read on this board, I thought I would share what my Uro calls a "normal, average recovery" for someone in their early 50's.
One year after my retro-pubic surgery my life is normal. Even though I had a very aggressive form of prostate cancer that had spread beyond the gland (but not to my bones, thank goodness) my PSA is less than 0.01. I was fortunate that I chose the retro-pubic surgery because my surgeon encountered some stickiness on my nerves and was able to take the time to carefully scrap the nerves clean. I am not sure this would be possible with the other types of of prostate surgery.
I have no issues with incontinence, although I occasionally have a drop of urine escape if I do a heavy lift - this is so small that it does not even mark my shorts.
My activity level is unchanged - I still play basketball and volleyball although my knees are slowing me down a bit.
The only changes to my life style are that I now wear jocky shorts rather than boxers (the little fellow is about a half inch shorter when flacid, but is normal length when erect), and I need to take Viagra about an hour before relations with my wife. You can do a whole lot of foreplay in an hour!
So, take heart! A lot has happened in this past year, but the end results were good.
If you are preparing for prostate surgery, go to the bottom of this page and change the setting to show threads from the past year. Some old postings by Positive4U, rfj120 and Liane have some really good information that was helpful to me in my preparation last August. :D

When my biopsy came back in June 04 it showed the right lobe being 70% cancer and the left lobe with 30%. My CT scan and bone scan showed no growth outside of the gland. It wasn't until they opened me up 60 days after the biopsy that they discovered the cancer had doubled in size (90% right, 70% left) and had moved outside of the gland into my seminal vesicles but not the lymph nodes. I guess we caught it just in time - a couple more months would have caused a different outcome. My initial Gleason score was a 6. I had no symptoms other than a psa of 6.7.

It's been quite awhile since I've visited in here so I was so happy to see your good results, Avoca. Congratulations! It's been 19 months for me and no real problem with incontinence -- just the occasional dribble when straining -- and my PSA is undetectable. Unfortunately my sexual function is just about as undetectable and my confidence is pretty well shot. Well I guess the important thing is I'm still here. Though there are days..... :rolleyes:

Avoca,
Congratulations to you! Where did that year go? Keep up the great work & please keep spreading the word about this disease. You're an inspiration to all of us.

rfj120,
You're another inspiration to all of us. We, as males, know how big sexual function is in our lives. If I may ask, how are you coping?

Positive4u :)

Hi p4u. Good to see you again. I find it hard to sum up my frustration about my loss of sexual function in a few words: I thought I was dealing with it well for awhile but lately it's come crashing down on me. My own uro and a another I'd consulted before surgery were anxious to assert that sexual side effects were the least of my worries, after beating the cancer and incontinence. I'd agree in principle but it minimizes the very real impact of impotence. One ED specialist I heard speak on the subject of PC and sexuality was much more forthright: good sexual health is of critical importance for physical and mental wellbeing and the medical profession and health authorities too often dismiss it.

Off my soap box then to say a loving and supportive partner is so important. But after too many failures and disappointments I could not help but feel I let my angel down terribly. I have been using tri-mix injection therpay for over a year and results have sometimes been awesome. But despite all that practice my success rate is still only 50-60%. I see my uro again in a few weeks and will be asking for a referral to a real ED specialist. Would like to give VED a try though I know many also find this unsatisfactory.

To all those who have regained even partial sexual function after RRP rest assured, you and your partners are very fortunate. :cool: