My husband had robotic surgery exactly 2 weeks ago to remove his prostate. Our doctor (who we have faith in) had only performed robotic 12 times before doing my husband's procedure. We opted to stay with him because he has been our urologist for years and we trust him. We felt that if something went wrong that we would feel that he did everything he could. The surgery went great. Of course God had alot to do with that. He was able to save one nerve. The catheter was removed last Friday and we have had no episodes of incontinence. He is voiding without a problem. Feels Great!!! And of course I am a nurse and give myself some credit for his care. We are of course curious about the impotence....a neighbor that had this surgery done in a bigger town stated that his function returned in 3 months, but that his sensation was not what it was before. I think that my husband has had a great outlook on things (once the devastation was over) and that recovery is also a mind thing. I think that the sexual aspect would bother him alot more than me. I just want him here with me and our 3 children that are still at home. I hate to ask for encouragement since he has done so well...but I was just wondering...not rushing HA HA.

Various post-op quality of life surveys have indicated that there are several factors that strongly affect your chance for recovery of potency:

1) The skill of the surgeon- Sparing nerves is tricky, since the surgeon must trim tissue away from the nerves without destroying them. Some surgeons who attempt to spare nerves have an outcome rate of 90% impotency, whereas the most skilled surgeons can reduce this rate to about 15%.

2) The age and pre-op sexual condition of the patient- Younger patients who can achieve an erection easily before surgery have a much better chance of recovery.

3) The number of nerves spared- With skilled surgeons, bilateral nerve sparing improves your chances of recovering potency by about 30% (over just sparing one nerve bundle). When no nerves are spared, your chances of recovering unassisted potency are essentially zero.

From what I've observed, there is a significant chance of becoming impotent from this operation. However, there are ways to have a satisfying sex life, and even to achieve an erection, if the nerves are damaged. Some of these methods are discussed elsewhere on this board. Best wishes and good luck to you and your husband.