I had my protatectomy last March and could have returned to work in a month. I chose not to, it depends a lot on how comfortable you are with your level of continence
My second opinion urologist said I'd be zonked for a month: wouldn't be able mentally or physically operate.
Being a 1-man business doing mostly manual labour, I couldn't accept this. I upped my physical fitness for the 6 weeks notice that I had. I had always maintained reasonable physical fitness using the Canadian Air Force XB-5 programme and just pushed myself up several levels.
Mentally, I prepared by ensuring a good night's sleep. I had a self hypnosis programme on a casette tape that worked for me when I had a stressful corporate job years ago. To augment that, I found some free mp3 downloads covering relaxation, sleep and positive thinking. They don't all work and those work for me don't necessarily work for others to whom I have recommended them.
The bottom line is that I was walking on my first day out of high care and out of hospital after 5 nights. I only lost 450 mL of blood in the op, instead of the 1500mL expected and lost less than 50mL through the pencil catheter the 2 days I was in high care. I was back doing light work two weeks after the op and going flat out after three. I modified my workplace to avoid heavy lifting for 6 weeks. In an office job, I would have been back at work after two weeks.
I found that my worst enemy was mental fatigue rather than physical fatigue. My early post-op walking exercises didn't leave me breathless, but I felt, mentally, as though I had run a marathon just walking around the block.
In a nutshell, you can shorten your recovery period with appropriate mental and physical preparation. Get guidance from your doctor on what will work best for you.
I wonder what made you to inquire on the "time" of convalescence.
RP (open or robot) are major surgeries with risks and side effects. Both take on average the same convalescence time being robot one or two days shorter in the period one must stay at the hospital.
In any case, the period required to be fit to work varies not just on the experience of the care givers but on the individual health.
I would recommend you to take the time necessary to get better and do not choose the treatment based on a "quick fix".
I second Baptista's point about the experience of the caregivers. The urologist who performed my op was my third. His whole approach to my condition was far more professional than his predecessors. I trusted his surgical skills implicitly because he performed two biopsies beforehand that were much less traumatic than the first..
Just looking for an average time away form work. I wil be haveing open RP superpubic.
With nerve sparing i hope. This is my third cancer in three years but never in this area. I try give my sipervisor a good idea abuot when ill be back ready to work because i have been out so much the last few years
Well I have my post surgery Pathology report. The Gleason changed from 3+3 =6 to 3+4=7. I was glad its out. Multifocal tumor located L Apex L Mid and L Anterior . Percent involved 15%. Margins neg for invasive carcinoma. Primary Tumor (PT): PT2C: Organ confined Bilateral Disease Perineural invasion present. The biopsies had only shown cancer in left apex. so thats that and back to work in two more weeks. Working on thease excersizes. Hope the flow slowes downe a bet by then.
