tennis post prostate removal?
- Thread starter basil J
- Start date
not_too_shabby
New User
Just throwing out my appreciation for starting this post. I'm 48, with a high PSA for my age, 3.5 and has slowly been rising over the last 1.5 years. Hopefully just BPH since I have LUTS symptoms, but starting to wrap my head around what may lie ahead as PSA at my level puts me at risk of pCA at some point in the future, hopefully distant.
Chas Tennis
G.O.A.T.
Research the subject very carefully using the most reliable information that you can find.
basil J
Hall of Fame
3 1/2 years later, still struggling with sexual function, still have the afternoon dribble. I would recommend that anyone who is considering prostate removal, to exhaust all other options before going under the knife. This in some ways has been a disaster for me and my wife. I am having a sling procedure done in April to help curb leakage and will revisit options for ED as there is no more spontaneous sex once you have your prostate removed. Wearing a pad every day sucks.Thanks for the kind wishes. So the surgeon told me that they spared all the nerves and he is confident that within a year I will have equal sexual function as I did pre surgery, which was pretty good.. I think this is the standard talk track the have with all of their patients, but none the less I remain hopeful. I had the surgery done at Brigham & Womens in Boston. He said that the nerves around the prostate resemble a curtain and the tricky part is moving the nerves without damaging them. He said during my procedure they literally slid right out of the way and he was quite happy with the end result. Only time will tell. I start a 3 day a week treatment next week with Cialis and will try to get the wife motivated to start "working out" with me
movdqa
Talk Tennis Guru
I have a friend with Stage 4 and he should have been dead years ago as he had tumors all over his body. He's in a clinical trial with about eight other people and this chemo drug is keeping him alive though chemo is not exactly easy. So medical technology is making progress.
Removing organs is tough and there's research in my type of cancer to try to avoid it. Someday, we'll be able to kill cancer cells while leaving healthy cells alone and we are just starting to do that but it will be a long time before this stuff is generally available.
Removing organs is tough and there's research in my type of cancer to try to avoid it. Someday, we'll be able to kill cancer cells while leaving healthy cells alone and we are just starting to do that but it will be a long time before this stuff is generally available.
movdqa
Talk Tennis Guru
There's tons of money in cures.
I tried to get appointments at Dana Farber many years ago. It took me a couple of weeks just to speak to someone to arrange an appointment. My local GI guy, his nurse and I were all trying to get an appointment with them. They were just unbelievably busy back then and I assume that the still are. It's the #4 cancer hospital in the country and they serve patients from around the world.
basil J
Hall of Fame
I just had the sling procedure done last Wednesday. Lots of pain where they go in(between you ******* and rectum). Can't get comfortable sitting. Have to lay off all exercise and lift no more than 10lbs for 6 weeks. Got myself in great tennis shape and overall fitness this spring anticipating getting back to some 4.0 tournaments, and the byproduct of this disease made it impossible to play several matches over a weekend without some incontinence issues. Disease continues to mess up my life 3 years post removal of my prostate. My hopes are that I will regain some form by mid to late July and get into some competition later in the summer. Good news is I found a coach/pro this spring that has really helped with footwork, strategy and my overall game so I will look forward to getting it going again ASAP. For now, I mend.
movdqa
Talk Tennis Guru
I recommend one of these.
I used Cybex machines in the gym for the recovery periods (I had multiple surgeries and the same restrictions each time). The Cybex circuit machines isolate the muscles worked.
PMChambers
Hall of Fame
Cheers, thanks for the update.
I just had prostate removal about 2 weeks ago. It hasn't been too bad for me. My brother had it but they found it late and after removal had to do radiotherapy which I was scared of as it stuff up the testies and testosterone production and sex drive is never the same. My surgeon offered some drug to get sex drive back faster, but said it could take 12 months to get back to normally. I declined as I don't need my sex drive back currently, it causes me more grief and poor life choices than not. I already have Viagra and Calis, not sure if they'll help this though.
The pee issues have been weird. Usually pretty good, but few things set off weepage. I was told that should be better in 6 weeks.
I think operations are different for everyone and although there are similarities there are also different outcomes. The literature I was given said some patents could have continual leakage and might require mechanical solution.
Unfortunately between the biopsy and surgery I let everything go. Probably mild depression as I drank too much, eat poorly and stopped going to gym. I played tennis which is one of my only social interactive activities, but I'd lost fitness and had to swap racquets. Work was also problematic during this period and unfortunately my Velcro cat died of old age and having surgery scheduled I didn't want to replace as I had to go interstate for the operation. I seriously thought I'd be better after a couple of weeks which was extremely optomistic. I'm now hoping to get my bounce back in 4 weeks time so can start playing tennis and doing gym work. 6 weeks was the minimum recovery time I was told but I thought I'd recover faster. I'm considering taking another 4 weeks leave from work after these six weeks are up and then going back on half days for a month. I had 15 weeks sick leave accumulated prior so monetarily everything's fine.
I hope you get your drive back and stop the leakage. The pads aren't fun, some have activated scent to hide the pee smell and it's not that nice.
BTW: My weird outcome is it feels like someone squeezed one of my testical about 2 minutes prior, (hit by ball or knee) and it only one and not same one all the time. Low level annoyance.
Also got new puppy on way to replace my cat.
basil J
Hall of Fame
I wish you well and I hope you have full recovery. I would advise to go slow on returning to full court tennis for a while as your body has to relearn how to control your bladder with different plubing.
Played for the first time yesterday since my surgery and had no leakage issues at all. I have my follow up with my surgeon on Monday and I hope I get the green light for full activity. I have used some machines in the last few days with light weights just to get the body moving again, along with the elliptical machine.
Played for the first time yesterday since my surgery and had no leakage issues at all. I have my follow up with my surgeon on Monday and I hope I get the green light for full activity. I have used some machines in the last few days with light weights just to get the body moving again, along with the elliptical machine.
basil J
Hall of Fame
One year later and I am happy to report the bladder sling I had installed last summer, so far has been very successful. Urine stream is slower so I have to patiently wait for my bladder to empty when I urinate, but other than that I have had zero issues and my Doc said, barring any direct injury to that area, should last for the rest of my life. I highly recommend it for anyone struggling with leaking or incontinence after prostate removal.
I'm going to get a greenlight prostate enucleation next week for BPH. do you know if in your research and time people recovered from a TURP like procedure to play tennis. I know it's totally different to have the prostate removed and cancer, but I'm 52 and probably on the path. PSA 2.2 and last year had a flare up of some sort that had me peeing all the time and PSA went to 3.4. MRI showed more BPH and one ambiguous thing (PRIAD 3) that everyone thought is BPH. I just got back into tennis after a 2.5 year layoff due to other health issues so i'm wondering how long I should lay off.
basil J
Hall of Fame
I would ask your provider for that answer. Prostate cancer is tricky because yoy can have it and have zero symptoms (like I did) and you can have prostate issues but not have cancer. I would play if you feel well, and slow down if you are struggling.
basil J
Hall of Fame
6 years out and everything is going well for me at this time. PSA is 0. The bladder sling continues to work so leakage is no longer an issue. I would love to hear from others who have gone through this and see how they are doing. This is an awful disease and the treatment isn't much better.
