Prostate surgery
 

Long time lurker, first time poster. :lurker: I am about to undergo robotic (Da Vinci) surgery to remove a prostate that has gone over to the Dark Side.

Since among the 50+ crowd, there must have been more than a few of you who have faced this challenge. So my question is.....how long were you off the bike post-op? :injured:

I ride 5-7,000 a year and will really miss my hours in the saddle. Doc says at least six weeks....how does that sound to you??? It, of course, sounds like for freaking ever to me.:notamused: And it is coming just as we are entering (finally) good riding weather in my part of the world (South Carolina)

I'd welcome advice based on your experiences.

Boy oh boy, I'm not really sure what to say? Prostrate cancer runs big time in the males among my family. So bad in fact I get checked twice a year.

I'm 52 and thus far my PSA has been good, (and the digit - OUCHY!) but I know it's only a matter of time.

My father, and all 4 of his brothers have all had boughts with the dreaded "C" word. One had his prostrate removed; one had chemo, one radiation, and one radiation inserts and hormone shots. Out of all four the best answer came from my boss.

He had his removed and he told me if I ever have to have mine removed be sure and let a micro-surgeon perform the surgery. The chances of nerve damage are much less that way, (in other words gentlemen, you can still get an erection).

Anyway, I can't answer on the recovery time but I know it's only a matter of time before I have to face the same question. My advice would be what my boss said: If you have to have it remove be sure a micro surgeon does it.

By the way, great post and topic. It's my wish everything turns out good for you. I'll be talking to the man upstairs tonight so prayers sent!

Sarge

My surgery is long enough ago that I don't remember how long I was out of action. I had the old fashion open gut surgery and had to put up with the catheter for three weeks. My brother had robotic surgery last year and was out of work for five weeks or so. One week with a catheter as I recall. I did my recovery on a Nordic Trac ski machine I bought used at about five weeks after surgery - starting at 5 minutes and working up. At the time I was doing a five hundred mile charity ride in the summer. My operation was in September. The following Spring when I got out on the bike, I found I had to stop every five miles or so to go behind a bush or tree. Figuring about a hundred pee stops to do a five hundred mile ride, I withdrew from the ride that year. (I did return the following year). Aside from the frequent p-stops, I had no discomfort on the bike as a result of the operation. The one bit of advice I would give is to take it easy on recovery and not rush to get back to full activity too quickly. A friend of mine who had the operation at about the same time as me, went back to work much sooner than I and confided that he suffered for it. I eased back at a much more relaxed rate taking advantage of extra vacation time and had a fairly easy time of it.

Good luck with the operation and with your recovery.

Lou

There are all sorts of prostate procedures.
I had radioactive seed implants. No actual cutting.
Off the bike about 3 weeks. Drove 1,000 miles in the car after 3d day of procedure.
Bike ride/sex are back to par.
Good luck!

Not Robotic But had RP in 2001. 6 weeks later I sat on the saddle and got off it very quick. That was when I was introduced to the anatomical saddles with the cutaway- and 2 weeks later was doing a 25 mile offroad ride with only a bit of butt pain.

That was the good news---- For the next 5 years I had trouble finding a saddle that was comfortable for more than two weeks. The internal re-shaping meant that I was tender after about 200 miles on every saddle I tried.

Everyone reacts differently. I would listen to your surgeon and if he says to stay off the bike for 6 weeks then do so. They do a lot of cutting and stitching in there and you have to let it heal. You may have pain or you may not. If you do there are some seats out there built for your problem. http://www.hobsonseats.com/ Depending on what your Gleason number is you may try watchful waiting and reschedule the surgery next November at the end of the riding season so you have all winter to heal (voice of experience). Talk to you urologist/surgeon and ask their opinion. Your long term health is more important than a few months of riding, I know that is hard to believe :-) Here is a link to a website that has answers to questions you may not even know to ask :-) http://www.healingwell.com/community/default.aspx?f=35

Good luck on your journey to healing.

I've had the RRP surgery. Six week is about right as a target.

I had the Da Vinci surgery last July at age 59. Doctor said no cycling for six weeks, so that's what I did. At the end of the six weeks, I got right back on the bike, and I felt fine. I think I could have cut the recovery time a little, but all things considered I'm glad I followed doctor's orders.

I hope yours goes as well as mine did!

I don't think I know any cycling prostate surgery veterans, but a friend of mine is a genuine cowboy, a mounted sheriff's deputy who owns a ranch and runs cattle with cutting horses. he had the surgery a couple of years ago and was back working in about three weeks. no problems with any aspect of it.
I was impressed because 10 minutes on a horse keeps me off the bike for two weeks...

I just hope I wouldn't have to go through one of that proceedure. Just had my second colonoscopy of my life yesterday and that was enough for me.

I've not had prostrate surgery, but I have had four operations in two years to remove cancerous tumors in my bladder. These operations don't involve cutting and stitching but still require similiar healing time. I was advised to taked it easy for four weeks, which worked out fairly well. After the second bout, I pushed it and went back to work (heavy truck driving) after three weeks, and had bleeding and frequent peeing problems. So my advise to anyone, don't push it too soon or hard, follow the doctor's advise, they have many, many cases from which to draw guidelines from.

Recovery from prostate surgery seems to be a fairly personal thing, with some guys up and about quickly and others not so quickly. I have to say that I started walking and exercising about a week after surgery, while still with catheter. What might be the ultimate determining factor for bicycling is incontinence. If you leak a lot, then it might not be real comfortable to ride any sort of distance for a while.

If you are looking for a good prostate forum try HealingWell at:
http://www.healingwell.com/community/default.aspx?f=35

If you opt for prostate excision, choose your surgeon very carefully.

U.S. Senator John Kerry had prostate surgery some years back, and he was back on the bike in a few months. I have no details however. A 60 year old (at the time) co-worker had prostate surgery done in October, and was back riding the following May, with Doctor's approval. He didn't mind, as he was not a winter cyclist in the first place.

I had mine out in January of '04. Mine was a retropubic, not endoscopic. My scar runs from belly-button to pubic bone!

I think the 6-week number is reasonable. I wasn't riding much then, but I see where I ran a 50-minute 10k on March 27, and during the following year I qualified for and ran the '05 Boston Marathon in 4:07. Later that spring I ran a 45:02 10k PR.

Going at it too hard too soon can rip things loose. Remember, they're cutting the urethra and stitching it back onto the bladder. You don't want that to pull loose!

Best of luck to you. BTW, I've had an undectable PSA since then. (yay!)