RALP by Vipul Patel planned for March ... but still undecided??

When my husband had his surgery he scheduled it so that his surgery was the first one on that day. We would not accept any other surgery slot. My husband easily got it because he signed up well in advance of his surgery.

Tom, who started this thread, wanted to know what to expect with Doctor Patel. I don't see many here that have him listed as their doctor. Evidently, Tom is going to use him now after talking to him and getting his questions answered.

I used him and was very pleased with the results. My main concern was to get the cancer out. So far I have had 2 Zero PSA test post-op. I still have some incontinence issues but it is getting better, ED is very promising, all nerves spared. The gentleman who had his surgery after me that same day was dry 4 weeks later.

I have an appointment with Patel mid-March for follow up. I will ask him how he does so many surgeries, how many Da Vinci machines does the hospital have, etc.
6,000 men from all over the world can't be wrong.

Everyone needs to choose who they feel is best for them and what time of the day to have your surgery. I am not a morning person and I get tired in the afternoon so I don't know how any doctor does 2 or 3 much less 7 a day. I am just glad Patel can.

Bill

Peter,
No apology necessary, but nonetheless appreciated. I try not to be overbearing, but what I believe, I believe strongly. I'm not good at mincing words, life is too short for that, and sometimes I come across as brash....cause sometimes I am.

I must also concur that you do indeed do a good job of moderating.

God bless, Brother

Well said Yooper!

Sometimes we push our agenda and forget what the thread was all about.
We chose our doctors and treatment plans with the info we had. We shouldn't
try to influence a newbie to "our treatment plan".

Good luck Tom, now keep your eye on the prize, beating this thing!

Bill

Just a comment on surgeons who do many in a day.

David makes a good-sounding point, but,

Are we perhaps being a little loose with our numbers?

I remember when I checked, Dr. Menon did a LOT of surgeries, but I seem to recall that even 5 in a day would be unusual. Seven seems like too many. Is it even true that Dr. Patel does 7 surgeries in a typical day?

However, everywhere I've worked the very best most competent people were also the busiest. If you want something done, you don't contact the person who has lots of time. You contact the busiest person.

Isn't it interesting that the very best surgeons seem to be the busiest?

Regarding data, David again makes the point about advertised data. But I know I still receive surveys from Ford asking me to update my status. I think it is a separate entity at Ford that gets the data. I am reasonably sure that this must be the data they report. When I did my research, many of the top-notch surgeons had data that they reported. One can only hope that it is done honestly and with integrity. There are no guarantees but if I have to choose a surgeon, I would want that surgeon to be very experienced in what he/she does. I guess I have to go with the data. I know there were times during my life when I would ask the hard questions and get very vague answers. Those answers told me a LOT (like RUN AWAY!).

Also, regarding the treatment choice, looking at the data on the OP, it seems he is an excellent surgical candidate. Yes, other treatments are probably fine, too. But in this case there is no reason to criticize his choice and it did sound like that earlier post was a bit critical in tone. That is something we try not to do.

Now, if he perhaps had very different stats, then given our collective knowledge, it might be that one choice appears to be a poor choice. But even then, we can be tactful. I know I have envied some of you who have made the same suggestions I made in certain situation, but with a lot more tact!

Mel

 

Tom,
Thought I would get back to your original question as to what to expect from Dr. Patel by telling you what to expect the day of surgery.

I got there 2 hours before the surgery. Met Crystal in the lobby of the hospital to fill out and sign forms. She took my wife and I along with another couple on the elevator up to the surgery floor on the 3rd floor.
We waited in the waiting area where the wives wait during your surgery. There are TVs and magazines there. They came to get me 10 minutes later. I remember telling the other couple, "Let's go kick some prostate cancers *ss!"
My wife and I went to the pre-op area where you change into a gown and put the ugly yellow socks on. This is a definite Kodak moment so have your camera ready. Your life will be changing soon. They took vitals, started putting in all the tubes and IV's. Someone said, "Your BP is pretty high!" I said, "If we switch places right now, I bet it comes down fast".

I never saw Patel, I believe he was in surgery, but was told that he would personally call my wife after the surgery was over.
You spend about 1 hour in pre-op. They have a bathroom if you need to go ONE LAST TIME BEFORE YOU GET CATHERIZED.

They wheeled me out to surgery and I was out before I got there.
Patel did call my wife on her cell to say everything went well and he believed he got all the cancer.
The next thing I remembered was being wheeled into my room about 6 hours later. I don't remember anything in recovery.

The hospital has several places to eat. My wife needed to get her coffee. Since Celebration Health is a Seventh Day Adventist hospital, you will not find any red meat in the building. Nice way to start your new life and new eating habits.
It is also located on Disney property so all the different wards are called "Neighborhoods". They even have hidden speakers outside in the flower beds playing music like Epcot.
The room looked like a hotel room. They have a love seat that converts into a twin bed and they encourage the family to stay the night. The pictures my wife took of the bathroom looked nice since I didn't have a need to use it.
The nurses were wonderful, they deal with PC patients so they know what you are going through.
Meals were bland and they make you drink a cup of water every 30 minutes and you need to do a breathing treatment every hour. Because of that, I hardly slept knowing the nurse would be in shortly making her rounds.
Pain was very mild. They get you up and walking about 4-5 hours after surgery. I walked some laps around the nurses stations about every 2 hours. They want to get the blood circulating in your legs.
I kept the large catheter in a blue bag that Patel gives you when I walked. I ended up using it the rest of the week. I never used the leg bag.

My wife slept a few hours. The next morning, she awoke to find Dr. Patel and 5 members of his team visiting with me at about 6:30 A.M.. What a shock she had seeing all these people in my room at sunrise.
We had a meeting with the others who had surgeries about what to expect in the coming weeks at about 8:00 A.M after we had breakfast inour rooms and I was discharged around 10:00.

You have my email if you have any other questions.

Now go kick some prostate cancer's *ss!

Bill

Lots of good conversation here!!! - I have been busy with the other parts of my life.... (trying to ignore this one I suppose)

I know I am in for the ride of my life!!

Based on my business and life experiences ... the more experience one has the better the overall results.

In my business of manufacturing, when we start working on a new product it is a very diffucult task and gets better very slowly ... but after a while we get very, very good at it.

So much so,  our competition cannot understand how we can do it soooo efficiently ... it may not be the best comparison but it is one that makes sense to me.

My friend (older Top URO Surgeon) tried the Robot but he prefers the open because his results are better.

Although he admits his preference is based on his experience with open.

I am certain if his son becomes a Surgeon ... and we roll ahead 20 years his preference will be Robots ... and I suspect he will be doing many more a day than his Dad did.

We have the same situation with Robots in our manufacturing business ... the older guys are better with the conventional way (due to experience) and the new (techy guys) are better with the Robots (due to COD)

I agree the quantity can be come an issue.

In my case I am choosing between a surgeon who does a few a month or a few to several a day.

Which one is better??

Again based on my experience I would rather have a guy that has seen thousands of Prostates (fatigued or not) than one who has seen a couple hundred.

Maybe mine will look like number 3,213 or maybe 568 or maybe 5,211 .... if so...then maybe he will make a better decision than the guy who has only seem 250 ... but never seen one like mine.

They may all look similar but I would think most are pretty unique.

That is my take on the situation ... maybe I am wrong ... but I have to go with what has worked with me in the past

 

Hi Tom.
I've not yet read on this thread any mention of the discomfort you will be in after the surgery. IMHO, getting on an airplane to fly home within the first 3-5 days will be very uncomfortable, if not agonizing.

You will be bloated with gas, and attempting a bowel movement for a few days will be awful. You will have a catheter, and going thru security will be no fun. At a minimum, you should plan for a week in a hotel, and living just outside NYC, I know that aint cheap!

I traveled an hour by car home and that was awful. I also had a hernia sewed up so there was a bit more pain than a little old RALP.

Good luck brother!

well OOOOOPPPS!
I thought Patel was in NY, and you'd be flying up and back. Like Gilda Radner used to say....."nevermind".

Post Edited (GTOdave) : 2/6/2013 7:04:26 AM (GMT-7)

More like a walk in central park but at 3AM, getting mugged, beaten, left for dead, and then you wake up in ICU trying to schmooze the nurses for ice chips and more morphine :)

I just had mine done last Thursday, the first day was not pleasant but I was lucky and was up walking by that evening and getting better every day.

What made it worth it for me is I got my final pathology today confirming organ confined, G6, and negative margins. I can live with that! I realize I still have a way to go but I believe the worst is behind me and I can deal with the side effects.

Ps: I didn't go with Patel but I also chose a surgeon who has done many thousands of procedures.

I see some have had questions to Patel answered via email. Since my interview with him I have generated more questions. The nurse that briefed me prior to the interview later stated that only Patel could answer the specific questions I have and that there was no email through which this can take place. Is this true? Patel also seems too busy to answer my questions on the phone, which makes me wonder what type of support he is capable of post operation.

Can anyone supply this email address?

Chuck, believe me I get that. I rarely ever schedule a work meeting or a flight before 11AM if I can avoid it.

In all fairness, I think Patel has a really large skilled team that helps him operate so handling 5 in a large team environment might be like a guy handling 3 all by himself with just assistants.