Hi there kdeinv,
I hope I don't drive people crazy when referring to Mayo Clinic as often as I do, but they certainly are one of the cadillacs of health care, along with Cleveland Clinic, Johns Hopkins, etc.
I had da Vinci prostate surgery at Mayo (Rochester, MN) late in 2011. I return there next week for my 2-year checkup.
Regarding the Kegels -- Mayo pretty much told me the same thing as your doctor said. Doing Kegels in advance of the surgery really does not help all that much, so they said it was not necessary.
What I did do, however, was continue my program of running 1 hour each day (about
7.5 miles). I did this all the way up to my trip to Mayo. The better your conditioning prior to the surgery, the better things are.
AFTER the surgery, they gave me a list of instructions on how to do them. One thing that Mayo seems to differ from other clinics is that they say to do ONLY ONE set of Kegels per day (a total of 6--7 reps, and that's it).
They say that doing dozens & dozens a day (as others do) can actually tire the muscle and that the one set is enough. They recommend doing this one set at night before bedtime (to let the muscle rest all night), preferrably sitting on the toilet. I do mine while laying in bed and they said this is fine.
Here is how they say to do them.....
* squeeze the anal sphincter muscle as if trying to hold back gas
* at the same time, squeeze the urinary sphincter muscle as if trying to cut off a stream of urine
* hold both like this for 10 seconds
* relax both muscles
* wait 60 seconds and then repeat this 6 times
They also told me to do them for the rest of my life. I'm going to double-check on that next week when visiting them to see if I can stop doing them. No big deal either way though, but I'd just as soon stop doing even that one set. LOL
Hope this helps!
Chuck
Resident of Highland, Indiana just outside of Chicago, IL.
July 2011 local PSA lab reading 6.41 (from 4.1 in 2009). Mayo Clinic PSA Sept. 2011 was 5.7.
Local urologist DRE revealed significant BPH, but no lumps.
PCa Dx Aug. 2011 at age of 61.
Biopsy revealed adenocarcinoma in 3 of 20 cores (one 5%, two 20%). T2C.
Gleason score 3+3=6.
CT of abdomen, bone scan both negative.
DaVinci prostatectomy 11/1/11 at Mayo Clinic (Rochester, MN), nerve sparing, age 62.
My surgeon was Dr. Matthew Tollefson, who I highly recommend.
Final pathology shows tumor confined to prostate.
5 lymph nodes, seminal vesicles, extraprostatic soft tissue all negative.
1.0 x 0.6 x 0.6 cm mass involving right posterior inferior,
right posterior apex & left mid posterior prostate.
Right posterior apex margin involved by tumor over a 0.2 cm length, doctor says this is insignificant.
Prostate 98.3 grams, tumor 2 grams. Prostate size 5.0 x 4.7 x 4.5 cm.
Abdominal drain removed the morning after surgery.
Catheter out in 7 days. No incontinence, occasional minor dripping.
Post-op exams 2/13/12, 9/10/12, PSA <0.1. PSA tests now annual.
Semi-firm erections now happening 14 months post-op & VERY slowly getting a bit stronger.
Post Edited (HighlanderCFH) : 9/4/2013 6:42:00 PM (GMT-6)