UROLOGIST UPDATE Dull ache returns 9 months after surgery

LATEST POST AT THE END OF THREAD. Hello again everyone. I have returned in a quite panic. So its almost 10 months since my surgery and my recovery has been extremely successful. Im due another PSA this week. Last one was <0.03. UPDATE: MY PSA CAME BACK AT 0.04 SO IS NOW DETECTABLE ON uPSA TEST. I remain fully continent and the old tin whistle is still playing tunes. In that regard I started off running with 80% erections without viagra. This has not improved but Im not complaining and I still hold out hope that there is some nerve healing that may enable me to discard the blue pills all together in the future. I make a point of having sex with and without the pills although the later takes more effort.

Im still vegan and coming up to Christmas I had been walking, hiking, swimming and attending yoga and looking forward to a lovely family time compared to the surreal experience of the year before when I was just diagnosed. The thing is I started getting a dull ache around the 22nd of December in the lower left side of my abdomen and in my left testicle. It felt exactly the same as it did in early recovery with some slight dribbling after urinating. Just when I thought I was out they pull me back in!!!!

Aside from a quite panic about cancer returning I still had a great Christmas and tried to think of other things it might be. The pain in my testicle has gone but the ache remains and gets worse when I over do it. I will be getting my scheduled appointment with my uro on the 23rd so I have been holding out til then. The GP will only go over the things it might be and I already have a fair idea what he'll say so I haven't went to see him.

Here are my guesses (hoping of course that its not recurrence). Firstly I think I may have strained down there after splitting wood and carrying heavy loads of wood up steps. Secondly the strain might be a small hernia. I've had one before on the opposite side way before my cancer journey and it feels similar but there is no obvious bulge down there that i can feel and I could with the hernia. Thirdly I was wondering could it be blocked semen trying to get to the bladder as it was in my testicle as well but has since just been in my abdomen exactly were my surgery recovery ache had been!

I'd really like your thoughts on it guys. Has anyone ever had something return like this and what has been the outcome? Happy New Year and thanks in advance.

Post Edited (Dharmacolm) : 1/26/2019 9:55:38 AM (GMT-7)

You guess is as good as anyone's.... Hernia would be mine since you're into "weeks" of pain.

Likely some scar tissue, or some other part of the healing process, yes, even after this long. International;lay it takes time.
It could also be a hernia.
But it isn’t prostate cancer. Even if your PSA was no longer undetectable, you would need a parabolic rise which just doesn’t happen at early stages, especially with your favorable pathology. generally speaking, in a short time to be symptomatic

I vote hernia.

Some times RP can weaken the structures down there.

It might be a hernia but if it is you probably can't blame it on your robotic surgery. Since you mention that your previous hernia was "on the opposite side" it sounds like you aren't talking about an umbilical hernia -- that's the type that is common after robotic surgery and it is right in the middle near your navel. Of course, guys who have had their prostates removed get hernias just like anyone else so it could be that you've got another one.

And, as Paxton suggests, it could be an "adhesion". Sometimes tissues that are supposed to slide over one another will stick together as they heal after surgery and the resulting tugging can be painful. Often they stretch out or come loose and you don't need to do anything but put up with the discomfort for a while.

But what is certainly isn't is your cancer returning.

The last two posts are very informative and seem to ring true now that I have some clarity after sharing with you guys. So yes the ache is not by the navel and does feel exactly like a tugging sensation on the left side where my post surgery ache was. I'm leaning towards an adhesion now. Is it possible that can start to happen 10 months post op? If so, yes, that's what it feels like. Thanks lads. Either way I'll find out soon enough after my consultation.

Hi Dharmacolm,

about 8 months after my RP, I started having pain in my lower abdomen, groin, and testicle. I was diagnosed with bilateral lymphoceles, a result of having lymph nodes removed. The lymphocele on the right was pressing on a blood vessel and required drainage to prevent a blood clot. The one on the left was pressing on a nerve, causing all of the pain, and therefore also required drainage. Sixteen months post surgery, I still have some residual pain but it is easier to tolerate since I know it is not cancer. Anxiety makes everything worse - try to relax until your next appointment. I think what you are experiencing is fairly normal.

Best wishes.

I’d look up the symptoms myself for testicular cancer, but then they’d be two of us with it.

Don’t need that in my life.

The guy in that article had psa after RP. You don’t. It’s not prostate cancer.

Yep, could be a hernia, or more possibly an adhesion. Could you be overdoing the exercise and heavy activity?

I suggest you're creating too much stress and panic internally for what may be normal residual pain from serious surgery.

Good luck with what should be an excellent PSA.

Dharmacolm...

What I do in situations like you find yourself in....

When I go to a doctor, I describe to them what I want. (Like...”I want a diagnosis on this pain in my side”. Or, “I’ve chewed tobacco all of my life. The left side of my throat has been hurting for 6 mos. I want that pain checked out please.”

Then, they may say “Ah, it’s nothing” (which usually leads me to another doctor). Or, they may order a test or scan. But, whatever it is that’s preying on my mind, I get to the bottom of it to my satisfaction.. I do not stop until I am satisfied, in my own mind, that there is nothing to worry about...or...someone finds the problem.

Some of getting to that piece of mind or diagnosis has to do with a mixture of 1) how much I trust the doctor, and 2) what I’ve read about that it could be...and have they checked for that?

But, get to the bottom of it I do.

Many times, once I get to where I have piece of mind that I know that I have done everything I can do...then (for some strange reason)...the pain will go away.

I’m not saying there’s nothing wrong with you. What I am saying is that you have to do what you have to do to get this off of your mind. If this doctor cannot do that for you, I’d suggest finding one who can.

That pain in my throat? I went to three doctors before I got satisfaction. The third stuck a tube down my throat to have a good look. My throat hasn’t bothered me since (except on occasion, and when it does, I worry not at all about it).

Tell the guy your concerns (you think you have cancer, tube stopped up, etc) and make him prove to your satisfaction what it is, if anything.

Good luck man.

PS...I still believe yor pain is not cancer. You want to know what’s causing your pain. As to your PSA...that’s a different conversation with him.

Island Time. Im also being educated by your psa stats after surgery!!! I notice they have went up past my latest reading and back down again. Did you have any other treatments? In any case its encouraging and congrats on your path.

Thanks GoBucks. The thing is I'm reading in certain studies that because of ultra sensitive psa now that many urologists are looking at a rises above 0.03 as recurrence and there's a website interviewing a urologist who treated a patient with srt after his psa went from 0.01, 0.02, 0.03, 0.04 to 0.05. Opinion is divided on it and I would be interested in what others think of this new approach as well. My worry is that my psa has been rising but remained undetectable until it got above the labs lowest reading of 0.03. Im looking at that with the symptoms I have been having. Im a worrier what can I say. In any case I will be hogging out on something as I watch the new Mission Impossible movie. Nothing like a bit of nonsense to take our minds off thinks. Very grateful for your reply GoBucks and it has helped.

I like your thinking Gary. If my urologist is of the same opinion on Wednesday I believe I will be able to get back to normality in the brain department.