Newly diagnosed PC

Hello All..will keep everyone updated as surgery time rolls around! My husband's urologist is very experienced and has written many articles and been published in various medical publications concerning prostate cancer and radical prostatectomy. We did discuss the da Vinci method and we were told that it takes considerably longer to do then the regular open surgery. The doc says that he is trained to do da Vinci but feels that keeping someone my husband's age, even though he is a "young" 71, under for twice as long is not something he likes to do. We also understand that the prostate is taken out in "pieces" something that makes my husband and me both uncomfortable...we would rather the prostate was taken out in one piece as personally, we are concerned about possibly spreading the cancer. I do not know if that is even possible but the thought has crossed our minds. If the prostate is broken up, could some of the cancer cells spread to another location???? Did not ask that question as once we found out what da Vinci entailed we decided it was not something my husband wanted to have done. Too lengthy to suit him and it is rather new compared with the other type of open surgery, so don't know that they have all of the bugs worked out or that they know exactly how much better if in fact it is better. I do appreciate hearing from everyone and getting your ideas and opinions. I believe it makes us all think about this disease and that is a great thing..dialogue is very important in any setting and most of all, in one like this!
Thanks again!
Nan

Hello..just wanted to update on my husband. He had surgery Wednesday (1-14-09), radical prostatectomy, and was released yesterday (1-16-09) from hospital. Doc told us that margins were negative, everything looked clear, nerve sparing surgery was successful. He is feeling quite well. No pain to speak of and he is not on any pain meds. Dislikes the large catheter bag but will graduate to a leg bag during the day on Monday. We are relieved and thankful that the surgery is over and he came through with great results! Had half of his staples removed before leaving the hospital and will have remainder removed on 1-29-09 and the catheter will come out on 2-5-09. He is back walking 15 min 4 times each day and is happy to be rid of his three prostate meds that he has taken for so long. Hope all are doing well. Take care.