It's been a year and 2 days since my prostate and I parted ways. I posted a long and rambling story right after the surgery, and thought I'd post a quick update. Hope this will be helpful to anyone who's about to have surgery or is recently recovering. Keep in mind that with a Gleason score of 3+4 and no other major health problems, my situation was, thankfully, pretty uncomplicated compared to others who are members of this wonderful community.
The best news is that the surgery (RRP, no robot) was successful. Margins were negative and my PSA levels are still < 0.1 after several tests. So any other issues are minor compared with that.
Recovery of general health was good. I stayed home for 2 weeks, was at work (office job) part time for 2 more weeks, then pretty much back to normal except that I acquired a new and enjoyable habit of taking an afternoon nap.
Urinary incontinence has been slow to resolve. After 6 months I was still at 3 pads/day, and at 11 months I sort of plateaued at 2 pads/day. Finally I realized that my UI was not going to just go away by itself, so I got serious and made a few changes that have helped a lot. I started taking imipramine again (50 mg daily) which helped to tighten up the urinary sphincter. I also completely cut out all caffeine and alcohol, made sure I went to the bathroom every hour, tried not to drink more than 8 oz liquid at a time, and got serious again about those Kegels. As a result, I dropped almost overnight to 1 pad/day, and now I'm thinking about using a smaller pad. Complete continence is still over the horizon, but I'll be happy with a small pad to catch the occasional leak.
Erectile function was maybe 75% recovered pretty soon after surgery, but the UI made the whole sex thing sort of messy and not much fun. My old friend "Mr. Happy" just wasn't as much fun as he used to be. But now that the UI is getting under control, sex is starting to be more fun. So I pop 1/2 a tab of Viagra and am pretty much good to go.