67 Years old. Diagnosed with prostate cancer on 4/11/2011. 12 samples were taken at biopsy and 3 were positive (one 60%, one 40% and one 21%) and one borderline (PIN). Gleason score of 6. DRE normal. PSA 4.58.
Robotic Prostatectomy 9/22/2011. All negative margins. No lymph node or kidney involvement. Cancer appears to have been contained in prostate capsule. Still Gleason 6 post-surgery.
3 Months post surgery I'm still experiencing penile pain on a daily basis. I had serious retention issues after the cath was removed and had to strain, etc. to pass urine, which I assume led to some of the problem. On October 31, my surgeon performed a cystoscopy and said everthing was healing perfectly...just the way he liked to see healing process. I'd had 2 cystos before which were completely painless...this one was a bit painful, I assume because I still had inflammation, swelling, etc...not fully healed. On the same day he had his nurse teach me to self-cath which I did up to 3 times a day until Nov. 8 when my bladder function began to return. My bladder function is good now. I produce a very strong stream and void quickly. I do have some trouble getting a strong stream when my urge is not on the high side and this sometimes causes pain. I've been waking almost every night around 3:00 AM or so with penile pain. If I get up and pee I develop pain if the stream is weak. I'm wondering if anyone else here has experienced penile pain after this procedure. I sure some of it was brought on by the self cathing, etc. This morning I oike with a "tingly" kind of sensation that feels like nerve pain. I saw the doc. last week and he mentiond I might have undiagnosed interstitial cystitis. However, I don't feel that I have the symptoms of IC. Some bladder pain if I hold my urine for a long time but not usually. I don't have severe urinary frequency although I drink a lot of water and pee about 8 to 10 times a day. No extreme urgency unless I hold for a long time. He even put me on Elmiron, which is incredibly expensive and only works in 30% of cases and can take up to 2 years to work. I've wandered a bit. Really I'd just like to get a consensus of other men's experience with penile pain following robotic prostatectomy. Thanks.