First interview with surgeon

First off, based on what you said in your post, I have little doubt that you'll be cured of cancer after your treatment.  So don't worry about that.  You're looking for the quality of life details which will turn out to be a big deal...

First off, I'd ask the doctors what their statistics and standard practices are:

1. how long does a typical surgery last.

2. How long do they like to keep the catheter in

3. What are their statistics for men of your age with respect to nerve sparing, incontinence and recovery of continence, ED and recovery of erectile function.

4. I'd be sure to ask what percentage of their patients are able to recover erectile function without the use of drugs or devices.  That's a big one.  And one which I wish I'd known to ask before I had my surgery.

5. I'd ask for statistics on continence and erectile function at 10 days, 30 days, 45 days, 90 days and 12 months.  According to what I can recall from a conversation I had with one of Mani Menon's assistance, his stats are tops.  Tewari ought to be in the same ballpark.  Same with Patel at Ohio State. (I don't know if you realize that all those surgeons are Da Vinci specialists, but hey, that's my paradigm.)

I'm at six months post surgery and still frustrated by my lingering side effects.  I always thought I'd be an exception (you know, young, good health, active).  But I'm not an exception.  Hope you have the best of luck.

Sloan-Kettering doctors will be very very good.  You could take him at his word and probably end up fine.  Couple thoughts though:

1. Regaining continence within a year does not sound like a super-accomplishment.  I think most doctors are probably up around that figure, or higher.  His figure for regaining erectile function--if it is accomplished without drugs--seems very good.

2. It has been said and I believe it is true that, in the hands of the most skilled practitioners (note I said most skilled, not run-of-the-mill) results are comparable.  But I'm going to argue, here, for DaVinci.  Ever wonder why surgeons arms are so tremendously strong? Try putting on a rubber glove, covering it with soap suds and then try to carefully slice a tomato, for instance.  Or  hold a flashlight up for 45 minutes, holding it steady.  Or how about this--turn off your electrical power, get a flashlight, open up an electrical outlet, disconnect the wires, then throw the wires and outlet down into the hole in the wall that the socket was in.  Now, you can only get them out, and reattached, using tweezers, a flashlight, a screwdriver and a mirror.  Tough, innit!  But (IMHO) this is not far off of what a radical prostatectomy is like, actually a radical prostatectomy is far more difficult.  Can you see that fatigue will set in?  Only tremendous stamina and strength can work here.  I give credit to those guys who do opens, or laproscopic.  They've got to be brilliant in order to even be able to get close to doing it.

3. compare the above to DaVinci. The surgeon is at a console. The surgical field is brilliantly illumined, by a robot that never gets tired. The surgical field is magnified and the loss of blood is minimal, because the pressure of the gas which is inflating the stomach is the same as the pressure of the blood in the vein.  The surgeon can see, perform refined and tiny movements.  He's sitting down, his head immersed in the display.  Fatigue is much less of an issue.  The surgery takes about an hour.  I think the best Da Vinci's are seeing results slightly above the  other treatment options.  Call Menon at the Ford clinic in Detroit. Talk to one of his assistants, or Tawari.  I think you'll hear more impressive statistics than what your surgeon told you.