Posted 1/4/2010 4:51 PM (GMT -6)
This forum is outstanding as an information resource. Kudos to you long-time members for providing such valuable insights.
In choosing a surgeon to perform a prostatectomy, I agree: the more procedures the doc has done, the better. My surgeon told me he has performed more of this procedure than any other doc in central Ohio (I later confirmed independently), and that he does both robot and open varieties. In my case he recommended open, but told me that aside from the abdominal scar I would have no more long-term effects from open surgery than from the robot. So far he seems to be right, as my recovery from open surgery (done 4 weeks ago) I would call remarkable: nearly complete continence, can do pretty much everything physically except shovel snow (which I regard as a benefit!), and can sense some developing ability to get an erection. I was working on client projects within 3 days of surgery. So my outcome seems pretty exceptional, which I attribute in large part to having my surgery done by a highly experienced, superb surgeon.