MY RELATIONSHIP TO DA VINCI SURGERY: Patient

MY CONDITION: Prostate Cancer

TYPE OF PROCEDURE I HAD: da Vinci Radical prostatectomy

DATE OF PROCEDURE: Aug 28, 2008

MY SURGEON: Dr. Joseph Franks

HOSPITAL WHERE MY PROCEDURE WAS PERFORMED: Dominican Hospital

OTHER TREATMENTS I CONSIDERED BEFORE DA VINCI SURGERY:
Pellet implant and radiation

THE BIGGEST CONCERNS I HAD ABOUT TREATMENT:
Limiting future options

WHY I CHOSE DA VINCI SURGERY:
The precision and the chance of no side effects

HOW LONG I WAS IN THE HOSPITAL:
1 day

MY PAIN AND/OR DISCOMFORT LEVEL:
no

ABOUT MY RECOVERY TIME:
2 weeks

WHEN I RETURNED TO NORMAL ACTIVITIES:
3 weeks

ABOUT MY SURGEON AND/OR FACILITY STAFF:
it was outstanding - exemplary

HOW DA VINCI SURGERY COMPARED TO MY PREVIOUS EXPERIENCES OR PRECONCEPTIONS OF SURGERY:
Better than I had hoped

The story is about as short as the complete recovery. I didn't really second-guess the decision to remove the prostate using the da Vinci robot, and I was optimistic that the results would be positive. The surgery lasted nearly 5 hours, but 3 hours later I was walking around the halls of the hospital. The next day, Dr. Franks said he thought I should go home because "there are sick people here at the hospital." I did not take one pain pill after going home and other than the unavoidable urinary problems, I could have gone back to work in a few days.