Visited the incontinence uro today at Northwestern Hospital . . . he
said the sphincter must have been damaged during surgery (7-21-03). I
am peeved because we're now talking about medical malpractice, done by
another uro surgeon at NH, which is supposed to be a "top uro center".
So much for that idea! I had already been suspicious of the surgeon-uro
by things he said, and the way he acted, in the half a dozen visits
since the RRP (for example, when I told him I had blood in my stool
while still in the hospital after the surgery, he (dishonestly, I
think) refused to disclose that it probably (or could have) happened as
a result of pulling the enlarged prostate off the rectal wall - instead
he said to get a colonoscopy!). I almost had it licked (I thought) last
summer, was only needing one, and at most two pads a day, and since a
regression started in September (from doing Kegels, mind you) it has
gotten steadily worse. I now have little control upright, and
substantially more leaking otherwise than at any time during the past
16 or 17 mos. I explained to the doc today that I can clamp down much
easier than then, but he said that doesn't matter, that it's another
mechanism that controls the constant, long term, overall control that
we rely on most for continence. I'm having an AMS sphincter installed
3-15. I leak too much for a sling (>150 grams/day) and NH's custom
built sling hasn't been tested enough for me (enuf risk taking!) even
tho it supposedly has as good a results as the AMS. I am really pissed
at the surgeon-uro doctor, so unless I find out there is a reasonable
possibility he didn't botch the RRP, I am going after him. It's been a
difficult 19 mos. post RRP, except for a brief 3 month respite last
summer, and since only about 30% of any corrective device yields "no
pads" in the future, the future isn't bright even with a device
installed.