Pete,
Might I suggest that for first hand experience you may try and seek out a
local support group.

Checking the USTOO web site http://www.ustoo.com I notice that there are
many support groups in MA and one that meets in your hospital ,Deaconess, on
the 1st Monday of each month, a few short days away.  that's how I confirmed
if the uro who did my RP was the right guy for me.

Good luck

Tony in Tucson

Hi everyone.

Thanks to everyone for all of your kind support. I'll never forget it.

I'm home and will post in a while but on this topic...I wanted to
say...last week, Claude posted:

<snip>

I may be flamed for this post, but here goes. Most men who have RP's
have successful surgery. Most men have their surgery done at hospitals
other than Johns Hopkins and famous hospitals like it. There are many,
many excellent urological surgeons out there who don't write books, who
don't get quoted in the papers, who don't operate on celebrities. They
practise in big cities and in smaller communities. They quietly and
competently perform successful surgeries on large numbers of men with
prostate cancer. They are out there, and most PCa sufferers are operated
on by them. If you do your research on urologists available to you, you
can find such a competent surgeon, and your result will be as good (or
as bad) as it would be at Johns Hopkins.
        I live in a town of 12,000 people 30 miles from
two large teaching hospitals in Rochester, NY. The main urological
surgeon in our town is a man who has a reputation as being an excellent
urological surgeon (He is humorless and doesnt have much of a bedside
manner, but I don't care about that.). He was on the faculty of a large
teaching hospital in Chicago, but left it to take up a surgical practise
in our town where, as he puts it (totally in character), "I didnt have
to clean up residents' mistakes." In 20 years of surgery, he has done
over 500 RPs, most of these in the more recent years. He loves surgery,
studies it, and keeps up to date on procedures. He practises
nerve-sparing surgery, and 3 years ago went to the Cleveland Clinic to
learn the laproscopic procedure. I spoke personally with 5 patients of
his, all of whom spoke glowingly about their surgical results.
        I did my research on him and felt comfortable
with him being my surgeon. I decided that there was also a great
advantage in being treated in our local hospital, 10 minutes away by
car. So I didnt even go the 25 miles to one of our two big teaching
hospitals in Rochester. I stayed here and had him do the surgery. That
was on May 1, 2002 when I was 64 years old.
        What have been the results? Unfortunately I did
not have clear margins and my post-surgery Gleason went up to a 3+4 from
a 3+3 presugery. He could only spare one nerve. But all other results
have been excellent. My PSA is still undetectable (I am also
superstitious and hoping I didnt jinx myself by saying all this---my
next PSA is end of April and I get as nervous as the rest of you.) I was
continent within 48 hours. Erections were back in 6 months---OK, but
better with 25 mg of Viagra. I can't say what long range results will
be, but the shorter range ones are very good, and I'm very pleased with
my decision to have him do the surgery *here*.
        This is a long and rambling way of saying that
there are lots of good surgeons and hospitals all over the country. *If*
you do your research, ask the proper questions, and talk with former
surgical patients, chances are you can find a good surgeon and hospital
near you. You don't have to go to Johns Hopkins.   </snip>

Far from being flamed for it Claude, I found this to be a very eloquent
and accurate post.

There are great docs all over the place.

I was fortunate enough to have Dr. William Catalona here at Northwestern
Memorial Hospital in Chicago do my RRP 10 days ago (more on this in my
post to come), but were he not here in Chicago...I was prepared to go
anywhere for "the best", whoever that may be.

As many of the smarter group folks have pointed out...there are really
great surgeons all over the country.

Big cities and small towns.

Ask around in medical circles, ask in local support groups, ask docs and
others you trust, look online (Google) and the do your best to feel
comfortable with your choice.

Jackie Mason has a joke...

He sez...

"Everybody has the best doctor. You're in Florida and a guy says 'I got
the best doctor', another guy in Iowa says 'I got the best doctor.'

They can't ALL be the best. Maybe you have a liver problem and your
doctor got a 60 in 'livers' in school."

Point is...there ARE great doctors all over.

I know it's anxiety provoking to choose, but try and search your area
and see what you come up with.

Having a webtv and not a REAL computer, I don't say IMHO because if I
write something...and it's not a real fact...it's ALWAYS only my humble
opinion.

Accent on the humble.

Thanks again to all and the best to everyone,

Ron B.

Chicago

Yes indeed, it has been shown that RRP treatment at local hospitals can
be as effective as that received at larger institutions.  Conversely it
has also been shown that not all high-volume docs are good at RRP.
Some just make the same mistakes every time.  As you point out, if you
do your homework you can find good docs at local hospitals or larger
institutions...Best wishes and good health, Ron

Pete,
Another surgeon you mught want to consider.
My brother who lives in the Boston area used Dr. Francis McGovern. He
did extensive research before choosing Dr. McGovern and stated that his
name kept coming up as being one of the best in the area. Since I live
in Boulder, and wasn't willing to travel to Boston for my surgery, I
can't comment directly on the research. From a suurgical perspective,
he was very happy with the result. He was 40 at the time and had a
nerve sparing procedure with no incontinence and as he put it a usable
erection almost immediately. I included a link to his medboard entry.

http://profiles.massmedboard.org/Profiles/MA-Physician-Profile-View-Doctor.asp?B
rn=55277