Great! .... just like chicken...

I'm sure this varies between us as much after rp as before :-) because physiologically, the prostate
is a central part of the male reproductive system and plays a key role in many aspects of sexual
function, particularly at ejaculation. Even in the best surgeon's hands, no aspect of sexual
function is likely to get better as a result of rp surgery...

For what it's worth, for me it's definitely different. Still very satisfying, but there's no
physical ejaculate and it's not as intense. Then again, at 54 before rp it had already changed from
when I was 20. Does that bother me or my wife? No - it's part of the price I paid for getting my
cancer out and I have no regrets. For me, rgasm isn't the same - I'm not the same - that's life and
I accept the trade off I made as gracefully as I can. Even if you have an early, low grade PCa, if
you really place a higher value on your preop sexual function and orgasm intensity than on the hope
of not dying of PCa, then perhaps you should reconsider surgery as an option. I and most men here
voted with our feet...

We probably vary, but fwiw, mine feel completely normal and satisfying.  I
had the first one four or five days after brachytherapy implant and it was
great!  Ten months later, all's still well in that regard.

Jerry,
For me, post op orgasm has been better than before surgery in that it
lasts about 3 times as long and is very intense. It is like hearing the
same song, just as loud, but very slow. My doc said he hears that from
about 20% of his patients.
Steve U

Couple clarifications....

I was diagnosed about 15 months ago, PSA 10+, T1 or maybe T2
depending on who you asked, Gleason 7 (4+3) but in 5% of one core.
The first 6 core biopsy missed it entirely.

Last summer (2004) they gave me the first of 2 four month Lupron
shots.  This was a couple months before the 25 IMRT sessions.   A
year ago, I had 97 Palladium-103 seeds.

As I've mentioned several times.  I had very slight side effects
from the IMRT, a little urinary urgency.   Maybe some lower GI
symptoms but nothing that might not be simply diet.

The seeding was equally easy.  I asked for a local, a spinal block,
because I wanted to watch the monitors and listen to the operation.
Unfortunately, I was able to "feel and move my feet" so they knocked
me out.

When I got up, it took less than an hour to get a drink, pee, have
the catheter yanked out.  I walked out of the recovery room and to
the curb where my driver picked me up.  That's *walked out*, no
courtesy wheelchair.  

I was "juiced" on decadron (a steriod that reduces swelling in the
urethra), flomax (improves pee'ing), pyridium (reduces pain while
pee'ing but dyes the pee bright orange), and a couple other drugs.

That day, I pee'ed a few drops of blood.  The first ejaculation  a
few days later, was reddish brown.

I was still on Lupron so I wasn't having regular erections and
wasn't especially interested in them.

At about seeding+one month, I was getting up several times a night
to pee and had to "go" about every hour or two during the day.    My
drive to work is 30-50 minutes, depending on traffic.  I never had
to pull over and run for the bushes.

Each month after that, I was going longer and longer between having
to pee.  At about the 5th or 6th month post seeding, I was sleeping
through the night.  

At the one year mark, I can drink 32 ounces of water, go to bed and
sleep for 8 hours.  I also drink 32 ounces of dilute coffee in the
morning, pee, and drive 45 minutes to the office.  

The erections returned about 7 months after the 4 month Lupron shot.
Call it 3 months for the Testosterone to start rising.  About then,
I also started looking at www.thehun.com again.  

Erections and orgasms are *not* as good as before.  However, at
seeding+one year, I can have an erection without direct physical
stimulation and without chemical assistance.  This is not as easy as
before but the docs say that it will improve as the Testosterone
levels increase.  The last T was 310 which is at the low end of
normal.

The erections, even with a 50 mg of Vitamin-V, are not as hard as
I'd like but are serviceable. I've done it both ways.  One odd
side effect is that I can orgasm and ejaculate while relatively
soft, go figure.

I ejaculate a small quantity of fluid, about a half teaspoon. It
looks different, thinner, clearer.  According to the books, about a
third of seeding patients do this.

It feels about the same but different.  

After seeding, while on Lupron, I clocked two <0.1 PSA's.  When the
Lupron wore off, my PSA went to 0.4 and the last test, at the 1 year
mark, was 1.0.

The rad-doc says that is well within range of what he expects.  He
said that if I had not been on Lupron, a "good" sequence would have
been 8, 6, 4, 2, something like that, in a smoothly descending
curve.

He is optimistic that he "got it all" with his IMRT and
Palladium-103 seeds and he said that I should "live my life as if I
were cured because there is a 93+% probability that I am."

At the one year mark, I don't feel quite 100%.  I sleep 8 or 9 hours
a day and take naps on weekends.  I don't have the stamina that I
used to have but that is improving.  

I take one Aleve/day to help with pee'ing.  I stopped taking flomax
at 6 months and switched to Aleve only.

I don't want to mislead you.  I was *very* lucky.  My primary care
doc has a seeding patient who is catheterized because, otherwise, he
can't pee.  

A few years ago, I was capable of having an orgasm, taking a half
hour break, having another erection, repeat, rinse, repeat.  The
second erection could last a while, half an hour of vigorous
thrusting.  Here's a funny, my ex-wife complained that I "took too
long to come" and she thought that meant "I didn't find her
exciting."  

After we broke up, I met a woman who thought it was "a blessing" to
be able to make love 3 and 4 times in a day, with lengthy sessions
of squealing and hollaring.

Post seeding, I'm barely capable of one erection per week.  I also
don't last 20 or 30 minutes. 2 or 3 minutes is about it now.  But
that might be the Lupron. Donno.

I've noticed a gradual improvement, month over month.  I remain
hopeful.

When I mentioned that erections and orgasms weren't as good, the
rad-doc asked if I was having a problem not lasting very long.  I
gather that this is a common problem.

That's how it looks from here.  I hope that helps.