I had laparoscopic surgery (not da Vinci) on July 15th and prior to
surgery I consulted with four surgeons before making a decision.  Two
of these surgeons were at Stanford, one at Oakland Kaiser, and the
other in private practice.  Two did only open surgery, the other two
did both lap and open surgery.  When I asked about the da Vinci, all
of them independently said it was "OK" but that they thought it to be
a very expensive (million dollar) high tech device that did not result
in an improvement in outcome for the patients.  They said the
physicians who use it either were new to removing prostates
laparoscopically and felt more comfortable with the robotic features
that aided them during surgery or that they were affiliated with a
facility that had a need to use the device in order to rationalize the
huge expenditure to the bean counters.  Many doctors and hospitals
like to use it in their advertising to show the public that they are
at the "cutting edge" (pun intended).  The private physician (who I
talked to last and who ultimately did my surgery) commented that his
first 40 lap procedures were with the da Vinci for the very reasons
stated above but that he now felt more comfortable not using the
device.  All his subsequent lap surgeries (86 at the time I had my
procedure) were done without the da Vinci which now sits in its own
room at the hospital gathering dust.  All agreed that no harm would
come to a patient with the da Vinci but none could see any advantage.
They did mention one drawback - it takes about an additional hour
under anesthetic to set the device up before actual removal of the
prostate begins so that the procedure takes about an hour longer with
it than without it, all else being equal.
Dave Perry

Jeff:

   So far, I'm pleased with the results of my Da Vinci procedure ---
my surgery was Monday, October 13. From the time they started the
anesthesia to the time I returned to my room was about 5 hours. I
stayed overnight in the hospital, I had full meals Monday night,
Tuesday morning and Tuesday night and I left the hospital Tuesday at 1
PM. I had 4 incisions approx. 3/8" long and 1 incision 1" long,
secured with "super glue" and dissolvable sutures. I had some
incision-related tenderness for about 5 days, but none since. The doc
encouraged me to start showering and walking immediately on returning
home. The cath was removed in 1 week. I'm returning to work Monday,
October 27.

   Here's the place mine was done:  
http://www.uant.com/robotic_surgery.html
   
   I think robotic surgery has some distinct advantages, if surgery
is your choice.

Larry

  Looks like it's your call. At this point the results are most likely to
be exactly the same however you get it taken out. I had RP 14 months ago,
and am very pleased with my decision. Good luck!

Many thanks for responses. They were very helpful. Particular thanks to
Don's wife Linda for her personal e-mail.

Still no date for biopsy #2.

In answer to some questions, I am 56 and (otherwise) in outstanding physical
condition. Tennis 3 days a week and regular workouts on off-tennis days when
I am not traveling.  I am 6'3" and under 200 pounds, abnormally low heart
rate and normal BP.  However...

Six years ago I had diverticulitus that ruptured creating a massive
infection. The first crash and burn emergency abdominal surgery involved
resections of both the large and small intestines. IV antibiotics for 8 days
post op and a colostomy. Each day, progress was measured by how many tubes
they took out.  The incision had to heal from the inside out meaning
frequent wound dressings which my wife learned to do. Talk about a strong
relationship!! Not pleasant but at least it was during the time that the
U.S. Open was on TV. About 8 weeks later (with a business trip to Japan in
the interim - had to take the wife to carry the bags) I had surgery to
reverse the colostomy.  Again, allowed to heal from the inside out.

I think you can see why the RLRP has some appeal. If I have to go further
with this, I will have to find out if previous abdominal surgery eliminates
me as a candidate.

I don't know about sage advice, but it does sound like if you come up with
cancer, you would be an excellent prostpect for LRP and robotic LRP seems to
be TNBT (the new big thing).  A local councilman had robotic LRP and was
back on the floor voting in council within 7 days.  Of course, being a
politician is not exactly hard work, but it is still an impressive
prognosis.

In the end, however, we here just as soon you didn't join our club.