This is my initial write up....then I have more updates since I have about 18 months of new experiences.

20-Sep-2016

Hello men of YANANOW and thank you! And thank you to the women that support your men, read this site and are so supportive of our journey. To those dedicated ladies - thank you. I cherish my supportive wife and if you care enough to be reading this site I just want to say thanks.

My name is Jon Turner, I live in Tampa, Florida and a mere two weeks ago I got the news that I had prostate cancer. For years I pretty much ignored my overall health, I was healthy, ran many miles, was not fat, but far from perfect. My wife is a huge proponent of actively tracking your own health and because of her and my responsibility as a provider and a Dad I was at least having regular physicals. My primary health issue over the past few years was lethargy, I got really tired in the afternoon, after lunch, just beat tired. My GP regularly tested my testosterone levels and I was consistently "low" on testosterone levels for the years aged 42-46, but the 'T' levels were never 'under the line'. At age 46 I went "under the line" of "300" and my GP said "you now have clinically 'low T', you have hypogonadism, and should get testosterone therapy. I will refer you to a urologist who can properly prescribe and track testosterone therapy". I was all in, better energy, sign me up. Long story short, my urologist told me that part of the protocol was to track my PSA. "OK" I said, much like Rick Moranis in Ghostbusters when they ask him for brain tissue samples after the big defeat of the Gozer the Gozerian. Anyway, testosterone therapy was great, nothing crazy in the way of results, just better more consistent energy levels. As the next 3 years tracked I was having my PSA regularly tested and it was very consistently climbing. From low 2s to just over 4. When we cleared 4 my urologist suggested a biopsy. I was against the procedure simply based on the invasive nature of the procedure, but after talking to my very supportive wife we agreed it was best to find out for certain what was going on down there. I did NOT like the biopsy. I believe that on this site just about all of us have had them so I do not need to go into details, but I really did not like it. The counter argument is that I guess if you have PCa it is part of the lifestyle, get used to it. So it should go without saying that since I am on this site the biopsy came back positive. Specifics: 4 of 12 cores positive, T1c, Gleason score of 3+3=6. Crap, I am now in the "cancer" club.

Specific dates & details:

30-Aug-2016: biopsy

07-Sep-2016: consult with urologist, "you have cancer"

30-Sep-2016: consult with urologist to review Decipher test results. Results TBD

I am 49 years old, almost 50. Happy 50^th, you have cancer!...ugh

So as I move forward I am way early in this process. In less than 2 weeks I have my next consult with my urologist. That consult is to review the results of the Decipher test. From online research that test should tell me the aggressiveness of the cancer and is a genetic test to tell me the likelihood of recurrence post prostatectomy... wait, does that mean my urologist is leaning towards a prostatectomy and has just not told me yet? That is where this site has been gold. My urologist is a surgeon, surgeons lean towards…surprise - surgery! So at least from much research I am becoming educated about what western medicine is keen towards. It seems apparent surgeons like surgery, radiologist like radiology, etc. It will be an interesting journey.

I will provide a caveat now before I type much more. I am an optimist, but at the same time my usual course of dealing with hardship is to "hope for the best, plan for the worst". I will be very frank, attempt to be humorous, in my writings. I will let it all hang out there, emotionally and descriptively. I have a strong goal that I will outlive this cancer and plan to be one of those people that say "cancer is the best thing that ever happened to me!". I know that sound sounds bit crazy, overly optimistic, but I believe that I have a choice, be glum and depressed, or be happy. I will choose to be happy. I can get out of shape and treat my body poorly, or I can use this diagnosis as motivation to get in the best shape of my life. All good, I will live to meet my grandchildren, that is my goal. In the short term I feel that I get in the best shape of my life when I have a goal t train for. I have run marathons, done long distance open water swims. Training for those events got me in great shape. My new goal is to get in great shape in case I have to go under the knife. If not that, I have to be in great shape to battle this dark force and most importantly to be there for my wife and boys.

So upon diagnosis I was oddly not surprised. Life throws us curve balls, I figured I got a doozy of pitch, took a swing and missed big. Crap, I have cancer. My most dreaded moment was not the discussion with my urologist telling me of my cores and my Gleason score, my dreaded moment was breaking the news to my wife. That went OK, some tears, some confusion, but ok. I married a great one and thank God everyday for my beautiful wife. Hard part #2 was telling our kids, 3 boys ages 15-13-11. They were pretty good about it. A bit scared, but once I told them that Dad would be around a long time, this is a slow moving cancer, I fully intended to meet their children … they quickly categorized the news as non threatening and they were on with their lives. Young boys. I did challenge them "I will be the happiest, most positive person you have ever met with cancer…I challenge you to have a better attitude than me - every day!" So far so good, we will see how that goes J.

So now I am less than 2 weeks out from my more detailed diagnosis following the Decipher testing. I have embraced the fact that I now have PCa and have been reading a lot, probably too much. I love the YANANOW site, the survivor stories are GOLD, and I thank you all for you input and stories.

My immediate course of action pending the results in a few weeks is simple. Course of treatment is unknown, but for now my actions are straightforward. I need to get healthier. I look good, am not overweight, I work out ok and maintain a medium to high level of fitness, but my job is one that has me on the road lots. Lots of travel means I travel the world on an expense account and get to eat lots of great food and drink too much, all under the guise of 'work'. So as I try to get 'healthier' my basic guiding principle as I work this out is simple, "more of the good, less of the bad". More exercise, veggies, sleep and trying to be happy and have a great attitude; less grumpiness, bad food and alcohol. As I mentioned I want to be a person that takes cancer as a positive motivator, eat that turd sandwich and love the taste! (I did mention I would be frank!...ok, and maybe a bit crude, that is me)

So here is my 'take away' from you all. What can I take from this site, all these great contributors and mentors? My situation is simple…for now I am plenty scared. My online reading seems to indicate that if you are under 50 that everyone seems to get a prostatectomy (~75%+?), and a few seem to go with active surveillance (why is it always CAPITALIZED?) and then they seem to worry forever. So my 'take away' is that I don't know, I am just scared and trying to plow through life with a positive attitude.

I confess that much of my worry since my diagnosis is life expectancy. I just always assumed I would live until 80+, and have not spent really any time at all contemplating "the end". Now I am worried that 70 is a high goal and I am worried that 65 to 70 might be the end. That would be my ask of you all on YANANOW, tell me stories of others diagnosed in the 40/50 year old crew living 20+ years. I don't know enough yet to know if that is reasonable. Every question one asks on "life expectancy" ends with the standard answer of "it depends". [We currently have more than 60 Survivor Stories for men that have survived more than 20 years after their diagnosis, many of whom had much higher Gleason scores than yours.]

I am so appreciative of all that I have read on this site that I had to contribute and share my own story. I thank you and will let you know how it goes next week when I get my Decipher results. I love my wife and boys!

I apologize if my timeline is confusing. I have found this site very useful and I took a lot of time before contributing. I had originally written my story nearly a year ago - before surgery - and sent in that piece to see if i was able to contribute. Now that I am on the site I will share more of my experience.

For this posting I want to share the surgery experience. In reading this site and others I found that many men mentioned "The surgery", but the details of that day were lacking. What follows is my detailed account of the days leading up to and including surgery. I hope that men who are facing this undertaking can learn. Mot importantly I hope this takes some of themystery out of those few weeks! It is now April, 2019. I had my surgery 8 months ago on 14-Aug-2018. With that said, here are all the details....

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It is 1717 (5:17PM) the day of surgery, Tuesday 14-Aug-2018. Obviously I feel well enough and am bored enough to be taking the time to start writing this. That says a lot in itself. There are so many guys I know going through similar circumstances that I figured I would share. I had a friend of a friend, now a friend!, who had the same procedure from the same doctor at the same facility about 10-weeks before I did so I really appreciate the opportunity to talk to him, but I figured this effort would capture some more of the details. So lets back up….

Prep: The military imprint on my being forced me make a "count down checklist" for 2 weeks out up until I went in - Diet, prep, showers, enemas, all scheduled out.

Showers: 4%GHC or whatever the cleanse solution is. 1x bottle was more than enough, this stuff goes a long way. Super easy, navy shower (scrub with water off). I did 4x of these in prep.

Diet: Supposed to go soft because of bowel prep. I was soft food most all week and Thursday I whipped up some home made chicken noodle soup so I could capture some real broth and have some good soup. Friday and Saturday was some soup and soft stuff. Not a 100% "pure soft" food, but I was good. I was strict 48 hours out. Sunday was soup only. Monday was broth only. Homemade broth is good.

Bowel Prep:A big part of surgery is "Bowel Prep". This has come a long way. My wife had to drink the gallon of crud before. When I did colonoscopy last year they had me drink a quart of crud….it was not bad. This doctor had me go to CVS and buy a 10oz bottle of magnesium citrate. I refrigerated it the night before, drank it at 1000 24 hours out. It was not bad at all. You are supposed to sip it over an hour, I drank it in about 2 minutes. Drinking it at 1000, the system started to evacuate full time about 1400, pretty much done by 1600 with bout #2 at 1900. Then done. Enema at 2000 and I went to bed at 2100. Asleep by 2130.

Day 1: Surgery/Tuesday

Up at 0430 to head from Safety Harbor over towards Orlando to Celebration (Disney area), 70-minute drive that early.

Check in is easy. They mostly talked to Katie since she has hours to kill, we/the patient are simply meat. Katie hates it when I use that word, but it is true.

0700 meet the concierge, walk to the floor, sign some forms, get in a bed. Clothes off and they start their prep. Take 4x pills, Tylenol and some others. IV in the left hand. Lots of warnings about bladder spasms. Shaved by belly with clippers, and later when I was under they shaved with razor. Anesthesiologist visits. Tells us they will do a 'prep dose' in the IV, move beds, then go under. More warnings about bladder spasms. Timeline was basically 0700 lobby, 0710 surgery area lobby, then conference room, 0730 in the bed, prep was 60 min of visits, ready at 0830, bored for 30, drugged and out at 0900. NOTE - prep dose was all I remember. I do not remember being rolled in, moving beds, none of that. They say the prep dose that is supposed to relax you puts some people out, it did for me, I remember nothing. Although I was able to move beds and such, I remember none of that. Next memory was waking up in PostOp. No Katie, she was not allowed in yet so I did not wake up with my wife there.

I woke up at 1130. Post op is brutal. It sucked, I do not want to do that again. I was very uncomfortable, I was in pain, I was disoriented. The good news is that it gets better and better. In retrospect it got better fast, at the time those 2-3 hours went pretty slow. It is a few hours of shit. I wish I had been told beforehand how bad postop would be. I had two kinds of pain, abdomen and bladder. They have opioids for the abdominal pain, nothing helps bladder pain. Over the course of the 3 hours or so in post op I took three hits of opioids. My way of dealing with pain is breathing, counting the breaths, counting ceiling tiles, counting crap sticking out of the ceiling…and breathing. 100%+ of concentration is on odd non-specific pain and your bladder pain. You will never in your life be more aware of your bladder more than this 24-hour period. As to the opioids, I had my 3x IV hits and that was it. My plan is for no more, and so far as of 1900 Day 1 I have had no more. Katie and I are just very anti-opioid, there is risk there, enough politics. The bladder was interesting. They talked so much about it beforehand because apparently it is a real problem post op. And it was, I heard a few men complaining, needing to get up, getting scrappy with the staff. They tell you about 8 times before surgery "you have a catheter, it is draining, getting up does nothing". So, what is it. I can only compare it to fighting a cramp. This is what it was for me. When I did my open water swim a few years back my legs cramped 20 minutes into a 90 minute swim. If I started to push, to exert myself the cramp would slam home, full cramp. If I took it easy, with total 100% concentration I could manage the balance between effort and cramping and pain. My bladder experience was very much like this. 2 hours of brutal management 2 hours of better, but still cognizant, very cognizant. And at 1600 I was able to nap! But here at 1900 it is still a very real issue. I feel that I have to urinate very badly, all the time. I have a way to relax and breath and I do that. Here is an interesting way to look at the bladder issue. They have had us doing Kegel exercises for months. Kegel is strength and control and the ability to pinch, Postop you need the ability to control and completely relax! No one ever told me this. Day 5 note: bladder awareness is most of your concentration for 36 hours, then it goes away. My two cents, use some time now to learn to urinate by relaxing, not pushing and pinching. Sit, relax, drain all, no pinch - that is great practice.

They blow you up like a balloon. I heard a lot about pain but have had none yet. I am fairly bloated, literally blown up and not my svelt hard body self….I am a bit pudgy like I at 3x dinners. Day 5 note: bloating lasts a few days. Day 1-2 I started to belch a bit, wow do they feel good. Day 3 was farting, day 3-4 was crazy G/I noises and serious farting, day 5 was bowel movement. Farting is all gas, no stink, just getting air out.

I was not allowed to leave post-op for my room until my blood pressure was lower. I was one of the last folks out and did not get out of post-op until maybe 1420. This was becaseu my BP stayed elevated…130, and 140ish. In the end they were ready to give me an injection to lower by BP. I told them no, give me a few minutes to calm myself and I will lower my BP. I did happy thoughts (ok, I thought about a really nice seafood dinner) but guess what - lowered by BP with no meds, just happy thoughts! Got down to 123 over ? and I was out.

FL Hospital where we were has a spa. I wish I had scheduled my wife for a massage. I am sure she would not have gone, but she did have a few hours of guaranteed nothing to do. At least I could have schedule her a pedicure or something.

I mentioned 2x kinds of pains - abs and bladder spasms. Bladder is a lot of concentration.

Obviously sitting up does not work. Roll on side, use arms, common sense. By day 4/5 I can use the abs a little bit, that little bit of normalcy is big.

In retrospect, here at 1800 day 1, the word FRAGILE comes to mind to describe my first few hours post op. Not a word I like or am comfortable with to describe myself but it is very accurate. You are very fragile in post op, you get better and stronger remarkably quickly. The starting point really stunk though. Day 5 note: Fragile stays for a while. When I went home I was worried I would get hugged or bump something, it gets better fast.

Photo: In Post OP: bloated. Fresh wounds. Missing one on the left side (my right). Bandage on the right (my left) is where the port comes out.

Urine is bloody. You bag is bloody urine, get used to it. And you get to see the clots, it is all normal, that is why we have the catheter. At Day 5 mine is still bloody. Gets more clear when I super hydrate and sit, gets bloody when I stand or walk too much, gets more bloody at night since I am not drinking all the time. Wake, drink, it starts to clear more.

Day 1 1600: IV was disconnected. Bag drip to be specific, still had IV in hand, but I was moved to manual hydration and no IV bag - so you can walk.

Scars are more than I expected. I had read "keyhole" and "bigger one at belly button". It is not in the belly button, it is 1.5" above the belly button….and pretty big. A knarly 1 to 1.5". Haven't looked to much yet. (note from Day 5 - these scars looked bad a first but very, very quickly move to normal. By AM of Day 2 it was like "ok, they look fine"…it was first glance that was yuck). So do not judge the damage in the first 12 hours.

I was very worried about the catheter, the bag, all those logistics. Not a huge deal, you learn fast. My hospital gave me a shopping bag, like one of those recycle cloth bags. My bag is in the bag, I walk around.

Odd mental note. I keep thinking I need to stop what I am doing….because I have to urinate. Not true! It is a trick. I am typing this...oh, need to stop, go urinate. I talk to Katie, I feel I must stop, interrupt…I have to go urinate. This is an odd realization with how the brain works and our habits. I combat this by relaxing taking some deep breaths. Again, the anti-kegel relaxation drill.

Catheter penis irritation: You have a tube up your penis, we all know this. For my first walk or two the most "tender" part my body during the walk was tip of the penis where the catheter went in. I asked for some gel, they gave me some gel. All good. In retrospect, my recommendation is that as soon as you can, put some gel there, just get ahead of the irritation thing. Note from Day 5: I prefer the liquid over the gel. Hospital had gel, it was a bit messy, but who cares at that point. I like to be clean, it was less than clean. Once home I asked Katie to get KY at the store, she got gel and liquid. I much prefer liquid. Gel you have to apply. Liquid you can sit down, aim the little fella up towards the ceiling and drop a few drops around it. No need for gloves, wiping, applying germs, just a few drops and move on.

My room had paper towels in room. No towels. Do it all over again I would bring a face towel…just to wash and dry my face with a towel, not a paper towel. Oh wait, I was allowed to shower in the AM, and they brought me towels…should have just asked for some.

1630: Chicken broth & Jello. I want a TON more, taking it easy. I want more but I am not in any way as hungry as I imagined I would be. BTW, the "Chicken broth" is hot water with powder, just like the old "Cup-O-Soup", not the home made stuff I prepped with.

1800: Urine is still bloody, it is red, not pink. Although I notice I am more comfortable with my bag, I just grab it and look at it now.

1930: Pain returning. Got a shot in IV. Supposed to be like Tylon but stronger, non-narcotic - Tramadol. But wow, it burns, burns in the hand. Pain for a few seconds, but at this point getting used to them inflicting pain. Grin and bare it.

Breather tool. They give you this plastic tube to inhale from. Wow, you need this. Go back to "Fragile" comment. You will find you are not taking deep breaths. Day 5 note, the first few days you don't cough, or laugh, it hurts. You take no deep breaths. By Day 3 I found I had some serious snot to blow out. Fragile people don't take deep breaths, you need this thing to take your deep breaths. I also whenever I would walk would concentrate almost as much on just taking big, deep, lung clearling breaths.

Bedtime. Plugged IV back in and put on leg things. I think the leg things are useless, but I have no choice, and they don't bother me. If I was old and fat I get it…I am not.

Night #1. Out by 2130. Vitals at 0000. Blood Draw at 0330, and more pain med via IV (burns).

At the 0330 I was very much awake, asked to remove IV, hydrate manually and remove leg things so I could walk. I had slept remarkably well, as well as one can in a hospital.

0345: Walked a bit in the room. I was very shaky. Weak. It worried me a bit, I took it slow. Was it lack of food? I don't know. Regardless, I was cold and shaky, it scared me. I got food, got in the bed to get warm, slept for an hour felt ok.

0530 drain/port removal. Go for a walk.

Port removal. OUCH! One stich, not a problem, but pulling out the 10" tube from your abdomen is 5 seconds of concentrated nausea.

After port and tube removal they glue closed that hole, the 6^thand final hole closed. They use surgical glue to seal the hole. It is epoxy, they mix the two parts and apply - ouch IT BURNS. A few more seconds of pain and discomfort to enjoy.

Day 2/Wed/24-hours postop: Got to go home. Home. Tired. A different kind of tired. Sore too. Taking some meds. Some serious couch time. And lot of walks. Walking is easy. The bladder sensation makes you want to get up, even though you don't need to. A few short 30-60 minute naps. All part of having your butt kicked from major surgery.

On the soup, popsicle and water diet.

Photo: Day 2…scars already better. Still bloated and oddly shaped.

Day 3/Thursday/48-hours: As you get comfortable carrying around your bag, I hook mine to my pocket and am quite mobile, keep track of twists. It will twist and pinch closed the important soft tubing going in, you don't want this to happen. Figured out that with KY, I prefer liquid over gel. The only "ouch" part of getting up and walking around is the tip of the penis, KY works fine.

First passing of gas, small, at 1540. Late afternoon and into the evening the stomach/GI was churning, very loud.

Still on soft diet and thinking now that making that homemade chicken noodle soup last week was a very smart decision.

Day 4/Friday/72 hours:Much more couch time. Worried about bloody bag. It did get more clear with less activity. I called the Doctor on wife's orders and asked. Their answer was common sense, I am walking around too much. More fluid, less walking, let it heal. I am pounding water. Never having to urinate means I can drink a lot of water.

G/I is loud and churning. Early AM while standing I had some sharp G/I pains, sharp to where I thought I would poop on the floor. But they were sharp, then gone, I could have never made it to the bathroom. This turned out to be a false alarm, it was farts wanting out. I relaxed in the bathroom and sat there, 45 minutes. When the farts came it sounded like a bear was in the house, loud, violent, no smell and supremely relieving.

About done with soup and starting to nibble in the kitchen a bit. Katie brought home some soup from a restaurant, nice change of pace.

Day 5/Saturday: Woke up with a full bladder that I could not drain, painful. Was it blocked with a clot? Or was this an actual bladder spasm. I hopped around trying to remove a clot, walked a bit, hoping, finally relaxed and stood sort of pounding my heals just trying to shake things loose…pounded my heals and relaxed….and the flow started and the relief came. That was 15 minutes of yuck.

Feeling optimistic that it is only 2 days and 48 hours until catheter removal!

I was taking mostly Tylenol only, and 1 - 2 tramadols per day. Nurse had told me Tramadol was a non-narcotic. I hit the internet and found that yes, Tramadol is a non-narcotic, but it is highly addictive. No more of those for me. None. Prescribed 40. Flushed 32. Took 8 over 4 days.

Day #5: 1205 bowel movement! Back to normal (sort of) diet. Ate a Chick-Fil-A sandwich, starting to venture back to a real diet.

Photo: 5 days post op. Bag is still bloody. Bloat going away. Scars looking better. 6x holes.

Day 6/Sunday: Happy I am within 24-hours of catheter removal. OOOPS, don't get cocky. Sunday AM I had a blocked catheter and my first (and only) bladder spasm. 1100-1300 was living hell. Catheter not flowing. Drained bag to see if any was coming out and to be 100% sure…nothing. Bladder started spasm…pain, I walked, I did squats, I did lunges, all which helped to push back the spasm pain. I was super active, and with the pain I was sweating a lot, big workout, my clothes were drenched. Clothes, all week I wear gym shorts only, nothing under, and a tshirt - that's it. Anyway, It got so bad I called the hospital. Got so bad I searched youtube for how to remove the catheter. (It is easy, I think I could pull it off), I had a few spams where urine leaked out from the penis, I know this is not good, that happened 2x times. Hospital calls back, a young doctor in the practice, he says if it continues go to ER and they will push saline up into the catheter to loosen blockage - all very mechanical. He tells me what I am doing is correct - shake it loose, walk, it is all very mechanical. OK. I think. Finally I go lay on the bed, we have a tall bed, and I lay down, belly down, put my head on the floor. I am not upside down vertical 90 degrees, but I am 60 degrees. I did what hand stand pushups where I banged my head against the floor, the opposite force of walking. On repetition #10 it all broke loose, like someone flushed a toilet…and super relief. I had been feeling great, but pain wears you out. I literally laid on the couch for the next 3 hours exhausted.

Day 7/Monday: Catheter removal Day!!!! Kids off to school, drove 90-min for our 1000 appointment. Katie drove and was with me, stepped out for the actual removal - but heard me scream! Standard office appointment, took vitals, in the room. Gown on. Removed the glue and leg attachment. Lie on my back, they inserted into the catheter - and my bladder - a big tube of saline. Had a pee-jug on standby between my legs. Deflated the balloon - and then the pull. Not fun. Different from port removal, just a few seconds, there was some pain, some bad pain, but very brief - so relived just to get it out. Pain was 3 seconds, bad pain was one instant. Stand up and empty the bladder in the pee-jug. Ahhhh….odd sensation using the rebuilt urinary tract. Empty bladder and the nurse puts me in a pull up man diaper. Tells me what they have all said, expect zero control for up to 3 days, then…you know the rest. Home, happy. By 3PM I was wiped out tired. I go from feeling fantastic, just tired. Oh yes, part of major surgery rehab, to be expected.

Note: zero leakage. I left the Dr.'s office, used the restroom. Hallway home, we stopped, used a restroom. I use the bathroom every 30 minutes, but zero leakage.

Monday night. Everyone said "you can have control in the day, but at night is leakage". Zero leakage for me, slept in the pull up man pamper but dry.

Day 8/Tuesday: Zero leakage overnight. Complete control. Now I was up every 60-80 minutes, so my night's sleep was bad, but I was dry. Every time I urinate I sit, relax, let it flow. Odd sensation, it is a bit of a wave of mild pain, but I breath and the pain subsides and the urine flows. And "pain" is actual discomfort, nothing like the pain of post op. As of Tuesday AM I am sort of freaking out at the level of control I do have and am super thankful I worked out so hard in preparation, I think it is paying off.

Don't get cocky lesson learned #1 for Day 8/Tuesday: stamina. I work from a home office. Woke up and was ready to work I did. It goes great until about 1400/2PM then low energy hits. Maybe I will work a nap into my workday the next week and see how that works.

Don't get cocky lesson learned #2 for Day 8/Tuesday: Pain. Hit about 1800 for a solid hour. Pain about where the old prostate used to be, deep in the lower abdomen and towards the rectum. I threw out all my tramadols and would have taken one, but I used Tylenol…and it did ok, but still pain. I was beat, pain will wear you out and tire you, I crawled into bed at 2045 and that deep pain hit again, solid 2 hours, kept me up. When it passed, I crashed and slept, got to sleep about 2315. Woke up at 0130 to urinate, all good. Except I was drenched in sweat, I assume from pain. This night I went 2 to 2.5 hours between night urination - getting better. Also, I did cocky and slept with no man pamper on and had zero issues.

Day 9/Wednesday: Zero leakage. Best part is the urination is much less painful. It is like a wave of ache. I can feel the bladder is full, I go to the restroom, I sit, breath deeply and by breath 3-4 the wave of pain comes, the urine flows. If I stop breathing big the urine stops, keep breathing, empty, sit for 30-60 seconds relaxing, a few drops, on with my day.

Day 13/Sunday: Zero leakage, and I really don't worry about it anymore. I still get up probably 4x times during the night to urinate. Walked a few miles this AM. Hit the gym Saturday, way too early, but I did not "work out", I really just stretched, dis some air squats, lunges, lots of stretching. I will weed the beds today, back to normal light work.

To date I have had zero, ZERO, incontinence issues. I attribute this to having learned how to relax my bladder. I believe now that everything a man does to urinate is push it out, pinch it off, shake and go on with our day. Never are we training ourselves to relax. 2+ years ago I was bothered by urinating, then done, then immediately having to go again. I trained myself to sit, relax, drain the bladder. It takes longer, but I attribute my training myself to relax my bladder to being able to get through the post op 36+ hours of having that urge to urinate and my not having had a bladder spasm. I also attribute it to my ability to relax now and urinate on my terms. Again, we are trained to strengthen the area, all good, but never trained to relax. And the first 10-days after surgery is all relax, no pinch, no push, relax and flow. I had trained myself to do this. I highly recommend learning how to do this.

Misc: Prepare a family notification and social media plan. I had to send a lot of texts. Yes, I came up with a generic response and did a lot of "paste", it was needed. I am not a big social media guy, but would have been easier just to post something. I chose not to immediately. Regardless, there is a ton of text traffic to keep up with, all for good reasons, but still a lot, almost too much.

Family & friends: People are bringing over dinners. Plan and lots of thanks. I never kept it (cancer/surgery) a secret. Lots of prayers coming my way and I am very thankful.

Happy and healthy, with the exception of ED. I use the analogy of a airplane taking off, back in the day I did not need much runway. With surgery, surgically induced ED, I need some pills and a lot of runway to take off! Incontinence is no problem at all, they have come a lond way in that respect. Health is great and there is no way to know I am a survivor...unless we discuss it.

Jon's e-mail address is: turner813 AT gmail.com (replace "AT" with "@")