Henry Ford

Did my surgery.

He is excellent. Unfortunately, my PC failed surgery and the subsequent SRT.
But Menon is an excellent surgeon. I recovered very well ("uneventfully").

I also like his supra-pubic catheter (much better than the Foley). I stayed in the rental units on the Ford campus until they pulled the catheter (about a week after the surgery).

Menon has a great team, too. They explained everything in advance, so no surprises. I had researched the best surgeons, and chose Menon

Mel

When I did my research, it sometimes said XXXX trained under Dr. Menon. I figured, might as well get the trainer rather than the trainee.

I failed surgery because my PSA came back up. Obviously, they just didn't get it all. That is not the surgeon's fault.

My surgery was almost 5 years ago.

All I can say is that the surgery went well in the sense of no complications (quick recovery; left the hospital the next day). I had incontinence, which lasted 2 weeks (100% recovery). I do have some ED.

Mel

Isn't Menon one f the elite surgeons and one of the first to do Robotic RP?

@Compiler now I am interested in what the difference is between the supra-pubic catheter and foley catheter. Hubby is supposed to be getting a foley. If the other one is better can I request it? Why do you think it's better?It's a new one on me, never heard of it.

Foley catheter exits your penis, the tube goes up your urethra and is held in place by a balloon inside your bladder. The balloon is filled with saline.

A Suprapubic catheter exits usually to the left of your navel. It is a surgical procedure. Usually done for long term catheter use, i.e., I had one in me for 51 weeks, due to severe radiation damage to my bladder and bladder neck.

Some surgeons are using Suprapubic catheters for PC ops, as its less of a nuisance (generally) for the patient in question. No tugging on your penis. Much more expensive, due to surgery, than a common foley catheter.

Miki, just so you don't worry too much about future problems, Purgatory explained in 2009 that he had the suprapubic catheter put in before radiation started and not because of radiation damage as he said:
"I healed well from my open surgery, but have had endless problems with blockages and urinary retention, thus why I am still on catheters over a year later".
My husband was a prime example of a typical case with ten to fourteen days of catheter use, several months of pad use for incontinence and endless complaining the whole time.

Its to be expected that facts get confused , as we age. However, and I remember when purgatory went thru this. The situation as I remember it is that he went thru the SRT with that catheter in place. Seems to me that caused the radiation burn to the bladder. He did com pain{Ill let that typo remain} to RO about that possibility, which was ignored. The rest is history, except resolution of law suit against said RO team. so if his recent post was not totally factual, and I am not a fact checker of of old posts, it fits my definition of being true.

logoslidat said...
Its to be expected that facts get confused , as we age.. so if his recent post was not totally factual, and I am not a fact checker of of old posts, it fits my definition of being true.

It's so nice to understand what you write without trying to figure out Hawaiian English!
I'm just concerned with the wives who are reading here and are worried about their husband's treatments and the horrible side effects. There are some really serious side effects like incontinence and ED, which are often reported. I guess it's like trying to decide what came first, the chicken or the egg. It's sort of like if you had ED before surgery, you can't say the surgery caused it, even if it often does.

Biff, Mel made me aware of this thread, so I thought I would chime in.

Dr. Menon performed my surgery in Sep 2009. I flew from Orlando to Detroit to interview him before I made my decision. In that interview I had the opportunity to speak with everyone on his staff that would be a part of my surgery. The Concierge (who takes care of everything with arrangements), the Nutritionist for before and after, the assistants for surgery, the nurses, and the Head of his ED Rehab program (very important person).

In my interview with Dr. Menon, I relayed to him that my wife had just gotten out of an 8 week ICU (in a coma) stay and I would have to get her home and under care before I could schedule the surgery.

This part was important to me because on the day of the surgery some 6 weeks later, I ran into Dr. Menon in the lobby. One of the first things he did was ask how my wife was doing. She could not accompany me on the trip for the surgery.

Now I can only imagine how many folks he saw during those 6 weeks, but I think it speaks highly of the man to know that he still recalled the story of my wife's hospitalization. Additionally, when I spoke to my wife after the surgery, I asked if they had contacted her as I requested. She told me that Dr. Menon called her personally and spent about 30 minutes on the phone with her, answering all of her questions.

I also had the chance to speak with one of his staff members who assists in research, but no longer does surgeries. He told the whole story about how they came to use the Suprapubic Catheter and one of the driving reasons was to provide for better comfort and recovery for their patients.. I was and have been continent since the day they removed the cath.

He and his staff have pioneered surgical procedures that have helped in the recovery from ED following surgery. Personally, I recovered about 90 percent within 2 years of the surgery.

As Mel has mentioned, many of the top surgeons today were trained by Dr Menon.

If you would like to talk about anything further, shoot me an email, mine is active.

Sonny