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Prostate Surgery and Building On... or derailed?

PaulvS

Well Known Member
Does anyone know how soon after prostate surgery (radical prostatectomy via da Vinci robot) it is possible to resume RV building?

The generic medical advice says it is OK to drive after about 1 week; return to light duties after 2-3 weeks; and avoid strenuous activity for 6 weeks. That would seem to imply that "building on" could resume after 3-6 weeks, and so the project would not need to be mothballed long term. Is that realistic? I would appreciate hearing advice from anyone who has "been there", which could be quite a few of us VAF fellas (based on the statistics).

There's a really good helpful thread on here about flying after cancer, but I couldn't find anything in relation to building. https://vansairforce.net/community/showthread.php?t=16514&highlight=prostate

Life can throw up some unexpected challenges! :confused:
 
I think your Doctor would be your best source of this kind of information.
I had prostate surgery just over a year ago, but I did not have a prostatectomy.
I just had the "rotor-rooter" job and I was pretty good after a couple weeks.

Your doctor probably knows your health and tolerance better than anyone else.
 
In general, plan to be home when you have the catheter in, and then light duty with no sig lifting for 6 weeks. I can think of tons of things to do when not taking pain meds; on the meds just some TV and a nap is prob best. But once you feel better get out some paper and plan your electrical system. Practice flaring some lines. Plan the extras you need to buy and order some things. Read through the plans and drawings looking ahead. Think about carpet and seats and what-not. There is a ton to do that isn't hands on. The biggest advice is that if you are taking unusual meds don't work with tools. And no lifting.
 
I had an open radical prostatectomy on October 21, 2019. I’m not a builder so can’t comment on the return to building but, I was able to return to riding my bicycle before Thanksgiving. My doctor told me if I wasn’t sleeping not to be lying down and to walk, walk, walk. The first week I would go walk and then go sleep in a recliner for a while. Walk sleep repeat. The catheter was the worst. I have a zero gravity recliner and I slept in it until the catheter was out.
I have no regrets, I’m back to full unlimited activity and, my PSA has been unmeasurable since the surgery.
Good luck!
 
Robotic prostatectomy is completely different than a TUR or open prostatectomy. Best to take your surgeon's advice rather than SGOTI, but his recommendation as you described above are consistent with best practice. I know a lot more about robotic surgery than I do about building an RV, but I can't imagine any reason that your recovery should keep you out of the garage/hangar for any significant length of time.
 
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Does anyone know how soon after prostate surgery (radical prostatectomy via da Vinci robot) it is possible to resume RV building?

The generic medical advice says it is OK to drive after about 1 week; return to light duties after 2-3 weeks; and avoid strenuous activity for 6 weeks. That would seem to imply that "building on" could resume after 3-6 weeks, and so the project would not need to be mothballed long term. Is that realistic? I would appreciate hearing advice from anyone who has "been there", which could be quite a few of us VAF fellas (based on the statistics).

There's a really good helpful thread on here about flying after cancer, but I couldn't find anything in relation to building. https://vansairforce.net/community/showthread.php?t=16514&highlight=prostate

Life can throw up some unexpected challenges! :confused:

A close friend of mine was on the team that developed the Da Vinci robot; sadly he has subsequently had it used on him. It was an option for me when I was diagnosed with prostate cancer a couple of years ago, though I ultimately chose another treatment. That said, my friend's comment was "what is he waiting for?" Don't let life pass you by. Get to work. You won't be sorry.
 
Surgery

Been there and done that although I was done building and flying when I had the surgery. From my experience I can tell you that I was out of the hospital 1 day after surgery and back to work in a week. I am a general contractor but did no heavy lifting. From your signature it looks like you are building a 6 and on the fuselage so I would think that there would be plenty of things to work on while you recover. As for using meds, I was never on any pain med other than Tylenol after I was released from the hospital.
Build on.
 
Oops on the previous! I had the robotic surgery 11 years ago at age 66. I never needed any pain meds and recovered very quickly. Two weeks after the surgery I flew my RV7 from Texas to Sun and Fun and spent the week there with no issues. You will be building again in short order. Good luck,

Martin Sutter
 
prostate surgery

Cyberlaser if its an option, no outside effects that i can recall, never missed a step.


Krhea
RV7
2021 donation
 
Cancer sucks.........

Does anyone know how soon after prostate surgery (radical prostatectomy via da Vinci robot) it is possible to resume RV building?

Life can throw up some unexpected challenges! :confused:

Right there with you, mate! I was diagnosed with prostate cancer 15+ years ago and surgery was not an option as it had slipped outside the capsule. It was chemo :)() and radiation for me. And oral medications after. The only thing that kept me sane through all that was being able to get out and fly! (Then the FAA [we aren't happy until you aren't happy] decided if I had cancer with no symptoms at all, flying was out. Took 6 months of dealing with the lovely folks before I was reinstated. But only for another 6 months....that is a story for another time..:mad::mad::mad::mad:)

Listen to you doctor folks but also know your body. It's like flying: know your limitations. As has been said, GET OUT THERE AND DO THINGS! A completed airplane is one thing at at time and driving rivets isn't the only thing that needs to get done.

Cancer sucks. Welcome to a club you did not want to join. Is it life-changing? Yes. But you had surgery and should do well after. Life gets a little more "real" after all that. One day at a time is trite; not to us! Keep on keeping on! This will NOT stop your building, just change your schedule; that's all.

PM me if you need to...........
 
In the meantime get basic med. You will not have to deal with the FAA as long as you let your current medical lapse.
 
I sat on the living room floor and fluted all the ribs and light stuff like that while I healed. Also studied the drawings.
 
I built a good deal of my wiring harness bedridden with a nasty cold (not COVID thankfully).
 
Replies

Thankyou all for the replies, it is really helpful information. There's a few weeks to go yet, so I'm trying to do anything I can now to be well prepared later on.

I mentioned to the urologist that I'm building a plane, and he gave me a funny look, so I left it that. My long term GP doctor thinks that most people should be active and back on their feet after 4-6 weeks and that's what I'm hoping for. In my favor he says I'm relatively young (59) and fit and healthy and not overweight and the cancer got picked up early when I got an annual PSA screening check, at the same time that the Doc did my basic med cert. So maybe flying helped save my life.

My RV build is at a more strenuous work stage of fitting on the fuselage skins which means crawling under the jig and stretching to rivet etc., also the following step is to fit the wings and main gear to get everything aligned and drilled so I guess that is all going to be delayed a bit.
The canopy frame and other powder coated parts need to be refinished (due corrosion) so I can probably plan on quietly stripping off the old powdercoat since no heavy lifting (>5kg) is involved if everything is laid out ahead of time. Even if I won't be able to do much for 6 weeks, that's OK in the grand scheme of things, for a while I was worrying that the rest of the year might be written off! :(

Paul.
 
While you are staying low key..........

I mentioned to the urologist that I'm building a plane, and he gave me a funny look, so I left it at that.

The cancer got picked up early when I got an annual PSA screening check, at the same time that the Doc did my basic med cert. So maybe flying helped save my life.
Paul.

Well, you will find that funny looks when you tell someone who doesn't know that you are building an airplane will be part of the building process.:p That continues when you tell them you are flying an airplane you built!:eek:

My cancer was found on my third class physical by my very astute flight surgeon. When I turned 50 he snapped on the glove which surprised me but it was part of his routine after 50. It was found on my subsequent exam. I owe John Ford III, MD my life and made sure he knew that! We were part-time friends anyway. I attribute flying to saving my life as well. My PSA was never abnormal!

That said, I woke up this morning thinking about your dilemma. I am a little OCD which is a good thing when it comes to building airplanes. When I was figuring out my wiring for everything, I first plotted out my plans on drawings, done on my drafting board. This constantly changed as I discovered things in the process but also have drawings of the Final Wiring Plots. This was a really good idea for several reasons:

1) I had a visible plot of where everything came from and where it was going. Made wiring much less of a chore as I was just following my plan, modifying it as the real process took place.

2) When it came time to modify things years later (taking out the Trimble GPS, the mEncoder and putting in a Dynon, installing/wiring the ADS-B in/out, helmet ANR hard wire, etc) pulling out my drawings and finding where the wires I needed to change were, turned out to be much less of a chore than a complicated 'spaghetti search'.:confused: All my wires were labeled and neatly bundled which helped as well. SuzieQ was finished in 1997 and having those drawings to jog my memory was a VERY valuable asset! And they look pretty cool: colors for the different wire origins/destinations! And you can do that sitting at a desk or drawing board......:):)
 
Surgery

I didn’t have surgery, to late, outside the capsule. Radiation worked great 2 years ago and PSA is negligible. The hardest part is if they give you lupron, it works, but I had a lot of fatigue for one year. That really governed what I could do on my airplane. I’m 77 years old and the energy level has come back. Surgery fatigue among my friends with prostate seems to be better. Good luck and stay positive “don’t let the old man in”.
 
"As-built" status

Updating to "as-built" post-operation status, for the next guy(s) who may have the same question. This is what I was/was not able to do on my RV-6A build following RARP surgery:

First 2 weeks; resting and recovering only, no interest at all in RV's. :(
Week 3-4; reading and desk work to plan the electrical system
Week 5-6; light work in shop preparing and painting steel weldments
Week 7-> ; able to do most building tasks, but no strenuous contortions yet
Week 10; fully recovered for any sensible building task :D

Thanks again to everyone on VAF who responded earlier, including PM's. And fellas, please consider having your PSA checked regularly once you reach middle-age. It saved me!
 
I didn’t have surgery, to late, outside the capsule. Radiation worked great 2 years ago and PSA is negligible. The hardest part is if they give you lupron, it works, but I had a lot of fatigue for one year. That really governed what I could do on my airplane. I’m 77 years old and the energy level has come back. Surgery fatigue among my friends with prostate seems to be better. Good luck and stay positive “don’t let the old man in”.

Lupron only bothered me the first time they gave it to me. The thing that was hard for me was the 8 months of chemo. Everybody has a little different experience.
 
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