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PROSTATE CANCER SUPPORT SITE

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Charles No and Pat live in Louisiana, USA. He was 58 when he was diagnosed on January 7, 2008. His initial PSA was 7.3 ng/ml, his Gleason Score was 3+4=7 and he was staged T1c . His choice of treatment was robotic surgery. Here is his story.

It is Mardi Gras in the great city of New Orleans, where I have lived with my wife and son for 17 years. The city was devastated and is still rebuilding, including its medical facilities. New Orleans is not a place to get sick. Here is my story:

I have had a PSA check as part of my annual physical every year since I was 50. I have always had a slightly elevated level, but it has always maintained a "consistent" level in my doctor's words. I missed out my physical in 2006 because of the storm, moving house, etc, and at my next physical in October 2007 my PSA result rose from 4.5 to 7.3.

I told my MD I had some difficulties urinating from time to time. My MD said my prostate felt enlarged but normal otherwise. I went to see the Urologist in early December (I missed the first appointment in November as the clinic's computer system was down) who concurred with the diagnosis, but thought I should have a biopsy as a precaution, which was performed about a week before Christmas. The Urologist said that my Prostate did not look unusually enlarged nor did he see anything on ultrasound to worry about, but that he would do twelve biopsies ( I counted every one) to be safe. No-one called back with any results, and I presumed that no news was good news, but in early January I got a call back to say that one of my biopsies was positive and had cancer in it, and that they would like me to have a bone scan, this being normal procedure, to see if it had spread.

My wife and I then spent the next few days glued to our computers reading and researching every thing we could about PCa, including finding this really great site.
I then returned to my Urologist to talk about my condition and treatment options. Unfortunately, during the meeting he discovered that he had read the pathology report wrong and I had disease in all twelve biopsy samples. The only "good" news was that I had a 3+4 Gleason score, and the scan showed no signs of cancer spreading to the bones. He said my treatment options were somewhat limited and he would set up appointments to see a Da Vinci surgeon and a radiology oncologist - he thought I was a good candidate for Da Vinci. More computer research followed.

In the mean time, through a friend of mine, I sought a second opinion as my faith in my original Urologist was a little shaken. The second Urologist was very helpful and thorough. He had my biopsy slides re-read, which agreed with the original report, though didn't see as much Gleason 4. He went through every type of treatment we had read about, even the ones where its hard to find a practitioner, giving me his pluses and minuses on each one as it referred to my case. He also came to the conclusion that I was a candidate for Da Vinci. He also said that with all my biopsy samples being positive, I should not wait too long deciding what to do.

I have now had appointments with both a radiologist and a several surgeons. I think I have found a surgeon who I can put my faith in, and have booked surgery.

Thank you to all the Yana contributors. This site has been by far my most helpful resource.

 

UPDATED

May 2009

 

 

My PSA is beginning to rise (it is now 0.64 ng/ml) one year after surgery.

Waiting confirmation test.

Charles' e-mail address is: byjeeling@gmail.com