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PROSTATE CANCER SUPPORT SITE

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David W lives in New York, USA. He was 55 when he was diagnosed on November 30, 2007. His initial PSA was 5.5 ng/ml, his Gleason Score was 6 and he was staged T1c. His choice of treatment was Surgery. Here is his story.

When I had my routine yearly physical in August of 2007, I found that my PSA level had increased a full point from previous years (from 2.5 to 3.5) and my physician automatically referred me to a local urologist for further testing. He had me repeat the PSA test and it came back at 5.5, so he ordered a biopsy, which confirmed that I had prostate cancer. I made the decision to have surgery to remove the prostate, but I had to decide where to have this done. If I had the surgery done locally, it would have to be open surgery. The closest hospital offering laparoscopic prostatectomy is a 2 hour drive away. In wrestling with this decision, I found the information available on the web and the personal accounts on this site to be very helpful in outlining the types of issues I would be facing before, during and after the surgery.

I seriously considered going out of town for the laparoscopic surgery because I believed it would be easier and would lead to a quicker recovery. There were three main reasons I chose not to do that, though. First, I was able to schedule the surgery earlier if I stayed local. Second, I didn't like the risks associated with making multiple, four hour wintertime trips in upstate NY. Third, I didn't like the thought of facing a 2 hour trip home from the hospital two days after major surgery. Also, I really liked the doctor I have here.

I had my surgery on Dec. 28, 2007. I had an epidural for pain management, which they removed the morning of Dec. 30. They kept offering me morphine, but I wasn't in very much pain (1-2 on a scale of 0-10), so I never took any. They released me from the hospital on New Year's Eve.

For the first few days at home, I was pretty tired and spent most of my time relaxing and resting. I never did have much pain. I took an occasional Tylenol, but never had to open the bottle of pain pills they prescribed when I left the hospital. The only pain I had was from the catheter, which definitely became uncomfortable. My physician left the catheter in for a full 3 weeks, rather than 1 week as many doctors do. His philosophy is that he would rather wait 3 weeks and give everything more time to heal than to push to take it out at 1 week and risk having to put it back in if there is a problem.

My catheter came out on Jan. 18. Yes, it hurts! Luckily, it doesn't last long and the pain I had been having when sitting went away as soon as the catheter was gone. I was prepared for a period of incontinence. I tried to be optimistic and figured I could get by with the Depends incontinence pads for men, rather than full briefs. As it turns out, I had a couple of instances of stress incontinence the first day after the catheter came out and I have been dry since then! Having the catheter in for 3 weeks was not pleasant, but it was well worth it considering how few problems I have had.

The pathology report showed my tumor to be well contained within the prostate. All of the margins were clear, as well as the lymph nodes. My first PSA test following surgery is scheduled for the beginning of April. I will post an update then.

 

UPDATED

April 2008

 

 

My first PSA test since surgery was March 10, 2008. My PSA level came back zero!

The only complication I have had from the surgery was development of some scar tissue at the point where the bladder connects to the urethra, which made it difficult to urinate. My doctor broke that scar tissue open (not a pleasant experience, but it wasn't intolerable either) and things have been better since then. I think I still have some scar tissue partially blocking the urethra, but it hasn't been a problem so far.

 

UPDATED

August 2009

 

 

I have been doing very well. My PSA level was zero at my 18 month checkup in June '09. I am now on a 6 month checkup cycle and if my PSA is still zero at the 2 year mark, my physician will move me to a 1 year checkup cycle.

I am not having any problems or long term side effects.

Warmest regards, Dave.

David's e-mail address is: dworthey@stny.rr.com