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PROSTATE CANCER SUPPORT SITE

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Derry Mount and Karen live in St. Peters, Missouri, USA. He was 68 when he was diagnosed on February 13, 2009. His initial PSA was 6.7 ng/ml, his Gleason Score was 7 and although he does not state his staging, it seems he was staged T1c. He is undecided as to his choice of treatment. Here is his story.

I have been going in for an annual physical for many years and never a problem with the PSA and the finger swipe check. At this year's check up and I asked the doctor to be sure to do a PSA and she commented that the health care companies are not paying for it. I told her I wanted one anyway and my company paid for them. Good thing I did as my PSA last year was a 2.0 and this year it was a 6.7.

I head off to see one of the best Urologist in our area and he indicates a biopsy needs to be done. We schedule that for the following week and I must say pulling 12 core samples sure made me learn to count backwards. Don't think the anaesthetic had any impact as it did hurt. They say it feels like a rubber band snap, more like a tire inner tube snap.

Turns out that six of the 12 displayed signs of cancer. The Gleason on some was a 2+3 and some were 3+4 which I guess results in the score of seven for me.

I go in tomorrow (Feb 24, 2009) to have the full body scan and the pelvic CT scan and then will meet with the radiologist this Friday to see if the cancer remains within the prostate. At the meeting we will discuss the radiation pellets which I am leaning toward at present. A decision either for the pellets or for the Da Vinci robotic surgery for removal will be made this weekend.

When we were at the Urologist office I asked if he was in my shoes would he do the surgery or the pellets and he stated the pellets. He felt that since the outcomes are equal why go through the surgery if there is an alternative and he is a surgeon.

Later: I went to see the Radiologist last Friday (Feb 27, 2009) - she is also a specialist in oncology for prostate cancer and has done over 400 cases. We met for 2.5 hours and covered about anything anyone would ever want to know about my body and all its functions.

Her recommendations for treatment were five weeks of radiation to the areas around the exterior and then insert the radiation seeds into all the prostate. Even though there were areas of the biopsy that did not display any cancer she indicated there could be cancer 1/8 inch next to it so she seeds the entire prostate. A DRE (finger swipe) was also done by her to see if she could feel any sign of exterior tumor growth which there was none. She does the beam radiation to the outside area of the prostate to assure if any cells did make it to the outside the five weeks radiation will kill them.

The highest core biopsy had 30% cancer with a 3+4 for Gleason of 7. There was also a 10% & 15% cancer core and the rest were at or below 5% of the core displaying cancer.

I go next week for the pelvic mapping and then one week later for another mapping (to assure it is all the same as the first) and then receive three small tattoos (dots) for the radiation coordinates. Will start the beam radiation the week after my second mapping. Radiation is for five weeks and is five days of each week and last about 15 minutes. The seed insertion will be scheduled about one week after the radiation treatment is completed.

I had the full body scan as well as the pelvic CT scan prior seeing the radiologist-oncologist. No cancer was detected outside the prostate but they did inform me that I have three small kidney stones and the starting of arthritis in my back.

 

UPDATED

June 2009

 

 

I had my 25 EBRT treatments and now have the seeds implanted.

The 25 treatments were going great up till the 24th & 25th which really impacted me and were received on a Thursday and Friday. I had been doing the treadmill as recommended after each treatment which normally left me feeling fine, but after the 25th and I got off the treadmill I almost passed out and took the entire weekend of laying around to get the energy levels back. I noticed my hair growth slowed to almost nothing during the later EBRT treatments.

As for the seed implantation, they did a volume study (knocked out during the procedure) which had little to no after affect, then three weeks later the seeds were implanted. I was also knocked out with a more potent anaesthesia, came out of the procedure room with a catheter in for about three hours and then they removed and wanted to be sure I could pass urine before discharging. Actually had little to no soreness and walked out of the building for my ride home with the wife.

I was placed on Flomax twice a day and the first week I was felling pretty good, sure would not want to go horse back riding as the area they inserted the needles was certainly tender, was passing urine good and feeling fairly good on the energy level,,

In the second week the burning during passing urine began. It was not unbearable but it got your attention. I held off for one week thinking it would subside but it did not, so I called for some medication to help. Besides the Flomax I am now taking Pyridium which reduced the burning. I will take for a couple weeks and then reduce from three tablets a day to one and see what the outcome is.

I meet with my radiation Doctor the 24th of June which is one month after the seeds were installed and will also have a CT scan to assure all the seeds are where they were installed. No PSA test have been done yet as they will do in a couple more months and then every six months.

Overall I would say the seed implantation is not pain free but certainly not like any type of major surgery. The Prostate does let ya know that it did not like all those needles pushed into it - setting straight upright on any hard surface will also aggravate the area making you slouch back in the chair to relieve the pressure,, according to the Doctor this pressure while sitting takes the better part of a month for most to improve.

The main negative for this procedure is the time element. I went in for my physical in December 2008 when my prostrate was determined to be enlarged and then to a urologist for the biopsy and finally received the seeds the end of May 2009. During those six months the mind will wander into every area imaginable so a firm positive thought process is certainly a plus.

I will post back when I have my first PSA test.

Derry's e-mail address is: karenmount@yahoo.com