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Doug Lawless and Sheila live in Manitoba, Canada. He was 50 when he was diagnosed in March 2009. His initial PSA was 5.81 ng/ml, his Gleason Score was 3+4 and although he says he was staged T1b, it seems from his narrative that his staging would have been T1c. His choice of treatment was Brachytherapy. Here is his story.

First off I want to thank Gregg and Kerry for creating this site, and Terry for all his efforts in maintaining it. Also thanks to all of those who have chosen to share their stories. In my quest for information this is the one place I have always found myself coming back to.

In July 08 my GP discovered that my PSA was a bit elevated from previous readings and made a referral to see a urologist who ordered a Free/Total PSA blood test. This came back at 6% free PSA, which indicated a biopsy should be performed. A 12 core biopsy was done on Feb 18 09 with 4 cores showing positive results. (3 of them were graded as 3+3 and 1 was 3+4)

The Urologist suggested that I would be a candidate for brachytherapy or surgery. He heavily favoured surgery, but made it clear that each patient needs to make their own decision based on what's important to them. I then sought a consult with a radiation oncologist and I also requested the pathology slides so I could sent them to an independent lab to verify the initial findings.

I have done lots of research on other options for treatment including Proton (not offered in Canada) and HIFU (the $22,000 fee is not covered by Canada's health care) as well as some others, but the choice for me was really between surgery and brachytherapy. I am very fortunate that I have a loving wife who would support my decision no matter what the outcome. Still, for me the "quality of life" aspect was a big deciding factor. Even in the "best case" scenarios, it seems that nerve sparing surgery still has a fairly high failure rate, and I'm just not comfortable with that.

Anyhow, the Brachytherapy procedure was performed Oct 13 2009, and I am happy with the decision I've made. The absolute best advice that I - or anyone - can give someone who has just been diagnosed is to educate yourself! Do all the research you can, talk to whoever you feel can assist. Get second opinions where appropriate. Remember, this is a decision you'll live with for the rest of your life, so do yourself a favour and make sure you understand your options.

 

UPDATED

January 2010

 

 

It's been just over 3 months since my procedure, and everything is working out as well as I could have expected. After having 73 seeds inserted through 25 needles, there wasn't even any noticable bruising, and no pain - just a little "pressure" sensation from the swelling afterwards, but even that was less than the biopsy. (more agressive anti-inflamatories I presume)

My PSA has dropped to 1.37, pretty much in line with what my doctor was expecting. The side effects (sense of urgency & slow stream) seemed to peak at about 6 or 7 weeks post procedure, but were never really much of a bother since I was taking .8 mg Flomax per day. I have since stopped taking FloMax, and everything is still manageable.

Everything else functions exactly as it should, so I'm a happy camper!.

Doug's e-mail address is: captn3992@gmail.com