Ed H and Mary live in Orlando,
Florida, USA. He was 64 when he was diagnosed on October 13, 2006. His
initial PSA was 3.2 ng/ml and his Gleason Score was 6 and he was staged T2b. His
choice of treatment was Laporoscopic (da Vinci) Surgery. Here is his story:
Hearing
the doctor say to me that "They found cancer" as the result of my biopsy was like
getting hit by a truck on the way home from work. You know your life will never
be the same again as it was when you walked in the doctor's office. I can't say,
tho, I was really shocked..I had sort of prepared myself for that diagnosis. In
April of 2006, I had a scary episode of not being able to pee in the morning when
I arose. I went right away to my GP who told me my prostate was enlarged and sent
me off to a urologist. My PSA was 2.7 ng/ml at the time...6 months later when
I came back to the urologist for a checkup, it had increased to 3.2 ng/ml and
my urologist felt something in the DRE that was not there before. He strongly
suggested a biopsy..That scared the hell out of me....But when the day came, it
ws actually not at all that uncomfortable. I laughed and joked my way through
most of it. 2 needles came back positive - one 25% the other 2%. From day 1, my
urologist said that for a man of my age, surgery was the best alternate..."Get
rid of that puppy" became my mission. I know a lot of gutsy who have had PC and
they all seemed to have done something different. I mostly relied and trusted
the experience of my wife's cousin, an eye doctor up in CT, who had just had his
prostate removed via da Vinci. I had another buddy who had had seed implantaation
surgery which turned in to a horror show. My doctor's reasoning - and my cousin's
- was that if you have surgery and for some reason the cancer recurs, you have
a number of alternates for treatment. If you DO NOT chose surgery and choose radiation,
etc.and the cancer recurs, you CANNOTo go back and have surgery..your future options
are limited. Made sense to me. So get rid of this puppy was my decision.
Information
overkill became my next experience. So much to learn! The best source for me was
reading the experiences of other guys here on YANA. I am in touch with a few of
them now and it has helped me. My urologist does not do da Vinci surgery, so I
had to bid him goodbye and change to another one here in Orlando, Dr. Thill. I
went up to NY to check out Memorial Sloan Kettering. I had been giving them money
in small amounts for years towards research and know they have a sterling reputation.
But you know what? I figured if I have any complications or get scared, etc. I
cannot just hop on a plane and zap back up to NYC. I wanted to have this done
and treated locally and and we have a class A Cancer Institute right here at Florida
Hospital in Orlando..I have scheduled my saurgery for Feb 12 2007. I want to get
through the Christmas holidays and take a planned cruise January 13th (last party
blast!) before surgery. I realy like the doctor I chose for the surgery. He has
good experience and will be assisted by a doctor who would have been another prime
choice for me. I am taking the first slot in the morning as I want to be the first
guy he operates on that day rather than the last.
I will try and keep this
story up to date and I welcome any guy who would like to talk more with me. If
there is any one thing good to come out of this, it would be that I could be of
help and comfort to some other guy who was going through the same thing!
Update:
17 days after surgery
I
had my surgery at Florida Hospital in Orlando on February 12. Dr. Jeffrey Thill
performed the surgery with Dr. Patel assisting. The surgery went very well, I
am told. I was out before I even reached the OR and woke up some 4 hours later
in the recovery room. I can't say enough good things about Dr. Thill and also
the Anethesiologist, Dr. Looke. I got an excellent pathology report with no cancer
at the margins or eveidence of it elsewhere. The Gleason score remained at 6 and
the stage was t3c. I stayed overnight in the hospital and was very grateful my
wife, Mary, stayed with me as she ran interference with the nursing staff during
the night. The one surprise about this surgery is that in all my investigations
of it I was never told that your abdomen is pumped up with CO2 gas in order to
provide room for the robot to do its work. I had a lot of gas remaining in me
and that was the only really painful part of the surgery afterwards. It took more
than a week for the gas to noticably dissipate. Of course I had a Foley catheter
in me when I woke up and it remained in me for 8 days. I cannot say that was a
plesant experience to have that on for over a week, but it was bearable and it
was wonderful to have it removed on the 8th day post surgery. I was pretty much
continent from the time the catheter was removed. I am wearing a absorbant brief
at night, but when I have to go, I just wake up and go the bathroom normally.
During the day, I keep a pad in my shorts, but it just collects a few drips here
and there. I am already acheiving some erections without any Viagra. All in all,
I am pretty happy and satisfied at this date. I was very tired with little energy
for the first two weeks. I did not expect that and found it hard to not do things.
Each day now gets a little better. I offer the folowing suggestions:
a.
Go to a thrift shop and buy some very large sweat/leisure pants to wear for the
first couple of weeks. Owing to the gas and bloating you will not want or be able
to wear your normal clothes and no sense on blowing a lot of money buying new
things
b.
Tell your doctor which leg you want to have the catheter mounted to. Most guys
sleep on one side and that is the leg you want the catheter attached to.
c.
Be patient with your recovery. It takes time and this is major surgery
For
any of you in the South reading this, I feel very blessed to have a surgeon of
Dr. Thill's capability right here in Orlando. I can't imagine traveling a long
distance to have your surgery because you will have questions and possible needs
to see your doctor after the operation and who needs to travel to do that! I highly
recommend Dr. Thill to any of you considering robotic surgery.
Well,
I am now 8 weeks post surgery. As far as I am concerned, I am fully recovered
from the surgery. I am completely continent for which I am very grateful. For
the first few weeks, I was still getting up in the middle of the night a couple
of times and that was a little discouraging (to say nothing of being tired!).
But that need is fading now.
I
just had my first PSA test this past week and got the results back which were
<0.1. That was very great news to me and I don't have to go back to see the doctor
for three months.
As
far as the sexual side of things go, I was able to achive erections a few days
after I got the catheter removed. That was heartening to me for sure. I still
can do that, but they are not really satisfactory for sexual penetration. So I
am using Viagra that the doctor suggested for me. It works best if I take it a
couple of hours before wanting to have sex.
I
continue to be deeply grateful for my urologist and surgeon, Dr. Jeffrey Thill,
here in Orlando and I continue to recommend him to anyone in Florida who is considering
having the DaVinci surgery done. I have been mentoring a couple of other guys
and find that very satisfying to be able to help another man go through this experience.
As
far as I am concerned, there is no better source of information about what the
prostate cancer experience is really like than what appears on this YANA site.
I have not found anyone who was not willing to share their insights. The most
important thing I have learned from this is that each man's experience and recovery
is different and it is best to remain patient. You can learn a lot from other
guys who are living with prostate cancer and its aftermath, but in the end your
own story will be unique.
Partly
as a celeration for having endured all of this satifactorily so far, Mary and
I are taking a two week cruise to the Greek Isles, Egypt and Turkey next month.
We both no longer want to postpone things we were thinking of doing. Best to live
life now!
Well,
it has been six months since surgery and I just had my six month PSA check and
it came up undetectable. That is always happy news. I am completely continent
and only very rrarely may leak a drop. Sexually, I am functional with the help
of viagra. Sex wil never be as it once was, but that seems to be the case with
all of us who have had this treatment for prostate cancer. But considering the
alternate, it is a small price to pay. At least I don't need to worry about any
paternity suits!
I
have learned a great deal from my experience to date and I have enjoyed mentoring
several men through the process either in person or via YANA. I try to talk with
a guy before the surgery and give him pointers on preparation. If he is local,
I make an effort to visit him in hospital the day after surgery, and I keep in
touch with him thereafter during those first few weeks. I only wish when I was
in the hospital the day after surgery a guy who had been through this was there
to talk with me.
I
firmly believe the best source of real life information and experiences regarding
treatment for prostate cancer is right here on the YANA website.I thank all of
you guys who contact me and keep in touch. I am a happy camper now and have no
regrets about my choice of treatment. I would recommend Dr. Jeffrey Thill in Orlando
to any Florida guys who are seeking prostate cancer surgery.
It's
been 9 months since the surgery. It increasing seems like a distant memory now.
Perhaps we all go through intense anxiety, fear, sadness,anger when we first hear
those words.."you have cancer.." Of all the things I feared in life, getting cancer
was tops on the list. Now I look back at it and say "been there...done that".
Now I am a cancer survivor and cancer does not scare me nearly as much anymore.
If it should ever recur, I can deal with that.
In
some ways, this experience has been a gift to me because I have met so many great
guys in the same boat as me. A few I have been able to mentor and get to know
personally, others via e-mail. Those experiences have been greatly rewarding to
me. I just had my 9 month PSA checkup and it came back undetectable..That's about
as good as it gets right now. Dr. Thill is considering putting me on a 6 month
PSA check up schedule.
I
don't have any continence problems now, I sleep thourgh most nights without getting
up to take a leak, or at most I might get up once during some nights. I have gotten
used to the different feeling sexual orgasm has now. I use Viagra. My wife and
I have grown closer through this experience.
From
time to time I get on the YANA site and read new postings and updated ones. It
makes me feel part of a very special fraternity. Thanks to all of you who have
gotten in touch with me. And for those of you who are still wrestling with choice
of treatment, I would say...get rid of that bad puppy inside you..and don't think
of any choice other than surgery with the DaVinci robot. I have yet to hear from
any guy who said they regretted having had DaVinci surgery in contrast to hearing
from many other guys who regretted some other treatment choice they made. So,
find yourself a great urologist like Jeffrey Thill in Orlando who has a lot of
experience with robotic surgery, and be at peace about it.
A
blessed holiday season to all of you YANA mentors and readers who visit the site!
Ed's
e-mail address is: clubedorl@aol.com
