Edward
Rush and Barbara live in Virginia, USA . He was 70 when he was diagnosed in March,
2008. His initial PSA was 7.72 ng/ml, his Gleason Score 3+3 was and he was staged
T1a. His choice of treatment was radical prostatectomy. Here is his story.
Having
a father that died from prostate cancer and two younger siblings diagnosed with
PCa (one choosing RP, the other in denial), and after reading this blog and doing
much research, I reached the decision to have a RP (radical prostatectomy) at
Johns Hopkins two months after my biopsy results - 1 positive hit in 12 with <10%.
Good thing, because my after surgery pathology report showed the PC was much wider
spread, had reached the capsule, but the margins were clear! Surgeon Dr. Edward
Schaeffer spared both nerve bundles.
Post op was not that unpleasant, with
only mild pain in the rectum area that was easily controlled with strong aspirin.
Catheter was the real inconvenience for two weeks. Had the good fortune to be
able to collect short term disability for 3 months, but was up and engaged around
the home within 2 weeks, still wearing the catheter, however.
At the nine
month mark, all PSA results have come back negative, but realize that I'm not
out of the woods for another couple of years. Given my age and initial diagnosis,
the advice from my urologists and oncologists - at Kaiser and Johns Hopkins was
"watchful waiting". But my family history and reading of the blogs and literature,
and my own concern that cancer was present and growing by the minute, and the
fact that my otherwise good health could deteriorate over the course of the next
few years, convinced me that I wanted the damn thing removed asap. I opted for
the "gold standard" rather than the radiation pellets or Da Vinci; didn't like
the fact that if the radiation didn't work, then I was facing "salvage surgery".
The Da Vinci seemed at first the way to go, but in talking with several surgeons,
including a couple who were skilled in the Da Vinci machine, both said that they
would opt for the RP because they liked the fact that they could "feel" what was
going on, which also provided more info on whether or not to spare the nerve bundles.
Looking back, I made the right choice for me. Have two high school friends
in Los Angeles that had their prostates treated with in a year of my surgery--one
had the radiation pellets, the other a RP. After a year, both are showing negative
PSA; but, as you will read, it takes a couple of years for any remaining little
bastards to multiply enough to start registering in the PSA results.
As
for incontinence, that's still a frustration. No problem sleeping through the
night without leakage after 4 months; but still use a couple of pads during the
day, after 2PM, I start loosing a little control, especially when making sudden
movements.
As for sexual action; well, I'm 71 and don't have much of a
craving, and if I did, I couldn't do much anyway since most of the lead in my
pencil is missing--but my wife and I have high hopes.
Happy to answer any
questions. Will attempt to report back every six months or so with my post op
progress.
Edward's e-mail address is: elrush@aol.com
