Fern
Williams and Autumn and live in Yavapai, Arizona, USA. He was 65 when he was diagnosed
on August 8, 2009. His initial PSA was 3.3 ng/ml, his Gleason Score was 8 and
he was staged T2b. He is undecided as to his choice of treatment. Here is his
story.
I am 65 years old and have mild Parkinson's Disease. I recently
had a PSA test with my primary MD; he did not perform a DRE (Digital Rectal Examination).
The result of the PSA was 2.7. He said all was well.
A week later I passed
a kidney stone and was sent to a urologist who as part of the exam performed a
DRE and felt nodules, possibly secondary to an Indigo Laser prostate procedure
I had performed for BPH (Benign Prostate Hyperplasia). He scheduled a biopsy,
just in case, a month later on August 5, 2009. I received a call back from him
at 6pm on August 7, 2009 (a bad sign) that my Gleason score was 8 (4+4). A bone
scan was negative. To complicate matters on August 10 I was scheduled for a cardiac
stress test, my EKG's had been normal, only to learn that the stress test was
abnormal, then an angiogram followed by quadruple coronary bypass surgery on August
27, 2009. I would be allowed to travel in 2 weeks.
After reading and researching
a number of sites including YANANOW, my first choice for the prostate cancer was
RALP (Robotic Assisted Laparoscopic Surgery). On September 10, 2009 I went to
Mayo Clinic in Phoenix, Arizona and met a noted, very experienced (in RALP) urologist
there. The pathology results for Mayo clinic was Gleason Score 7, 5 out 6 cores
on the right side positive (each about 10%,); none on the left.
The surgeon
discussed the options considering both the disease state and the Parkinson's disease.
He stated given the Gleason score, the number of cores, my age and general state
of health (good), there were 2 options. Surgery or external beam radiation. For
surgery he suggested RALP, non-nerve sparing on the right, nerve sparing on the
left. He further stated there would be erectile dysfunction issues (not a big
deal with me) and probably major incontinence issues, increased because of my
Parkinson's.
As far as radiation therapy he felt my chance for incontinence
was even further increased. I spoke to my local urologist and he concurred concerning
the surgery and non nerve sparing, and yet he did not give me such a dire prognosis
incontinence wise even considering my Parkinson's.
Any advise or information
on past experiences would be greatly appreciated.
Fern's e-mail address
is: madre5_6884@msn.com
