Glenn
Corser and Cyndi live in Texas USA. He was 60 when he was diagnosed on
Feb 21, 2007 . His initial PSA was 8.5 ng/ml, his Gleason Score was 8 and he was
staged T2c. His choice of treatment is DaVinci Laparoscopic Robotic Surgery. Here
is his story:
I have learned a lot from all the folks who have posted on YANA, I hope I'm able
to help someone as much as all of you have helped me.
At
this point I have been diagnosed with PC and have been scheduled for DaVinci laparoscopic
surgery on Apr 2, 2007. My first urologist recommended non-nerve sparing radical
prostatectomy, fortunately my wife, sons, and sister kicked me in the head and
made me look at other options.
We
live in Austin and luckily Dr Randy Fagin practices here. We had our first visit
with him this past week and were very impressed. Several YANA members have had
their surgeries performed by him and have given nothing but glowing reviews. I've
already had bone and CAT scans and they came back negative, so we are now just
waiting for the biopsy punctures to heal and Apr 2 to get here.
I
will post more after the surgery.
This
is a short update. There was a little insurance glitch that changed the date of
surgery from Apr 2 to Apr 5. Fagin wanted to do the surgery in a hospital that
was not covered by my EPO. Luckily there are two facilities in town with the daVinci
and the other one is covered. The second thing is that I started PT to help minimize
the incontinence issues post op. I'm sure everyone is aware of this but if you
aren't, bug your doctor to get you involved in a program. Both Fagin and the therapist
have assured me that it will make a significant difference.
I'm
now 3 days post-op and it is time to make an update. Before I do that I want to
thank Ed H for his help and support. He contacted me by
e-mail shortly after I made my initial post and has been a wonderful source of
information and encouragement. The surgery went fine and Dr Fagin said there were
no "visible" signs of cancer outside the prostate. The final word on
that will be this Friday when I go to get the catheter removed and the pathology
report.
As far as recovery I don't think it could be any better. I walked 40 minutes Thursday
night (day of surgery) and have walked at least that long every day since. I had
gas pains Thursday/ Friday/Saturday
but they are mostly gone today. The feeling of doing too many sit-ups is gone
and I only have some minor soreness where the incisions were made. I actually
worked for about 4 hours from home on Saturday, a piece of software I'm responsible
for needed some tweaking and we were able to get it done by phone and e-mail.
I'm
still tired, I didn't sleep much the night before, night of, or night after so
my butt is dragging but that is getting better. I just feel like I worked too
much - not like I'm sick. The catheter is interesting - it doesnt hurt but it
is an annoyance. My wife and I have worked out a system for holding the leg bag
in place using Velcro strips and small Ace bandages that keeps it pretty steady
while I'm walking. All in all, it could be a lot worse.
Thanks
to all the guys here with their tips, we have a hook in the shower and I'm wearing
one of the recommended pads. I think anyone who is in the Austin area who needs
this surgery should consider Randy Fagin. He is a good guy and I can only think
that my progress to this point is due to his skill and the pre-op PT regimen that
he had me on. I also am lucky to have a retired nurse for a wife who has been
very kind and supportive throughout all this.
More
after Friday.
Friday
could not have gone any better. The path report indicated lymph nodes were clear,
seminal vesicles were clear, and there were negative margins on the prostate.
Additionally, the path report gave a final Gleason score of 6 as opposed to the
8 from the biopsy report.
So
at this point I'm as close to being cured as you can be with this stuff. Now some
realities - I'm dripping steadily and have limited control over my bladder. I
go for the first post-op PT appointment tomorrow and hope things will start to
improve. Dr Fagin gave me a bunch of Viagra samples, a Viagra prescription, and
an ErectAid pump which I'm to start using in two weeks. We'll see how that goes
- ending the waterfall is my first priority.
After
talking with Ed H (thanks Ed) on the phone today I realize that the following
issues are common to all of us at this point: getting up multiple times each night
to try and pee, not getting enough sleep, becoming anxious about this incontinence
thing , and trying to do too much too soon. I'm going to hold off on going back
to work for a few more days and just try to rest and take care of myself.
Don't
take anything above as complaining, I feel pretty good (I played soccer until
I was 50 and near the end felt worse after some of those games than this) and
based on everything I've read here the incontinence issues will be resolved. Given
where I thought I was 6 weeks ago things could not be better.
Now
if the Sabres will just win the Stanley Cup.
It
is now 2.5 weeks post-op and I'm essentially back in basic training. I have a
half hour of rehab exercises in the morning and a half hour in the evening plus
I'm walking at least an hour several times a week. My physical therapist has her
doctorate and is excellent. She has put together a set of exercises designed to
specifically work the pelvic floor muscles by themselves and in conjunction with
several other sets of muscles.
Incontinence
is getting a little bit better each day and the rigorous PT makes you feel like
you have some control over how all this is going to turn out. Anyone who lives
in the Austin, TX area and has prostate surgery should definitely contact Sullivan
Physical Therapy.
I'm
still waking up throughout the night but that has as much to do with my normal
insomnia issues as it does with incontinence. I didn't realize how annoying wearing
pads would be, especially at night. I've finally remembered the tip I saw on YANA
somewhere and am using a pillow to support my "up" leg when I lay on my side and
it is helping a lot.
Time
to post again - the good, the bad, and the ugly.
The good- had my first post-op PSA test and it came back 0.05. Basically,
it is gone. The Sloan-Kettering web site has an automated nomograph that allows
you to calculate your survival probabilities based on your post-op results; given
capsule containment and negative margins the probability of going 7 years without
a recurrence is .98 % Ill take those odds combined with PSA = .05.
The bad - still a little slow on the erection front, some life but it is
going to take time.
The ugly - still have significant incontinence. I'm dry at night but using
several pads during the day. I've been doing my exercises religiously (even getting
up at 4 am while on business travel) and have gotten a lot stronger. My PT says
that regaining control is a step function and I believe that, one night I was
peeing and the next night I was dry and have stayed dry since. Sitting is getting
some better but a couple of glasses of water will make things rain. I'm still
pretty optimistic and won't get worried until a couple more months have gone by.
All
in all, I can't complain. I again want to thank all the guys on this site who
have shared their stories; I continue to read the site often and take strength
and comfort from all of you. I also want to thank Ed H again for his support,
Ed you made a big difference.
It
is a little over four months post-op and time for an update.
This
is basically for the guys like me who are a little slower in the continence department,
take heart, it gets better. In my case, recovery is a step function and you can
go along for several weeks with only minimum change and then in a couple of days
drop 2 pads. I?m down to a relatively dry 3 pads a day at this point - two weeks
ago I was at a still quite wet 5. While I feel like the slow kid in the pee class
both the Dr and PT say I'm well within normal bounds so again, don't get down,
you will get better.
A
little change on the ED front but I?m not going to worry until I get the peeing
under control On all other fronts I feel totally recovered. I'm running about
3 miles four times a week - goal is 4miles by Thanksgiving and have, so far, kept
the weight off I lost during/after surgery.
Two
of my long term friends were just diagnosed with PCa and are going to have Fagin
operate on them, and to think that 6 months ago PCa was just a hazy concept in
my mind.
To
all the guys who read this I offer my support, encouragement, and best wishes
just like they were offered to me when I first came here.
Time
to post again.
Had
my eighth month checkup and PSA was essentially at zero. Still dealing with incontinence
issues. Shortly after the August post I slipped on some stairs at home and landed
on my lower back and head. It was early and I wasn't paying attention so I didn't
even get a hand down. I've rarely felt such pain - and I've blown my knee out
twice and been in several casts over the years - my butt felt like it was on fire
for several days and I couldn't do my Kegels for 3 days or run for a week.
The
bad result is that it wiped out all continence progress up to that point; I was
dry at night but little else. Went to diapers and couldn't use pads for several
weeks. The physical therapist can measure the contraction current in your pelvic
floor muscles and that is directly proportional to their strength. I lost about
25% of my sitting strength and over 50% of my standing. So I have been slowly
regaining strength and getting a little drier over the past 3 months. My back
still hurts and I'm not where I was in August but things are getting better. I
put all this gory detail down for the next guy it happens to - trauma to your
lower body can set you back.
I'm
glad that Fagin hooked me up with Kimberlee
Sullivan (see above) - she is a life saver and really fills the needs for
action and information when something like this happens. So, all of you guys who
were dry in two months drink a beer for me - I'll get there but it will take a
while longer. For me, the key is to not take it personally. Life is a succession
of dice rolls, sometimes you get 7's and sometimes you get snake eyes.
I've
got an appointment next week for PSA, etc and I will update then. I'm sorry it
has been so long, this was a busy year and I lost track of things.
I've
been contacted through YANA by several guys and have helped them with their surgeries
by Randy Fagin - I think those men helped me more than I did them.
I
will be in touch after my visit next week.
GLENN
KEPT HIS PROMISE TO UPDATE IN JANUARY, BUT THAT WENT ASTRAY AND HE HAS JUST FORWARDED
IT TO ME:
First,
let me start off by apologizing for not posting for a while. This has been a weird
and busy year and while I knew I had to get my butt in gear it just didn't happen,
thanks for the gentle kick Terry.
As
usual with this stuff, there is good news and bad news. The good news is that
I had my semi-annual checkup today and PSA was essentially zero. I'm going on
two years post-op (that is amazing, it seems like just yesterday I stumbled on
this forum) and am finally allowing myself to believe that I'm cured.
The
not so good news is that I still need pads. Examination by Dr Bryan Kansas, Fagin's
partner who deals with this side of the issue, shows that the urethra is so scarred
that it won't close properly. When sitting or laying down, things are fine. When
standing there is dripping and upon compression of the bladder (e.g. lifting something
heavy or stretching in some weird way) there can be a squirt.
I
suspect there are two things at work here, one, I'm probably prone to this type
of scarring and, two, I was too active when the catheter was in. My pouch always
was red but there were no clots so I thought everything was OK. My wife is a nurse
and no bells went off in her head either. Neither Kansas nor Fagin will explicitly
sign on to this theory but they won't explicitly deny it either.
The
other part of this is that the math works out too – as near as I can tell, about
85% to 90% of the people who have DaVinci surgery are continent afterwards. There
were five of us where I work who had the surgery, by Fagin, within a 9 month span
- given the numbers above that means that there is anywhere from (.85)^5 = .44
probability to a (.9)^5 = .59 probability that at least one of the five people
will have continence issues. The other 4 are dry, I happened to come up on the
bad side of the numbers.
That
said, I'm not really hampered in any significant way. It is annoying and I have
to make sure I carry pads with me, know where bathrooms are when out in public,
and manage my liquid intake depending on what I'm going to do and where I will
be. But, I still run 12-15 miles/week, I still work in my shop as much as I want,
I still travel for work to somewhat remote places with no serious issues, and
I pretty much do what I want when I want. I have a little craft business on the
side and this year I did a 12, 12 hr/day show at Xmas and had a lot of fun – could
have used more customers but that was not related to the unwanted water problem.
I will probably have an artificial sphincter installed in a couple of months but
I'm not rushing into it. In short, I would still have the DaVinci surgery, knowing
that I'm cancer free is very important to me and I couldn't have waited the two
years it takes to know whether or not radiation has been effective.
My advice to people who have contacted me is to have the DaVinci surgery but restrict
your activity while the catheter is in – if you are bleeding, back off and watch
TV.
Good
luck to everyone and Terry I promise to be more prompt, my next appointment is
in July. .
Glenn's
e-mail address is: CSMART2@austin.rr.com
