Greg
B and Paula live in Pennsylvania USA. He was 62 when he was diagnosed on October,
29, 2007. His initial PSA was 1.4 ng/ml, his Gleason Score was 3+4=7 and although
he does not state his staging, it seems likely that it would have been T2a. His
choice of treatment was Surgery. Here is his story.
I went to my general
practitioner in September 2007 as I had noticed blood in my semen and an uncomfortable
feeling behind my balls when I sat down. I first noticed the blood in the semen
in July and thought it would go away and that it was due to a minor strain or
something. The semen got darker in August and then I went to the doctor in Sept.
The GP did a DRE and said it he did not like the way my prostate felt and referred
my to a Urologist and for a blood test. I had seen this Urologist once before
on another referral about 1-1/2 years ago for an enlarged prostate and at that
time his comment was " what do you expect at 60 years old". This time the Urologist
suggested that I have a biopsy done, which I had on October 16, 2007.
On
October 29 I was informed that of the 12 tissue samples taken one had tested positive
for cancer cells. All I heard was cancer and naturally was very worried. We had
just lost a friend in California to cancer, he had surgery in July and he died
in October of colon cancer. I was very worried and my wife was out of the country
tending to her ill Mom. Fortunately I found your site and began to educate myself.
I would like to thank you and all your contributors for sharing their experiences,
it was very helpful to me and that is why I decided to share mine.
I was
not keen on surgery which my Urologist suggested was the best option for me at
my age and my overall health. I had a very bad experience with an emergency appendectomy
five years ago and this was my reference point for surgery. I went back and forth
between surgery and radioactive seed implant and could not decide what to do.
I decided to seek a second opinion and the second Urologist basically confirmed
what the first had told me, he discussed the various forms of treatment available.
I talked to a couple of friends, one had surgery and the other had external
beam radiation, and read all of the personal experiences posted on your site.
The fellow that had surgery was very pleased with the outcome and said he decided
on surgery because he wanted the cancer out of his body. The fellow who decided
on radiation said that he had it done 9 years ago and was happy with the results
but that now his PSA was beginning to rise again and he was watching it closely.
I think it was then that I decided on having surgery and notified my Urologist
of my decision. I was very fortunate in that my Urologist was a strong proponent
of surgery and had performed over 1,000 RRP's. He wanted to schedule surgery for
Dec. 20,2007 but I decided to wait until after the Christmas and New Year holidays.
Surgery was scheduled for January 3, 2008
On January 2 I began the preparations
and went to the hospital at 7:30 AM on January 3, 2008 accompanied by my wife.
Earlier I mentioned that when I was diagnosed my wife was out of the country attending
to her Mom and I was concerned as to how she would take the news. We had just
been married two years ago and were very, very happy. She took the news well and
assured me that everything would be ok. I had to wait until 11:30 am before the
surgery was performed. My Urologist came by to reassure me and tell me that he
would take good care of me, and his partner surgeon stopped by to introduce himself.
Everyone at the operating room was very pleasant and repeatedly asked my name,
date of birth, and why I was there. My last conversation was with the anaesthesiologist
who said he was going to give me something to relax me. I woke up in the recovery
area with compression wraps on my legs to prevent blood clots, and my Urologist
stopped by to assure me that everything had gone smoothly. I was in the recovery
area until 11:30 PM that evening as they did not have a room ready. I was feeling
no pain at that point due to the pain medication that they gave me, and I had
a lot of tubes coming out of my arms for the electrolyte drip and some drain tubes
coming out of my stomach. I was very thirsty as I had not had anything to drink
since the night before. The only drink I could get was a small sponge dipped in
water to suck on, and not much of that either.
January 4 I was allowed
to order breakfast but did not have much of an appetite, but I felt I should at
least try to eat as it had been 48 hours since the last meal. I ordered cream
of wheat cereal and ate some of that. My surgeon came by and said that my surgery
had only taken 45 minutes and that everything went smoothly and that I might be
able to go home on January 5 if I did not have a fever. I ate a some fruit salad
for lunch and had cream of chicken soup for dinner. The food was not bad but I
really did not have much of an appetite. My wife was there constantly helping
me and she was an angel throughout the ordeal.
January 5th I was allowed
to go home at 6:30 that evening. I had passed the two tests: gas and bowel movement.
I was given two prescriptions one for an anti biotic to prevent infections and
one for pain pills to take every four hours. It was great to go home after only
two days in the hospital. I terms of pain management I really had no problems
as they were very generous with pain killer at the hospital and the prescription
worked very well.
January 6,7 spent at home resting and getting used to
having the Foley catheter and two drain tubes hanging from my stomach. My appetite
and strength are slowly returning and I am feeling more and more normal and adjusting
to my new way of life with the Foley. The catheter does not bother me as much
as I thought it would and there really is no pain now unless I move the wrong
way.
January 8 I went to my Urologist to have the drain tubes removed,
which was relatively painless and the doctor said he did not have the results
from the lab back yet. On Friday Jan. 11 I am going to have my staples removed
and hope to have the lab results. I will update again after Friday.
Later:
January
11 I went to the Urologist office to have my staples removed. By the time I got
to his office my bag was completly full and sliding down my leg so the first order
of business was to empty the bag.
I
went into the exam room and lie on my back with my pants down and the doctor came
in with good news. He said that according to the lab reports my cancer was fully
contained within the prostate and thus has been removed from my body. The doctor
looked at my incision scar and said it was healing well and then he was gone.
His office was full of patients and he was very busy. I could hear another gentleman
across the hall getting instructions on how to prepare for surgery and am amazed
at how prevalent this disease is.
The
nurse came in and removed the staples which was painless, applied white stips
of tape along the incision where the staples were and then made an appointment
for January 22 to remove the Foley catheter. I was going to ask for a copy of
the lab report but they were so busy at the doctors office I was not able to do
so. I will call on Monday and request a copy and if there is anything significant
in the report I will post it here. Otherwise, I will update when the Foley is
removed on January 22.
Later:
January
22 the big day arrived, I am having my Foley catheter removed. My appointment
was for 10:00AM but the doctor's office called and re-scheduled for 3:30PM as
the doctor was "tied up" in surgery. I arrived promptly and the nurse removed
the catheter in the blink of an eye. My surgeon had tied the catheter to some
nylon thread which was poking through my stomach wall and secured with a nylon
button. This was more annoying than the Foley and it felt great when it was removed.
I was told to bring a Depends with me which I did and had to put it on right away.
The doctor came in and basically said that he did not know how long the incontinence
would be with me as each person recovers at a different rate, told me to do the
Kegels and come back to see him in a month.
Like
most, I am fine when lying down but when walking or moving I am dripping. I have
to get up 3 times a night now to pee,and I am trying to learn when to go during
the day as the sensation is different now. I am wearing an absorbent pad and trying
to get on with life.
The
best news is from the lab report on my prostate which says that I was down graded
from gleason 7 to 6 (3+3) and " tumor involves right lateral lobe near base of
gland, tumor is confined to the prostate, absence of tumor at apex of bladder
base and peripheral margins, tumor involves approximately 1% of the prostate gland
(0.3cm maximal tumor dimension). I am very thankful that I caught this in an early
stage and am looking foward to a full recovery.
Today,
January 24, as I write this is the 3 week anniversary of my surgery. I realize
that I still have some way to go and must be patient but I am glad that I made
the decision that I did. I will update after my next visit to the doctor on February
22.
Greg's
e-mail address is: greggmann1@aol.com
