Greg
Rutherford and
Cristeta live in Sydney Australia. Greg was
51 when he was diagnosed on 27 July 2004. His initial PSA was 4.7 ng/ml, his Gleason
Score was 3+3=7 and he was staged as T1c. His choice of treatment was Radical
Prostatectomy. Here is his story:
My story starts in early 2004 when I noticed that every few hours I had a
mild need to urinate and also sometimes the flow was a little slow, especially
early in the morning.
I talked to friends of around my age if they had anything
similar and found that most had the same or even worse!
By March I decided to see my GP, he said that it was probably just an infection
that could be fixed with antibiotics but there was also an outside chance that
it could be my prostate. He gave me some blood and urine tests for the possible
infection and also a PSA test. Three days later I called in for the test results
and found that there was no infection but my PSA was 4.2 ng/ml.
The
Doc told me that this test was not reliable enough to say that there was necessarily
a problem and that I needed to repeat the test again in three months time and
also have a more refined "ratio" test. Three months later my PSA was 4.7 ng/ml
with a free PSA ratio of 14%.
He said that I posed a problem for him in that my results indicated that I was
neither a probable or probably not, he looked at my concerned face and decided
that he would refer me to a urologist anyway. Also he carried out a DRE (Digital
Rectal Examination) and said that the prostate felt slightly enlarged with a deep
groove and no masses.
My urologist looked at the test results, did a DRE and said that the prostate
was firm but not hard like some are as he indicated by tapping his desk with his
knuckle.
"You have a 30% chance of cancer but the only way to know for sure
was to do a TRUS biopsy"(it seems that most urologists are blunt). The biopsy
showed most of the samples had adenocarcenoma at best patchy and at worst 80%
but all Gleason Grade 3, giving a Gleason Score of 6.
He said surgery, my GP said see a radiologist for second opinion and referred
me to a Professor of Radiology. The Prof gave me a good explanation of how radiology
works but said that if he were me then he would have the surgery.
So 15th of September out came the prostate. I had a four hour operation including
nerve sparing, woke up that evening with a catheter and a drain and went home
three days later still with the catheter but without the drain. After an X-ray
to check for leaks, the catheter was removed on the seventh day.
It is now four weeks since the operation and I have had little incontinence (just
a drop if I blow my nose with the spring hayfever)and virtually no pain after
the first three weeks. So far so good, I await the first blood test and its results
but I have to say, in my experience thinge have not been as bad as expected. Maybe
I have been lucky or maybe I had a good surgeon, I don't know for sure but for
anyone worried about the surgery, it's probably not as bad as you might think.
Regards
Greg R.
Just
back from the doctor today. It's the first time I have spoken to him since the
operation as he has been overseas in Canada.
It's
my six week after op follow up. We discussed my biopsy result Gleason 7 (up from
the needle biopsy of 6) but still OK according to him. The cancer was organ confined
and statistically gives me a 92% chance of non recurrence. My PSA is undetectable
and I have no incontinance problems. Back to work next Monday but still time for
some fishing tomorrow. So far so good,
Bye
for now Greg R.
Hello
to everyone and happy new year.
Got
my 4 month post operation PSA test a few weeks ago and am happy to say that it
is less than 0.01 ng/ml. This gives me great hope for the future and I believe
is the result of great work from a great doctor.
I
have no incontinance issues and the nerve sparing done has allowed a steady improvement
in the normal side effects, I would estimate approx 70% of what things used to
be with more to come according to the Doctor.
Best
wishes to all at the site.
Back
from my Urologist after my second three month check up. I am happy to say that
my PSA remains at zero, I am doing very well and the next test is not required
for six more months.
I
had some back pain and my doctor ordered an x-ray of my pelvis, this turned out
to be just a muscular strain however the x-ray revealed 53 surgical clips that
I did not know about! When I told my uro about them he just laughed and said "dont
worry they are stainless steel, they won't rust".
If
you can imagine what a large handful of tangled 1 inch nails might look like then
that is what I see in the image.
Good
luck to all and see you in six months.
Its
been 14 months now since my surgery and I am happy to report that my PSA remains
undetectable at <0.01.
Life
is pretty well back to normal and the ordeal of knowing I had cancer and had undergone
surgery a distant memory now except for a rather untidy scar on my belly and some
anxiety around the time leading up to the six monthly blood test.
My
continence was never an issue and the nerve sparing continues to improve but like
all of us, probably not quickly enough!
All
the best for the festive season and see you in six months Regards Greg.
Hello
to all!
It's
been about 18 months since my last update and my life is essentially back to normal.
My PSA remains undetectable at <0.01 and all functions are about normal for a
54 year old. My Urologist has put me on yearly checkups now, he normally keeps
his patients on 6 monthly checks for the first 5 years after surgery but because
I have no real issues to complain about he thinks its is not necessary and it
is a cost I am glad to forego.
I still believe that I have made the right decision going for surgery however
only time will tell. The things against surgery as I saw them at the time was
a biopsy core of 80% (might have been close to the capsule edge at one end), a
relatively low PSA of 4.7 for the total volume of tumour (may have been some high
grade tumour than the biopsy had not revealed). The thing going for it was that
I might end up with the result that I now have,
Regards
to everyone Greg R.
It's
been a while since my last update, but not much has changed except my PSA which
had been undetectable i.e. less than 0.01 for the first three years has for the
the last 10 months been 0.02. My doctor says "it's nothing, just forget about
it and I'll see you in twelve months time" - easy for him to say, hope he is right.
Other
than that rare niggling doubt on the occasional sleepless night I don't much think
about it . I have a new job that takes up most of my time, the rest is taken up
fiddling with my old motorbikes and enjoying life
Regards
to all Greg R .
Greg's
e-mail address is: greg.rutherford@bigpond.com.au.
