YANA - YOU ARE NOT ALONE NOW

PROSTATE CANCER SUPPORT SITE

Jim Carroll and Mary live in New York, USA. He was 62 when he was diagnosed on December 28, 2006. His intial PSA was 4.34 ng/ml, his Gleason Score 7 (3+4) and he was staged T1c. His choice of treatment was HIFU. Here is his story:

I had HIFU on February 28, 2007 in Turin, Italy by Dr. Leonardo D'Urso. My local urologist had discouraged me and refused to provide follow-up care, so I selected another one for follow-up.

On February 27, 2007, I went into the hospital in Turin for prep work, had HIFU on February 28, stayed overnight in the hospital, and was discharged the next morning. That afternoon I walked a couple miles around Turin.

The total inclusive cost was about $5,600 USD (in comparison to $25,000 in Toronto). My wife and I flew home the following day.

Although I will not know my PSA results for at least a month, I am confident I am cancer free with no side effects (nerve sparing was done on the side without cancer).

I would be happy to reply to anyone's e-mails on HIFU.

 

UPDATED

July 2007

 

 

Shortly after my initial story in early March, and right after returning from having HIFU in Turin, Italy, I began having rectal problems which were diagnosed as fistulas. I was unable to go into my office for a month and had to have surgery. I still visit the proctologist every couple weeks.

 

The only good news has been that my two PSA tests so far have been 0.8 ng/ml and 0.9 ng/ml, indicating total elimination of the cancer.

The probability of rectal injuries, according to studies I have reviewed is less than .5% (1 in 200) so I want to emphasize that hopefully you will not have similar problems. Also, since my cancer was localized on one side of the prostate, the doctor was able to preserve the nerve bundles for sexual functioning on the other side.

 

UPDATED

August 2008

 

 

It turned out that the HIFU not only caused severe rectal injuries that required medical care until December of 2007. Then, in April 2008, fully recovered from the rectal injuries, I was able to have another needle-point biopsy and it revealed I still had the same localized cancer.

 

I had robotic laparoscopic surgery at Strong Memorial Hospital in Rochester by Dr. Jean Joseph on June 25, 2008, and went home the following morning, and was able to walk around a shopping mall on that day.

I experience some leakage which is quite common and have not yet been able to maintain an erection; hopefully both conditions will improve in upcoming months. I am 63 and had to use Viagara prior to surgery.

Jim

 

UPDATED

November 2009

 

 

The leakage I experienced was very minor and was totally gone in about a month. It took at least six months for Viagara to have any effect and then it was because I was using 2 x 100mg tablets, twice the recommended dosage. When I told my urologist, he expressed his strong disapproval saying that could raise blood pressure too high and recommended 20 mg Levitra which I have been using with satisfactory results since.

Jim Carroll

 

Jim's e-mail address is : jcarroll@syr.edu