YANA - YOU ARE NOT ALONE NOW

PROSTATE CANCER SUPPORT SITE

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Mark Mal402 and Shelly live in Nebraska USA. He was 52 when he was diagnosed on Feb 4, 2008. His initial PSA was 4.6 ng/ml, his Gleason Score was 9 and he was staged T2bNXM0. His choice of treatment was robotic laparoscopic radical prostatectomy. Here is his story.

I found initially from a blood test done at the VA. At 4.6, the doc said to come back in 3 months for another PSA. That was Feb '08. I went to my urologist who did a DRE and found a lump and ridge. After my biopsy, 6 of 12 cores contained cancer. Gleason score at that time? 9 (4+5).

After a CT, MRI and blood work that urologist said it looked like it was localized. Everything I read on net said it had escaped. He scheduled surgery five weeks from then. That was unacceptable.

I found a urologist to see me that week and scheduled the Da Vinci surgery the following week. He's done the most Da Vinci surgeries of any surgeon in our state. He also does 3-5 a week. I had it 10 days ago.

The surgical path report came back. Gleason score was actually 5+4. Still aggressive. They thought it was organ-confined, but it had already escaped. Because of prior pelvic trauma, my prostate adhered to the wall of the rectum, so part of the wall had to be removed.

No evidence of cancer cells in Lymph nodes or at the neck of bladder. Nor at seminal vesicles. Having some incontinence, which I expected. Ended up being in the hospital for six days because of problem with the rectum. They wouldn't give me anything to drink or eat until I passed gas.

Ten days and I still haven't had anything to eat. I'm on full liquid diet so we make sure the wall heals. Good way to lose weight! One more week of liquids, then soft diet for two weeks. I can't find a lot of evidence concerning the treatment plan we're pursuing, but it makes sense. He thinks he got all the cancer, but there's probably micromets in the blood stream.

We're going to go with ADT in four weeks. It will be six weeks after surgery. Cancer stage post-surgery pT3,pN0,MX.

 

UPDATED

June 2008

 

 

Well, it's been almost six weeks since surgery. I would say I'm 99% continent. Just every once in awhile I have a slip up.

Last week I had my first PSA test after surgery and it came back 0.04. It was good, but I'll still start on hormone shots next week (6/12). The urologist had said if the PSA came back more than he expected I could be on hormone treatment indefinitely. That didn't sound like fun, but I'm still not out of the woods. I have a Gleason of 9 and extraprostatic extension. That are two negatives that aren't good.

I try to talk to my wife, but she thinks I've given up. I told her before we went to the appt. last week that there's a good chance the cancer will come back in 5-10 years. So what did the doc say? We need to do shots right away to keep the cancer in check and reduce the tumor size. She said, "But I thought we got all of the tumor?" Yes, but the probability of it coming back in my case is very high. She thinks I read too much and try to pull all the negatives out of it.

I guess I'm as ready as I'll ever be about getting these shots. The side effects are what I'm not looking forward to. His nurse said he's particular to Lupron.

 

UPDATED

July 2008

 

 

Got my first Lupron shot last week. The first of many, many more. Last weekend I needed a nap both days and am tired when I don't get one in. It was that way before the shot too. I feel like I'm depressed. I haven't contacted the doc who has me check in for my meds yet. I may wait until I see him in a few months.

Sex life has been nil. I took a test today for a position I'm trying for and couldn't think as clearly as I should have. Guess I may have to get used to that. I'm not sure if I passed or not, but have to take a typing test on Thursday. I was keeping up with my caring bridge blog, but not lately. I don't really want to try and put something on it, then people question what I meant by what I said. I haven't done much of anything since the surgery. It's only been 8 weeks.

I don't think I'll be able to stop taking shots. I know it's not good to stay on them, but with a GS of 9 and Stage III, it's probably better to stay on it.

 

UPDATED

August 2008

 

 

Well, thanks for letting me air some stuff.

It's been one month since my first Lupron shot. The side effects hit me last week. I'm having hot flashes daily, night sweats sometimes, and tired most of the time. Headaches have been a problem, but that may be my allergies. I went to my primary care physician (pcp) a little over a week ago for the pain in my legs. My blood pressure was 146/100. Thought it was a fluke, but a week later I went to my pulmonologist and he took it and it was 152/102. Two days later it was 134/100. So now I'm on blood pressure medicine. Seemed like my heart was pounding in my chest.

I don't know if I can take these side effects, but don't have much choice. Has anyone ever had the feeling that their time left here on earth will not be decades, but years? I'm not worried. I know positive thinking is what we need, but I've felt that I'll make it ten years if it's good.

Things are just not working the way they use to, and I'm only 52.

Thanks, Mark.



Mark's e-mail address is: m_maldonado@tconl.com