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PROSTATE CANCER SUPPORT SITE

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Michael F and Terry live in New Jersey, US. He was 41 when he was diagnosed on February 18, 2009. His initial PSA was 4.0 ng/ml, his Gleason Score was 6 and he was staged T1c . His choice of treatment was Robotic Assisted Laparoscopic Surgery. Here is his story.

I'm 41, and never been sick a day in my life. I lift weights 3 times a week, and run about 15 miles a week. I have a very strong family history of prostate cancer, so being a physician and proactive, I started to check my PSA at 40, but never thought that it would amount to anything, especially in my early 40s.

My grandfather had RP at age 70, but died of unrelated causes almost 20 years later. My uncle was diagnosed with Gleason 8 and metastasis to bone at age 58, and he told my father to get tested. Dad had Gleason 6 and elected to have hormone and radiation.

I had my first PSA at 1.0 at age 40 1 year later, my PSA jumped to 3.2, repeated again a few months later and was 4.0, and my internist (and med. school classmate) was concerned.

Over the years I have had intermittent scrotal pain with constipation and lower belly pain that was either diagnosed as prostatitis or epidymidis, so I thought that this could be the cause of the increased PSA. The urologist I spoke to over the phone recommended a short course of Cipro and a repeat PSA at the internist's office 3 weeks later, and then he would see me after that for an exam.

The repeat PSA was 1.7, so I thought I was in the clear. I went to see the urologist anyway, since i knew I'd be needing to see one regularly anyway. The urologist repeated the PSA one more time, (the third in 4 months) and floated the idea of a biopsy just to be definitive in the face of a fluctuating PSA. The PSA was back at 3.2, and we decided to biopsy.

I had the biopsy on February 11, 2009. I was nervous about the results, but pretty confident that it would be negative, since we were just doing this for piece of mind. On February 18, 2009, I got the phone call that changed my life. Suddenly, I was no longer the healthy, virile head of the family and rock to my children, but now I was a cancer victim. It took me a week or two to get my wits about me, but after doing the research, I knew that with my age and stage of diagnosis, surgery was the only choice for me.

My urologist only does open RP, and referred me to NYC to a high volume RALP (Robotic Assisted Laparoscopic Surgery) surgeon.

As I write this, I'm preparing to have surgery tomorrow afternoon, April 6. I think the waiting has been the worst. I'm prepared for the postop care, and family and friends have been very supportive. Every so often, I still lapse into the "why me" attitude, and wish I didn't have to go through this, but I'm confident in my surgeon, and have a belief that I will come out on the other side cancer free and ready to resume my life. I will write more as I am recovering.

 

UPDATED

May 2009

 

 

I'm now 6 weeks post surgery. I couldn't have asked for a better outcome. I think that the skill of the surgeon and my prexisting excellent health and physical fitness played a large role in the ease of my recovery. I realize that everyone is different, and heals differently, so it's hard to generalize.

I'm now 6 weeks post op and doing great. The surgery itself was fine, 2 1/2 hours, general anesthesia. After surgery, I was groggy and a little uncomfortable in my abdomen, like I had done 100s of sit ups. The first night, I was having bladder spasms, which was very uncomfortable. I feels like you have to urinate very badly, but can't. This was relieved with percocet, then morphine, and was fine the next day.

I was discharged on the first day after surgery, and I was moving slowly that week, taking lots of walks. The catheter was more a nuisance than anything else. The worst part of the first week was the constipation. I was bloated and uncomfortable, and anything I ate seemed to make it worse. I was able to stop the percocet on day 3, and by day 6, I was finally moving my bowels and feeling better. Honestly, the rest of my post op course was pretty unremarkable. The catheter came out on day 7, and I got a great report. Negative margins and lymph nodes, gleason 6, stage T2a.

At first, the urinary stuff was strange. I constantly felt like I had to go, had difficulty initiating and maintaining a stream, and I was dribbling. I went through 1 pad a day during this time. I was dry at night from the outset, but wore a pad for about a week, just for security. The urinary stuff has continued to improve, so that by week 4, I was not wearing a pad at all. I still leak once or twice a day, mostly at the end of the day, when I'm tired, or when I am stressed. The leakage actually got a little worse when I started working out again on week 6. I don't leak when I lift weights, but I have a little more random leakage later in the day, probably from muscle fatigue.

I went back to work 1/2 time in week 3, full time week 4, and back to the gym week 6. I went for my week 6 postop, and my PSA was <0.02.

As far as sexual function goes, I've been pretty lucky from what I've read. I've been taking 10 mg of Cialis every third day, to keep the blood flowing. I had some spontaneous night time erections, and on week 6, I was able to have sex. It felt different; not better or worse, just different.

So now, almost 7 weeks after surgery, back to work and the gym, and everything working fine, I'm no worse for wear. I'm upset that I had to go through this, but I couldn't have asked for a better result..

Michael's e-mail address is: mtjefarb@optonline.net