YANA - YOU ARE NOT ALONE NOW

PROSTATE CANCER SUPPORT SITE

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Phil C. and Carolyn live in Illinois, USA . He was 56 when he was diagnosed on April 21, 2008. His initial PSA was 5.08 ng/ml, his Gleason Score was 3+4 and although he does not state his staging it seems likely that he was staged T2a. His choice of treatment was surgery. Here is his story.


Hello! My name is Carolyn and my husband's name is Phil.

Our story starts with a routine blood test on March 14, 2008. The nurse, (my twin sister) calls and tells me Phil's PSA is too high and has jumped too much from his December 2005 score of 3.18. Knowing his father had prostate cancer I asked her if she thought this is anything to be worried about and she said she did not know but that he needed an exam. Since we were seeing the female nurse practitioner and we have known her since she was a little girl, Phil opted to go to the male doctor in the office.

We did and on March 17 he did the DRE (Digital Rectal Examination) and thought he felt something so off to the urologist we went on March 20. He would not say anything but did want to do a biopsy but his office could not do it until April 15. We got the call the following Tuesday after several phone calls. Dr. Rives talked to Phil personally and told him that out of the 12 samples cancer was in all twelve. He wanted Phil to have a CAT scan and bone scan to see if it had spread.

We had to wait a whole week for the results and after Dr. Rives tells us everything is fine, we get a copy of the results and it said he had an abnormal bone scan. So we wait another week and he has an MRI of his head and no cancer. We met with Dr. Tarter in Springfield to discuss Phil's options and he thought he would do well with the robotic surgery. The problem is he has only done 26 robotic but is an experienced open surgeon with over 400. We really liked him though and his office is supposed to be pencilling him in for surgery but they have not called yet. We also have an appointment to see Dr. Koch in Indianapolis on June 16. He has done quite a few more surgeries. We hope we like him as we would be starting over if he does not work out. The waiting is killing us. They tell us the cancer is slow growing but they think he has a 62% chance it is contained in the prostate and a 33% chance it has escaped outside.

I know that God is in control and we can and do depend on him but there are times when I am really worried. I really do not care about the impotence and I deal with stress incontinence every day so I just want Phil to be here for a long time. We will celebrate our 33rd wedding anniversary in August. We have two wonderful grown children and 6 fantastic grandchildren who love their grandpa very much. I know this is usually written by the men but I am more outspoken than Phil. Sometimes it is very hard on the wives also.

Thanks for reading this and God Bless all who are also traveling on this challenging road.

 

UPDATED

June 2008

 

 

Phil and I met with Dr. Koch on June 16. We really liked him and was really reassured about Phil's cancer being slow growing and he said Phil could wait up to a year for surgery. He said most wives did not like to wait, which is true, and so Phil's surgery is scheduled for Aug. 1. Life is just about waiting now.

In our earlier story, I said we had 2 grown children but what I did not mention was that we have 2 other wonderful children in their mates. God truly blessed our children with His choice of their mates. Anyway, life goes on as we wait for this life altering surgery.

God Bless all those who are on this long journey.

 

UPDATED

October 2009

 

 

Sorry we have not gotten back to you sooner.

My husband had robotic surgery on August 1, 2008. The journey to get there was a long one. I had already talked about his abnormal MRI which was okay. We really liked Dr. Koch and scheduled surgery for Aug. 1. Phil went for his pre-op tests and the EKG showed Phil had had a heart attack. This was mid-July and he would have to have a stress test and a cardiologist clearance before surgery. Our local cardiologist could not do it until July 28, so we called Dr. Koch's office and they got us in a lot sooner. We got over to IUPUI [Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis] and they said Phil was scheduled for the next day. GRRR, BUT they were really nice since we had driven over 2 hours and they worked him in. Phil's brother had had a heart attack at 50 and there is a bad history of heart problems on his Mom's side of the family.

Anyway, he had his surgery on Aug. 1. It was really scary, but I had the support of our kids and my sister and her husband with me. He came through surgery fine and had to only stay one night. The next few days were spent resting and recuperating. He tried to walk some, but he said he did not walk enough. He got his catheter out after a week. He had and still does experience phantom pain in the rectum where the prostate was.

No incontinence from day one to speak of. At first if he cleared his throat or got up too fast he lost a couple of drops. No pads from day one. Thank you Lord!

ED is getting better with time. He still uses Viagra for a usable erection and he was getting discouraged, but we met with Dr. Koch on Sept. 30 and he reminded Phil that he had a lot of gleason 4 and a huge volume of cancer and he is still getting 0's on his PSA and we could be having a whole different conversation and that he should be patient. He said some men do not regain full erections for 2 years.

I just thank God he had surgery when he did because we could be worrying about where the cancer has spread. The results of his pathology report is that it was contained to his prostate, but the surgical margins were negative by .1 mm.

Again Thank You Lord! Any questions please feel free to email us.

Phil and Carolyn's e-mail address is: pccarr@agristar.net