Robert
Stearns and Linda live in South Carolina, USA . He was 67 when he was diagnosed
on February 20, 2009. His initial PSA was 6.7 ng/ml, his Gleason Score was 6 and
he was staged T1c. His choice of treatment was Laparoscopic surgery. Here is his
story.
I have been reading the stories of others and I must say I am a
little afraid since I have emphysema and also have had a double hernia operation
and a mesh inserted at that time which my or may not hinder the procedure.
Will
update after surgery on the 27th of April.
Day
1 On 27 April at 1:38PM I was wheeled into the O.R for Da Vinci Lapararascopic
surgery. After 5 hours of cutting, slicing, and dicing the beast was out of my
body and I was on the road to recovery. My wife Linda says everything went well
and they got everything, the margins also looked good, on to LA-LA land for the
rest of the day (drugs).
Day
2 Pain is negligible and everything is going well. My Pastor visited yesterday
and I was surprised that he was here again today until Linda told me he was there
for moral support. I wasn't given the whole truth yesterday because they didn't
want to stress me, especially with having emphysema and a long operation. I was
now told the actual Prostatectomy took less than 4 hours and the other hour was
spent looking for a MISSING stainless steel suture needle which went missing inside
me when the tool holding it was removed from my body, however they didn't want
to keep me under sedation any longer because of my other ailment and closed me
up.
Day
3 After discussing my options for the lost suture needle we decided to wait
until I was stronger before making a decision one way or another. Since I wasn't
in pain or immediate danger I was discharged at 5:30 pm.
Days
4 - 7 Uneventful, much rest and a little exercise, discontinued pain pills
some discomfort, however feeling really fine.
Day
8 Had a cystogram done today in which my bladder was filled with fluid dye
to the point I thought my eyeballs were bulging out of my head and no leakage,
HOORAY that means the catheter can be removed tomorrow. Also had the doctor of
radiology further check for the MISSING needle.(nothing seen)
Day
9 had the catheter and stitches removed and everything appears fine. Doctor
informed me the lab results of the removed prostate upgraded my Gleason score
to a 3+4 with 10-15% of the prostate being cancerous Had an appointment scheduled
to find the MISSING needle.
Day
10 Had the CT scan for the MISSING needle, have to wait for the results.
Later:
Day15
Latest update CT scan results were very good thank God, no suture needle inside
me, so the extra hour under the knife searching for the suture needle was a waste
of time and effort. I guess this is where a lot of people would be consulting
with an Attorney, however I can say except for the needle mishap the surgeon did
a fine job, all the incisions were small and at this point I have been working
on re-landscaping my yard, to include lifting and setting 140 concrete blocks
weighing 27 lbs each for a retaining wall, manually leveling the yard and getting
ready to put in about 1,000 sq ft of sod.
Other
than the urinary incontinence and the lack of an erection I really feel great.
I am sure with time these two problems will also heal. I have an appointment on
the 28 of May with the doctor and will update at that time. One thing for sure
I would recommend the Laparascopic surgery over the other methods of dealing with
this problem.
Robert's
e-mail address is: louie0304@aol.com
