Sporty
Jeralds and Teresa live in North Carolina, USA. He was 49 when he was diagnosed
on February 3, 2009. His initial PSA was 2.6 ng/ml, his Gleason Score was 6 and
although he does not state his staging it seems that he was staged T1c. His choice
of treatment was Surgery--Robotic. Here is his story.
Hello
I am
excited to share my story. My father died from Prostate Cancer 16 years ago. I
made a promise at that time that I would be very vigilant. Last August my internist
told me after my physical that if I didn't hear from him that everything was OK
with my blood work. My blood pressure was elevated somewhat during that physical
so he asked that I come back in January to make sure everything was good. On January
5th while discussing my blood pressure my doctor noticed that my PSA from the
August physical was 2.1 which although in the normal range had moved up from what
it had been for many years (1.3-1.5) He ordered another PSA on that day which
came back at 2.6 on January 12th. He advised that I see a Urologist.
Based
on my experience with my father once I met with the Urologist I decided to proceed
quickly with a biopsy. The biopsy confirmed cancer. Although the disease had touched
my family it was still very difficult to hear those words on February 3rd. My
Gleason score was a 6. It took about 4 days for me to get my arms around the diagnosis.
Once I pulled myself together I started doing a lot of research. I spoke with
men who had had success with each treatment option.
I chose the Da Vinci
robotic surgery. Based on my age at diagnosis (49) I believed surgery would be
the best option to protect as many years as possible. I had the surgery on Tuesday
March 31st. The surgery went great. I had a slight complication with one of the
drains in my stomach but was able to come home on Thursday. I had not had a bowel
movement by Friday and that was a really bad day. The pain was a 9 out 10. On
Saturday I was able to have a bowel movement and it was smooth sailing from that
point forward. I had the catheter in for 9 days. Having it taken out was not bad
at all. I wore the diapers for about two weeks and the pad for about a month.
I went back to work after 4 weeks since most of my job is at a desk with a computer.
I am still not able to have sex but I am using Levitra and it seems to be coming
back slowly. Thank God my wife is patient. She has been with me every step of
this journey.
I just had my second check-up and everything is looking
great (PSA both times at 0.0) God is Good!
If you have brothers or other
family members make sure they are getting their check-ups. With my father having
the disease it was almost certain that I would get the disease at some point in
my life. It just came a little sooner. God Bless!
Sporty's e-mail address
is: sjeralds@aol.com
