Steve
H and Kim live in Missouri USA. He was 41 when he was diagnosed on August 12,
2008. His initial PSA was 2.8 ng/ml, his Gleason Score was 6 and although he does
not state his staging it seems clear from his narrative that he was staged T1c.
His choice of treatment was laparoscopic radical robotic prostatectomy. Here is
his story.
My story started in February of 2008 when I went to see an urologist
for a completely different issue. The doc asked if I had a family history of prostate
cancer. I have a strong history my father and one of his brothers have been treated
for prostate cancer and both of my mom's brothers have been had prostate cancer.
A PSA was done at that visit and I returned to see him a couple of weeks
later. At that time my PSA was 2.4 and my DRE (Digital Rectal Examination) was
unremarkable. My urologist thought that my PSA may be elevated because of prostatitis.
He gave me the option of doing a biopsy or waiting 4 months and having a PSA drawn
again. I chose to wait.
That PSA was 2.8. I had a biopsy done on August
8, '08. I am still thinking that this cannot be cancer. Even after the biopsy
as I am talking with my urologist he was not overly concerned. He told me that
everything looked ok on the ultrasound. I went back to see the doc on August 12,
'08. I knew something was wrong by the way his office nurse was acting. I was
not that surprised when the doc came into the room and told me that I had cancer.
4 of the 12 samples came back positive for cancer.
He went over all the
treatment options and suggested that I see a college of his that did the Da Vinci
surgery. I followed his advice and was very impressed after meeting with the surgeon.
He had done over 500 of these procedures. He was very calm and reassuring. On
September 9, '08 I underwent the procedure. I remember the anaesthesiologist saying
I am going to give you something to relax before we take you back and then the
next thing I know I am waking up about 3 hours later in the recovery room. Surgery
went well and I was released from the hospital the following day with a Foley
catheter. My pathology report came back with the surgical margins cancer free.
I had the catheter in about 2 weeks.
The urine leakage gets a little better
each day. I do my exercises like my doc recommended. I had my first post surgery
PSA on November 3, '08 and it was undetectable. I went back to work the next day.
I still have some trouble with urine leakage mainly when I am doing any lifting.
I have tried various meds for the impotency problem and have not had much success
yet.
Steve's e-mail address is : hockeyfan12@windstream.
