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Vladimir Vasiu-Lakatos and Maria live in Queens, New York, USA . He was 48 when he was diagnosed on July 9th, 2007. His initial PSA was 6.5 ng/ml, his Gleason Score was 6 and he was staged T1c . His choice of treatment was Robotic prostatectomy . Here is his story.

Hi everybody,

It is September 30th, 2007 and I'm less than 24 hrs. away from my Da Vinci surgery and I'm a little bit nervous. I hope so very much that my Pc is organ confined and everything will become a bad dream after the surgery. According to all my tests, Bone Scan, MRI, MR Pelvis with contrast, CT Scan of the chest, abdomen and pelvis, the Pc is confined to the prostate. My only concern is that in these 3 months waiting for the surgery, my cancer did not spread beyond the prostate and is still confined to the organ.

My story started when I became a nightwalker to the bathroom 2-3 times a night. I had a check-up with my urologist in November 2006 and my PSA result came back 3.48 ng/ml which was still in the normal limit, I was told. The DRE exam did not show any irregularities of the prostate and I was told to check back in a year.

I had a premonition and after 8 months, in July 2007 I went back to my urologist to do the usual blood test for PSA. The result came back 6.5 ng/ml, which is elevated and abnormal and the doctor recommended a biopsy. The biopsy was performed on July 3rd 2007 and the bad news came on July 9th.The news hits you so hard and the reality is so cruel when you realize with a clear mind what is happening to you and what are your chances and options for the next stage of your life. I know, it is terrible to be told you have cancer and I'm sure the human reaction is mostly the same at each individual, regardless of age or skin color.

After the terrible shock , followed by a period of depression and sadness, you're trying to find a hope, like someone in the middle of the ocean, hoping for a ship to save him and pull him out from the black waters of desperation. This hope is here, it's real and it's called YANANOW. I'm very grateful and very lucky to have discovered this website which brings hope in our difficult and desperate periods of our lives.

I'm not a very religious man, but I do believe in God, and I did a lot of praying recently, feeling now relieved from any tensions and negative thoughts. I feel confident that my tomorrow's surgery will be successful.

I'll be back with more news about me after the surgery.

All the best, to all of you,

Vladimir

Later:

Today is October 12th 2007. I had my prostatectomy done on Oct. 1st at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City .I feel very lucky from 2 reasons:

1. Having the right insurance which made possible the acceptance for the surgery

2. Having Doctor Samadi as my surgeon was the best decision I could ever take, in a lifetime.

High professionalism, extraordinary surgeon skills, very caring person. These are the words describing the best the Doctor I was lucky to have as my surgeon. He performed over 900 Da Vinci prostatectomies in the past years and I could not have been in better hands with such a record like this.

I have spent two nights in the hospital and I was released home on October 3rd at noon with my Foley ,"companion" attached to my most sensitive part of my body.
The one week period of time with the Foley catheter in me was the worse experience I ever had in my life. I have to specify that I'm not circumcised and every little move, every step, made me feel the pain at the tip of my penis where the catheter was inserted. That spot was extremely sensitive due to the fact that the skin was pulled back when the catheter was inserted during the surgery. I should have put back the skin myself but I didn't dare to do so, and it was pulled back only seven days later, when the catheter was removed. By that time the skin was swollen and it was extremely painful when the doctor put it back in his original position. The removal of the catheter was also a strange, pain kind of feeling, but I was the happiest man when they took it out.

After the catheter removal I was anxious to find out the pathology report, and I called the Doctor to find Out the best news of my life. It was contained to the prostate "You're cured " he said. I wish you all, in a similar situation like me, to hear these magic words from your Doctor. It's a moment of joy you will never forget.

My staging, however has changed, from T1C before the surgery, to T2C which means cancer in both lobes but still confined to the prostate. The Gleason score remained the same:6, and my both side nerves were spared, thanks God.

I have to mention that I had to face all this nightmare alone, due to the fact that my family is in Europe waiting for the final paperwork to join me here in the U.S. I had all their support through the internet and that helped me a a lot in these difficult moments. Luckily, with the help and support of some good neighbours I have managed to go over the most difficult moments of the recovery period. I'm not out from the woods yet, I'm facing the incontinence issue every day, and I'm hoping that the Kegel exercises will do the job and the leaking will stop sometime. I don't have leakage during the night, only during the day, but in almost every position possible, sitting, standing, bending, etc.

Today I did some fast moves crossing the street to fast, to avoid a coming car, and later I had a small amount of blood in my urine. I have to be very careful from now on, especially that I'm intending to return back to work next week, meaning 16-17 days post surgery. I hope everything will be OK and I'll be able to work in the first week 5-6 hours a day. In six weeks from now, on Nov.13 I have the follow up appointment with my Doctor and I'll be back with news about my condition after that.

All the best to all of you.
Vladimir.

 

UPDATED

December 2007

 

 

Christmas Day Dec.25th 2007

First of all I wish to express my apologies for my delay in updating this site, to all of you who eventually were expecting my 6 weeks post surgery update. I had some unpleasant surprises returning to work and very soon I will find a new job more suitable for my recent health condition.

My six weeks post op check up was on Nov.13 and my blood test came back a few days later with the PSA result of 0.05. It's not bad, but honestly speaking I was hoping for 0.01-0.02 as I've seen on Yana a few post op PSA results from other patients.

Well this is it, from now on I will have to take care more seriously about my body, concerning the diet and exercise. Life is wonderful and I'm grateful for every day goes bye, knowing that I'm cancer free and hopefully will remain in this state of health for a very long time.

I wish you all the best , don't lose the HOPE and enjoy every minute of this wonderful life.

I'll be back after my 3 months post operation check up, at the end of February 2008..

Merry Christmas and a Healthy -cancer free- New Year' to all of you dear Friends !

Best Regards,

Vladimir.

 

UPDATED

March 2008

 

 

Hi Everybody,

Recently I had my second post op check up and my PSA is undetectable, same as last time ,0.05.

My incontinence has improved seriously, I'm using just one pad a day, and none during the night.The other aspect of the matter has not improved yet, but I'm confident that time will solve the problem.

I'm trying to eat healthy and stay positive. After all, LIFE is a wonderfull GIFT, and most of us we realize this only after cancer strikes us. All the best to all of you,I'll be back in May '08.

Best Regards, Vladimir.

Vladimir's e-mail address is: vladivasiu@yahoo.com