some sharing of experinece to date

[Guest guest]

For the benefit of some of the newcomers to the list, my story so far might be helpful.

I am 55 years, never a smoker, two children (boys, ages 18 and 11), married 32 years. I have a strong family history for prostate cancer, and cancer in general, but all cancer deaths, PC and otherwise, occurred when my people were in their 80's and 90's. (Exception - my Mom's Dad, from lung cancer, in his mid 70's. He was a heavy smoker.) I've been screened annually and had DRE's for PC since 1996, I was age 43 when this began. My baseline PSA in that year was 0.8.

My Gleason is 3+4. The cancer was detected by palpitation, so it has to be at least T2. If my primary care Doc hadn't felt it, I'd have been give a clean bill of health, based on my PSA, which was 1.43. I'm not sure how much of the prostate is involved. There's no doubt that I have PC, so it's not relevant to me - I'll know after my surgery is done.

My timeline of events and decisions is as follows. I note that I am moving quickly - this is just the way I'm "wired" and also, I need to be up an around by the end of August, - so I see no point in delaying:

2/22/2008 - Annual DRE by my primary care Doc - an Internist. Was referred to Urologist.

3/4/2008 - Blood drawn for annual PSA - came back 1.43 (was 1.50 in February of 2007)

3/11/2008 - Initial visit with Uro. Another DRE. After some poking around, he felt " the flat spot" as well.

4/3/2008 - Biopsy taken in Uro's office.

4/11/2008 - Got the word that I had PC. Uro said he was "almost certain" and that he was "99 percent sure" that the cancer was still confined in the prostate.

Sometime in the next week, I joined this listserve. You guys have been most helpful, and I'm appreciative beyond words. Thanks!

4/23/2008 - Bone scan performed. It did not show any instances of my PC spreading.

4/24/2008 - CT scan performed. It also was good - no instance of any other major problems. I have one (maybe two) cysts on my liver and multiple gallstones. The lesions are low density and folks seem confident they are benign. I've got arthritis in my shoulders and a bone island on my right ischium of my pelvis. No uptake showed on bone scan for this "bump".

4/24/2008 - dropped in and visited with my Uro's staff. Talked with his nurse for over an hour. She did much to reassure me.

4/25/2008 - follow-up post biopsy visit with Uro. My wife went with me. Revisited conversation with his staff from the previous day. Talked about second opinions, other treatment options and the merits of the various surgical options. They were very intentional and explicit - if I wanted referrals for anything (second opinions, additional biopsy, you-name-it) or if I wanted to go elsewhere for surgery, I was welcome to do so. Decided on RP surgery with my Uro on first available date. Got prescription and started talking Casodex.

5/5/2008 - consultation with Medical Oncologist. My wife accompanied me to this also. Revisited all of the above. Discussed treatment options. Decided to stick with surgery - Medical Oncologist agrees (said if I was 60, we would have had a lengthy conversation about radiation choices). Medical Oncologist said I should get a colonoscopy, since I've never had one. I told him I was ready and that he'd get no argument from me , since my Mom died from colon cancer (at age 88) on May 30, of last year. The Medical Oncologist also said he thought "we are still on the early side of catching this."

5/5/2008 - We told our children that I had PC. Since we now had the results of all of the other testing, we had a substantive discussion of the situation and my prospects.

5/22/2008 (today) - Saw my Internist for my pre-surgical physical and clearance. I'm good to go. Blood pressure 122/78. EKG was good. Lungs clear. Got referral to a general surgeon for my gallstone situation and for a colonoscopy.

Coming events:

6/1/2008 - Number one son's high school graduation

6/3/2008 - Pre-surgical conference and testing at hospital - 7:15 AM. At 2:00 PM, I meet with the general surgeon about my gallstones and a colonoscopy.

6/4/2008 - 6/10/2008 - get ready for surgery.

6/8/2008 - Number one son's graduation party

6/9/2008 - I'm planning a "hot date" with my wife. I think we're going to have a romantic dinner for two and rent a hotel room with a Jacuzzi. My Levitra prescription is filled.

6/11/2008 - Date of my RP surgery.

After this, I hope that I have good results and good news to report.

My Uro has done over 500 RP's. I've yet to find anyone that has a bad thing to say about him. It turns out my wife and I know five men who had RP's done by him. All have had great results and are five to seven years post-surgical at this point. I've also talked with some friends who live elsewhere in the USA and it turns out there are three of them who had radical RP's. All are doing fine - everything's working as it should post surgically, and their recoveries were not difficult for them. One was done a year ago. The other two men had their RP's nine and twelve years ago.

I hope this litany is helpful and encouraging to the newcomers. Believe me, I have had my "ups-and-downs" since April 11 and I still do, and I know I will in the future. Although I don't like the situation I'm in, the screening I got for all of these years did what they were supposed to do - give me a chance to deal with this cancer at the earliest possible moment. Looking back, I had other symptoms (some ED, and failure for my bladder to empty fully, starting about 3 years ago) but I given my low PSA, I wrote these off at the consequence of being over 50 years old. It's possible the PC should have been caught last year, but that didn't happen and at this point it's water long over the dam. I'm not sure I could have had the surgery done last year anyway - given that my Mom was under Hospice care and all of the things we had to take care of after her death to settle her affairs.

Thanks for reading this lengthy post. Again, the folks on this list have been most supportive and helpful, and that has been a great comfort for me.