More bad news

Hi all.  Today I had my appointment with Dr Patel in Orlando.  For those who are considering him, he is top shelf.  The operation there at Celebration Health is state of the art and very professional.  He has done over 2500 robotic prostate surgeries.

Now the bad news.  Due to some ambiguity in my pathology reports, he decided to do another DRE, my third in less than 30 days.  He was shocked at the size of the tumor and said it wasn't described accurately in the earlier reports.  He feels it my be a T3 and that any surgery should not be nerve sparing on the right side and he would have to "go wide" on that side.  He counseled me not to wait beyond the 8 weeks post biopsy to have it done.

I explained to him that if I decided on open surgery, I was going to have it done by James Eastham at Sloan Kettering.  He asked if I'd been to NY or was Dr Eastham going by the records.  Eastham hasn't examined me so Dr Patel gave me his card and said to have Dr Eastham call him.

This thing keeps getting worse so I'm going to stop updating my signature until I finally have something concrete.

Tony

Tony, I know it seems to keep getting worse, but you are closer still to getting on with your treatment choice, with what this dr. told you, I would heed his advice about not delaying beyond the 8 week. Was he comfortable about doing a robotic with what you know now, or did he think you would be better off with the open surgery? Hoping for the best for you brother, can't wait till you have that thing out of you and you are on the recovery side.

David in SC

Tony, In my heart of hearts, I think I would listen to Dr. Patel...Diane

Tony, the important part isnt the robotic vs open argument, its which surgeon do you put the most stock in, and you are right, having radiation as a back up is a good card up the sleeve. With your T3 situation, I think so even more. We got your back covered, brother, whatever you decide, we are here for you.

David