Looking for good/experienced robotic prostate surgeons in Los Angeles area

Hey larry,

First of all, slow down. Even with a G7, you have time to make a thoughtful decision. PC is not like other cancers, at the G7 level, you have months, not days, to make a decision and research your options.

We tell every newbie in here to take a careful look at all options, and to make consultations appointments with specialists in every treatment mode. Urologists are surgeons, so they recommend surgery--usually by them. Others will check in soon with specific answers to your question, and they can steer you to the best people in the LA area. (I'm on the east coast).

It's a heck of a christmas gift, isn't it. I got my "call" on Dec 5, 2014. My christmas season that year sucked. Hang in there. The answers are out there that work for you.

We've all had the "I have to get this out of me right now!" mind game. But it's not always the best answer.

Here's a first thing to do first: Have your doctor send your slides to either Dr. Epstein at Johns Hopkins in Baltimore or Bostwick Labs. All they do is PC diagnosis. Their second opinion is one you can take to the bank. Who knows, maybe you'll get a downgrade!

And then at the top of the topic page on this forum, is a 'sticky' topic called, "for the newly diagnosed". Please read through it. Lots of good information there.

Hi, Larry. Glad to meet you, but sorry it has to be here. I know you didn't ask to join this "club" but now that you're here, we can help.

As halbert mentioned, we Gleason 3+4=7 patients have the luxury of time. We have a variety of prostate cancer that is very slow-growing, especially compared to other types of cancer. I was also diagnosed as G 3+4=7, receiving "the call" in early July. I was easily able to take almost 4 months to learn, discern and decide upon my treatment. I then started radiation in mid-November and finished just before Thanksgiving. The experts tell me I could have taken even longer with no impact on long-term survival. The moral of this story is that you don't have to rush.

Since you haven't told us much about yourself, I'll ask that you do that. Look at some of the other auto-signatures at the bottoms of various posts and try to tell us those same facts about yourself. You can add a signature via editing your profile on the maintenance page.

Once you've told us a bit more, you will probably start getting a lot of other suggestions and questions.

One question I will ask is "Have you considered options other than surgery?" This is a leading question, as it is early for you and you may not have had the chance. We always recommend that newly diagnosed men read the sticky thread "For the Newly Diagnosed" before they make any permanent choices. Once you've read and absorbed that thread, you will realize that there may be several treatment options that have similar success rates (I know there were for me, and I was a 3+43=7 guy). Each and every treatment has side effects. For many low and favorable intermediate risk patients, several treatments may have the same success rates but have different side effect profiles. Personally, I ended up making my choice based more upon the side effect profiles than efficacy, as there were 4 or 5 choices all having similar success rates.

Above all, give yourself time. As long as you are not diagnosed with one of the aggressive varieties of prostate cancer (and with G3+4=7, you're not), you can take months to decide without adding risk. I still (and will always) remember the shock of my diagnosis. It took me some time to regain rational thought, and I am forever grateful to the folks here for slowing me down enough that I could make a sound decision and move forward.

P.S. I believe that some of the best radiation oncologists for PCa in the whole country are out your way. Perhaps Tall Allen will see this and help with some names to consider.

Hi Larry-

It's not your Uro's fault that you got an infection, as long as he gave you an antibiotic before, during and after the biopsy. Perhaps you've had a history of taking that kind of antibiotic in the past? There are resistant e.coli in your rectum that the antibiotic didn't kill off.

Anyway, now that that's past, you have time to talk to doctors from various specialties, and make a calm, rational decision.

As for Uros, I think Rob Reiter at UCLA is good, and there are good ones at USC, Cedars-Sinai, and City of Hope, too. For ROs, you should talk to Chris King and Jeff Demanes at UCLA. I also like Howard Sandler at Cedars-Sinai.

You may be interested in attending a prostate cancer support group at the Cancer Support Community Benjamin Center in West LA. We meet the 2nd Monday of every month (so, next one is Mon Jan 9) from 6PM-8PM.

Here's the link:

pathology.jhu.edu/department/services/secondopinion.cfm

Usually all you have to do is call your urologist's office and ask them to send the slides to Johns Hopkins for a second opinion. It's a very common practice. I think they charge $250 if your insurance doesn't cover it.

Hey Larry. Email me and I can give you my experience over the last four months with Doctors in the LA area. I had surgery in September and I am back to work starting to get back with my life.

Hi Tennisplayer,

Thanks for your feedback based on your personal experience/journey. Actually, I did a lot of readings on the radiation after Tall Allen and other members suggested me to consider radiation too. Up to now, I am leaning on SBRT (at UCLA medical center) more than robotic surgery. Personally, I am afraid of surgery.... just a mental thing. I also have requested my pathologist to send my slides to Dr. Epstein in Johns Hopkins to get a second opinion. I am very glad I found this website right after I was told I have a prostate cancer. Anyway, I will continue to do my homework in the next few months until I am 100% sure I make the right decision.

Larry, here are a few other suggestions I followed when I was exploring my options:

Get yourself one of those legal size expanding file folders and get copies of ALL your paper. Everything. CD's of your scans too.

Carry a notebook and pen with you, to jot down questions as they come to mind, and to take notes at the consults.

Take someone with you to your appointments, because you'll have so much info to process, a second set of ears is needed

If you're a reader, get Dr. Patrick Walsh's guide to prostate cancer, Dr. Sholz's Arrival of the Prostate Snatchers, and Aaron Katz's Definitive Guide to Prostate Cancer. They all give different perspectives, but I found that taken together, they gave me a LOT of information to help me decide MY best course of action

Keep hanging around here and asking questions...and unload your mental gyrations when needed.