Anyone in Raleigh/Durham area of NC?

We also live in Cary.

My husband had surgery and radiation in 2009 at UNC, Chapel Hill. His surgeon and urologist was Dr. Wallen. We were extremely pleased with him. His radiologist was Dr. Chen, who we also highly recommend. We saw Dr. Benevides, who did the original biopsy, but his personality wasn't a good fit for us. We also saw Dr. Berry when he was at the Cancer Center and liked him. He had prostate cancer so he can personally relate to his patients.

We can't say enough good things about Dr. Wallen at UNC.

CrazyLady said...
Update...he will be having the MRI at Duke Cancer Center next week...followed by a biopsy (if needed) a few days later.

I'm having trouble with the next step...I know I shouldn't jump the gun...I'd rather call it being prepared...but what is the next step after a positive biopsy??? How do you know if the cancer has spread? And how do you decided on the best treatment? Again...all hypothetical questions and I realize we aren't there yet...but the unknown is what freaks me out the most.

The very rapid up-and-down of PSA is indicative of prostatitis. Cancer doesn't do that. Chronic prostatitis (CP/CPPS) can be very difficult to identify and treat.

We're in western NC, but went to Duke after our local doctor diagnosed my husband with either prostate or bladder cancer...there were many tumors in alot of areas. We were not happy at all with our experience with Duke..Dr. Inman telling me after the biopsy that he'd never see anything like this in his life, and it would probably be 3-4 weeks before pathology could get us an answer(he also told me he got all the cancer he could see. After reading the surgery report, I found out this was not true), the nurses were just awful in recovery after the biopsy, the ER wait time of 16 hrs was almost unbearable, I can't recall her title, but the girl who took out the catheter told us pathology came back and it wasn't good...she could give us a copy if we wanted(we had appt with Dr. Inman the next day. Imagine trying to read this report and Googling every other word because we didn't know what they were talking about), once they found out it was a rare form of prostate cancer, Dr. Inman get an unanimous decision from the oncologists as to the best way to approach it(they were going to treat it like regular prostate cancer). Danny asked each of the doctors, "If this were you, what would would you do?" The radiation oncologist told us he really didn't know what he would do. He did call Danny a few days later and tell him, "If it were me, I wouldn't do anything. I'd live out whatever time I had left surrounded by the family." Needless to say, we were very down and out and dreading our trip to Houston for a second opinion. The approach Dr. Tu had at MD Anderson was completely different...we canceled the surgery at Duke and started chemo within 2 days of being there. We are both convinced that if we had stayed with Duke, my husband would be dead. We're heading to TX next week for his yearly checkup, and hopefully he's still cancer free. He's had a lot of problems related to having his bladder removed, but as far as the cancer, the treatment Dr. Tu did saved his life.

It is very difficult no not "What if" every scenario...we all do it. The diagnosis that we got did not even enter our what iffing serinoes. Funny, once we got a positive diagnosis, we were finally able to calm down and got our game plan. All any of us can do is take life one day at a time.

The biopsy isn't at duke...its at a local office. His MRI will be done at Duke Cancer Center, and then if there are any suspicious areas, the biopsy will be done at Associated Urologists in Raleigh.
Thank you for the info about the multi disciplinary clinic at Duke...sounds helpful!