New member scheduled for Robotic Surgery 4/28, 7:30AM

Have been following the posts on this forum for several weeks and felt it was time to check in..

Got the bad news about the 1st of April and began my journey into the study and treatment of Prostate cancer.  Was given the option of Robotic Surgery, seed implant + radiation or just the radiation.  Because of the Gleason score of 7 ,( 4+3) the I was told the seed implantment alone would not be sufficient and 5 weeks of radiation treatment would be required. The radiation alone would require 8 weeks of daily treatment.  My wife and I along with the various Doctors reviewed the various options and deceided on the Robotic Surgery. 

While all of the methods seem to have similar success stories the Surgery should remove the cancer problem and as I have suffered from prostate problems for years eliminate those also.  Not to mention the drawn out treatment of over 8 weeks seemed to prolong the problem.. 

Today I'm on my liquid diet looking forward to that Magnesium cocktail at noon and doing my pelvic floor exercises. My outlook is good though I'm apprehensive about tomorrow but trusting to the man upstairs to see me thru this situation. Originally my surgery was scheduled for 5/28 but due to a cancellation was moved up to 4/28 and for this I'm truely grateful.

wallypm

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Age 70 -  Diagnosed late March

PSA 5.52 - stage T2b,T2c

Gleason 7 (4+3)

quad heart bipass 4/06

Hi wallypm,

Good luck on your endevour tomorrow. I do wish you all the best. My surgery was last Monday at 7:00 AM by Dr Fagin in Austin and I was out of recevory in about three hours after. My advise is to try to get up and walk around the hospital hallway a little as soon as you are able to. It will help any blood clot and the urine will be clear in no time.

As for the liquid diet, I had lots of jello, cream of soup (Various flavors) and custard. I took the Magnesium drink in the afternoon around 5:00 PM with a glass of Splash juice. Also I took the enima about a half hour after that. I think all in all it went pretty good. You didn't say where you will will be having your surgery.

Again all the best and good luck.

KrisP

 

Welcome and sorry you had to come here.  Good luck in your surgery and we'll be here to welcome you to the other side. 

Hey Wallypm,

Welcome to the place nobody wants to have to come to. We are all here to support each with information and encouragement.

I was 72 when diagnosed and had the same options as you. I decided on surgery because I wanted the cancer out of me as soon as possible. That and getting a good reading on the extent of the problem plus keeping other options open were what swayed me. I had open surgery and very few problems with it. I was back at work teaching school and dry 3 weeks later.

During my search for a treatment, I ran across several references that implied that a guy 70+ was too old to have a prostatectomy. Well, there are plenty of cases where that isn't true so congratulations on your choice. We have to take control of our own treatment and not rely on the first opinion in any phase of recovery. That is where this forum is so valuable. We get to hear from people that have used all the options.

So, best of luck tomorrow. We will all be here waiting to welcome you to the "other side". We can all get well together...

Jim