Off to Chicago tomorrow

Hi,

It is very wise of you to go to a large, highly experienced center. As they say, "you only get one shot at this, so give it your best." A medical center that performs thousands of treatments is where you want to be, so here's hoping & praying that CPC is waiting with a cure for you.

Chuck

Resident of Highland, Indiana just outside of Chicago, IL.
July 2011 local PSA lab reading 6.41 (from 4.1 in 2009). Mayo Clinic PSA Sept. 2011 was 5.7.
Local urologist DRE revealed significant BPH, but no lumps.
PCa Dx Aug. 2011 at age of 61.
Biopsy revealed adenocarcinoma in 3 of 20 cores (one 5%, two 20%). T2C.
Gleason score 3+3=6.
CT of abdomen, bone scan both negative.
DaVinci prostatectomy 11/1/11 at Mayo Clinic (Rochester, MN), nerve sparing, age 62.
My surgeon was Dr. Matthew Tollefson, who I highly recommend.
Final pathology shows tumor confined to prostate.
5 lymph nodes, seminal vesicles, extraprostatic soft tissue all negative.
1.0 x 0.6 x 0.6 cm mass involving right posterior inferior,
right posterior apex & left mid posterior prostate.
Right posterior apex margin involved by tumor over a 0.2 cm length, doctor says this is insignificant.
Prostate 98.3 grams, tumor 2 grams. Prostate size 5.0 x 4.7 x 4.5 cm.
Catheter out in 7 days. No incontinence, occasional minor dripping.
Post-op exams 2/13/12, 9/10/12, PSA <0.1.
Semi-firm erections now happening 14 months post-op & slowly getting a bit stronger.

sound thinking. don't look back and good luck with the journey. You'll do great.

Good luck to you, Buddy. Sounds like you got a sound plan in mind with a good provider of services.

Let us know how it works out.

david

Thanks all. Lately I've been feeling hellish anxiety for some unknown reason - heh heh - like a clock is ticking. I'll give a report tomorrow. I am really looking forward to getting on with it and hope they can do me. I've gone over this so much I feel many of the questions I have for the doctor have been answered so feel like just saying "let's do it" and get it done.

One factor in my decision was the Gleason score (4+3) and the distinct possibility of having to do salvage radiation post-surgery. I know that's a guess without the pathologist taking a look at the prostate but I think it holds true for many of us (seems I've read, or was told by my urologist, that something like 30% of us needs post-surgery salvage radiation - don't hold me to that number). I figured why risk the side effects of both treatments when they have similar results as far as a cure and much less recovery time with brachytherapy. In my mind it made no sense for me to do any type of surgery. I couldn't find a reason why surgery would hold an advantage for me. Like any of us I want to 1.) cure the cancer 2.) keep what function I have and this seems to be my best shot at doing those things.

That's the best I can think after thirty years of booze. Ha ha. Joking.

Believe me my mind has been all over the place on deciding. Agonizing? Not sure if I would say that but yeah maybe. Scared? You bet.

So thank you to the members of "the club no one wants to belong too" once again. You guys are great and I do appreciate every post and bit of information.

Wow! Had a great visit at Chicago Prostate Center and came away feeling VERY confident they can cure me. The place is really amazing. They answered all my questions and then some. It really eased my mind.

The only snag was getting the catheter snaked in (seems I have a bend in my urethra that isn't very accommodating) for the volume study to decide where to place the seeds. Other than that it was great! They drew blood (CBC, PSA, kidney function), did an EKG, will be ordering the seeds and then off I go! They were even nice enough to feed us by inviting us to lunch. Wow again. That's a first at a doctor's office for me! Dr. Moran is one heck of a great man.

Thanks to everyone!

Buddy: Really glad you had a good experience. Mind if I ask your age? (Feel free to reply by email if you don't want to publicize the number.)

Hey Buddy - so glad your experience with Dr. Moran and the CPC was a good one, but as you probably know I'm not at all surprised! As I've mentioned before, I found Dr. Moran and his staff to be that very uncommon combination of highly skilled, experienced and focused medical professionals - and at the same time an incredibly high degree of compassion and understanding - sold it for me too!

Continued best to you as you continue your journey. There will be more bouts of agonizing, worry, scared and so on - keep your head up and your positive attitude and you'll get through it all fine. Once the treatment is done you will then feel that euphoria of getting to the other side!

"The only thing that WAS just a bit uncomfortable was the catheter being 'snaked' in for the volume study so you can be confident that the worst part is already over for you."

Ha ha you can say that again brother. I'd rather have another biopsy. My wife laughed and said men just can't take pain.

You went there from Colorado huh? Sister-in-law lives in Denver. There was some guy from South Africa who just had the procedure. Dr. Moran has done nearly 20,000 of them his staff told me. It is an impressive number isn't it? He's a great guy. Saw that right off the bat. Just sort of makes you feel welcome and like he can help you beat this.

Thanks much, really appreciate the insight and happy to see you doing well at three years out. Fantastic.

Buddy, I looked through your posts and did not see the exact scheduled date for your brachytherapy procedure. I see that your volume study indicated a MUCH smaller size prostate than mine and you have that going for you. Mine measured about 54cc as I recall so I took one LHRH (Lupron) shot to shrink the dang thing down to make things easier. As I had indicated earlier, I am almost to the three year mark and things are still going great. At the recommendation of my GP Doc, I submitted to a colonoscopy last June and told the Gastro Doc that while I am totally out and cleaned out, how about just doing an endoscopy too. So the results were a couple polyps taken out of the stomach and and a couple from the colon and all were benign. Only problem was that the scope, while sliding in and out of my colon must have irritated a roid or two and now once in a while have tiny tiny specks of bright red/fresh blood in the stool. These are just a few on occasion and are the size of the head of a pin. Now going to the Albuq VA Hospital for a flexible sigmoidoscopy later this month to check out those blasted roids. Other than that, I have no physical problems other than age related stiffness (77 next birthday). Please be sure to give Dr. Brian Moran and his right hand person,Joann McSweeney, my very best regards when you do go for the procedure. As indicated before, just tell them "Hi" from the old guy in Colorado with the bears frequenting his yard. They will remember me.

Wow! Had a great visit at Chicago Prostate Center and came away feeling VERY confident they can cure me. The place is really amazing. They answered all my questions and then some. It really eased my mind.
Buddy,
That is precisely how I felt after the first consult with my oncologist, and I have to tell you that I have not been disappointed. You will be very happy with your decision.