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| Each man's Journey is listed under his BASIC treatment. When you click on one of the names to read a particular Journey, you may see one or more different treatments in bold lettering immediately above the Journey text. You will see (Recurrence) if they are due to a recurrence. Otherwise, they will be treatments used in conjunction with the basic treatment, i.e. Lupron with External Beam Radiation or External Beam Radiation with HDRT/Brachytherapy, etc. | |
Active Surveillance Alternative (Natural) Therapy Cryoablation - Freezing Hormone Therapy Radiation - Brachytherapy Radiation - External Beam Radiation - HDRT Surgery - Open Surgery - Robotic |
This month I share an anonymous local man's prostate cancer journey. His good fortune started with annual PSA tests and included an alert primary care physician. HIS JOURNEY: I have had BPH (benign prostatic hyperplasia) since I was 40 years old. I am now 67. At age 40, it had crept up on me so slowly that I really couldn't figure out why I was having a difficult time trying to urinate. A close friend of mine mentioned that he had the same problem and was taking Cardura for the problem. I spoke to my doctor and he prescribed the same drug, but the generic version Doxazosin. I have been taking Doxazosin for 25 years or more with no problems. Every year in October I would get a PSA test and have a doctor visit which included a DRE (digital rectal exam). The DRE would always be normal and the PSA test number would always be about the same. During those 25 years, my PSA went from 0.5 to 1.5. If it moved at all, it was extremely small movements. Fast forward now to 2014...I had my usual PSA test and went in to see the doctor and was told my PSA had jumped one full point to 2.5. My doctor said the number was not a problem for my age BUT the amount of jump (1.0) was the problem. He felt that I needed to see a urologist and see what he had to say. In late November 2014, I met with Dr. Brady Walker of Oregon Urology Institute (OUI) and he reviewed the numbers and suggested that I have a 12 needle biopsy. He explained the procedure and I agreed. It was scheduled for December 17 at the OUI Springfield clinic. The procedure went smoothly and Dr. Walker said he would contact me with the results. On December 26th, I received a phone call from Dr. Walker that the pathologist had found cancer in 3 out of the 12 tissue samples. Dr. Walker explained that my Gleason Score was 7 which is right in the middle of good and bad of prostate cancers. He asked that I buy the book Prostate and Cancer by Dr. Sheldon Marks. This book really answered all of my questions. I met again with Dr. Walker on January 7, 2015. He explained my options and asked me what I wanted to do. I said "take it out," meaning the prostate AND the cancer. I felt it would not get better on its own and would only get worse. I had a DaVinci Robotic Prostatectomy on Wednesday, February 18th at McKenzie-Willamette Hospital. My surgery took 4 hours followed by 2 hours in recovery. I was up walking the next day and never had any pain. I was discharged on Friday. I was very happy with the staff at the hospital and was treated very well. My wife was able to stay with me as they have a fold down chair in the room. Since a catheter was inserted prior to surgery, I went home with a bag to hold the urine and was taught how to empty it and care for it. I met Dr. Walker one week later and during this follow-up visit, he removed the catheter. At that visit, Dr. Walker gave me the pathology results of the prostate gland that was removed. It was worse than we first thought. The pathologist raised my Gleason Score to an 8 after examining the entire prostate gland, having found an area of aggressive cancer where the needle biopsy could not sample. Because it was about the size of a thumb print, Dr. Walker said I probably had only 2 years before it would have been inoperable. I met with Dr. Walker on April 1st after giving blood for a follow-up PSA test, and he said it had dropped to 0.011. That was great news. He will check my PSA quarterly for 2 years and if all goes well change it to every 6 months for a year or two, and then annually from then on. |
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