Surgery

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Comment by Glenn W on October 30, 2009 at 12:04am

I see a Prostate Oncologist this coming Monday and will then decide on treatment after he answers several questions that I have.

I could not find a group that is specific to Robo asist surgery here on the web site?? but here is a link to an interesting article about RARP http://www.fimnet.fi/sjs/articles/SJS22009-76.pdf?s_cid=citation I am a member there so I am not sure if you have to register to read it or not.

My best to all,
Glenn

Comment by Charles (Chuck) Maack on August 6, 2009 at 3:14pm

I just realized that with Mapping Biopsy, the extractions are transperineal rather than through the back wall of the rectum. In any event, best I could find was up to 50 extractions, but not more than that. Sounds like when they weren't finding any cancer when they reached 50, they just kept going intent on "going the distance?" until they either found some or they extracted all the prostate tissue. Certainly disproporttional to what we read in the number of extractions taken in even Mapping Biopsy.

Comment by Charles (Chuck) Maack on August 6, 2009 at 2:51pm

Haha! I should have put several exclamation points somewhere in my comment and worded it a bit differently, because it was unimaginable. Good Lord! I have never heard of 99 tissue samples, nor anywhere near that many, extracted. And with Color Doppler Ultrasound (CDU) image guided targetting by an artist in this area (Duke Bahn, Fred Lee, Gary Onik to name a few), I just couldn't see any reason to extract anywhere near 99 samples. It is a wonder there is much of a gland left as well as the rectal wall experiencing the extractions. Thankfully only one (of way too many) samples was found to contain PC.

Comment by E. Michael D. ("Mike") Scott on August 6, 2009 at 7:02am

Chuck: I understand the question -- but a 99-core biopsy sounds more like "surgery" than a biopsy to me!

Leon: I think you are making a good treatment decision. It may take a while for the swelling to go down and for the Avodart to "kick in," so don't be too worried if the PSA hasn't changed much at the time of your PSA in late October or early November. (I don't think I would have let anyone give me a 99-core biopsy at age 74, but what do I know!)

Comment by Charles (Chuck) Maack on August 5, 2009 at 5:27pm

Leon,
Did you mean you had a biopsy, rather than surgery?

Comment by Leon A. Council on August 5, 2009 at 5:09pm

Had surgery on July 22, 2009. Ninety-nine specimen were taken of the prostate (Mapping Biopsy, and one specimen was diagnosed as adenocarcinoma. How fortunate I am because things could have been worse. The doctor indicated that at my age, 74, that I would not die from prostate cancer; however, had I been younger then there would be some concern. So, I am taking Avodart once a day and hopefully the swelling will go down. I will see the doctor every three months depending on the PSA. LeeC

Comment by Allan Berele on July 7, 2009 at 10:28pm

Dear Anthony, For what it is worth. In my experience the Indian Viagra works the same as the American Viagra.

Comment by E. Michael D. ("Mike") Scott on June 20, 2009 at 1:32pm

Peter: I am delighted to hear that things went well for you. Money for research is just one of the issues. Another is political action over time (see the web site of the Prostate Cancer Community Awareness Councils).

Comment by Peter Zurla on June 20, 2009 at 9:14am

Well... Here's the latest. Had Surgery Fri. 12. Went well, no complications. Got my pathology report yesterday. GREAT NEWS. Came back NEGATIVE. Organ confined. I cannot begin to tell you the sense of relief I felt. I just wasn't admitting to myself just how much this was on my mind. One of those things one puts in the dark room and doesn't deal with. Just wanted to let everyone know. Thank you for your prayers.
I feel the Lord has a purpose for me and I believe its to get the message out to people on how important it is to donate $ for research to beat prostate cancer. I don't have a definite plan as yet but I will get one.
Thanks again.

Comment by Russ Adamchak on June 3, 2009 at 9:02pm

.. thought I'd provide some feedback to those considering surgery.

All in all it wasn't really that bad.. certainly radiation was/is an option for me, but I elected to get it out and know where I stood.

I elected for RRP.. da Vinci seems like a good choice for someone with Low Gleason and Low PSA.. I elected for open-field surgery since I wanted the nerve sparing operation. It appeared to me that open-field also left more options for the doctor to see/touch/feel while opened-up.

Pre-operative Gleason was 7 and my PSA was 5.6. Post-operatively my Gleason is 6, negative margin, negative seminal vesicle, negative lymph-nodes. So things turned out really well for me.

I was in the hospital for 3 days.. I was off the narcotics on by the 7th day. Yes, the catheter was uncomfortable for the second and third week. However, I was able to take walks up to 1/2 mile with it. Once it was taken out I felt alot better.

At the end of the second week I developed sciatica, and a urinary tract infection.. I started taking some Cipro.. however, I felt very well.. all things considered.

Once I had the catheter removed I was much more ambulatory (independent), started driving, mornings at Starbucks, naps in the afternoon, watched the cat sleep alot.. there is definitely alot of garbage on the TV during the day.

Well, after 30 days, I am going back to work.. I am sure I will be exhausted tomorrow night. I'l miss my afternoon naps!

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