YANA - YOU ARE NOT ALONE NOW

PROSTATE CANCER SUPPORT SITE

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George L lives in Maryland, USA. He was 55 when he was diagnosed on May 28, 2010. His initial PSA was 1.8 ng/ml, his Gleason Score was 6 and although he is not sure of his staging it seems likely that he was staged T2a. He is undecided as to his choice of treatment. Here is his story.

A routine blood test indicated that my PSA level had increased from 1.1 to 1.8 within one year. So my primary care doctor said I should see a urologist. I thought it was nothing since I read that anything less than 4.0 was considered normal. But the doctor felt a hard spot on my prostate, and said I needed a biopsy. I hesitated to schedule that, but finally did. The biopsy itself was an ordeal for me. Embarrassing and a little painful. They said I could drive myself to and from the appointment. But I was so glad to make it home afterwards. Actually, I don't think driving after a biopsy is such a good idea. And I think you really need a couple days to rest after having it done. It really knocked me out.

So the biopsy results showed adenocarcinoma in one lobe, 5% of the sample. They sent the slides to Johns Hopkins Hospital for confirmation and their diagnosis was similar, but they said 10%. [This diagnosis appears to be one that would meet the definition of "insignificant tumor".]

My urologist more or less recommended surgery. He said for a person my age, I might expect to possibly live 30 more years, [the life expectancy of a male aged 55 in the USA is between 12 and 37 years with a median expectancy of 24 years] and radiation isn't such a good idea if you have a lot of years ahead of you, because the radiation treatments could actually cause more tumors to develop down the line. [There are no studies of which I am aware that shows this to be true.]

I asked him about radioactive seeds, because my brother-in-law had that done with good results. He said that treatment is used mainly on guys about 10 or 15 years older than me, but he said if I really wanted that, it was possible. [See the Brachytherapy Index for men under 70 who had this therapy.] I was thinking the seeds would be less invasive than surgery. But after finding out that the seeds are made of titanium and up to 100 are placed in your prostate, and they are never removed, I started to doubt that kind of treatment. I like to cycle, and I started thinking that all those pieces of metal in my prostate might be abrasive when sitting on a bike seat. Maybe that's a stupid reason to reject that treatment, I don't know...

Anyway, I decided to go see some doctors at Georgetown University Hospital in Washington. They seem to have a lot of experience with something called the CyberKnife®. A kind of external radiation treatment that takes only about a week.

But maybe surgery would be better. I haven't decided. I read someplace that it could take 3 to 5 weeks to recover from surgery... [There are more than 250 experiences of men who chose Surgery on the site.]

 

UPDATED

August 2010

 

 

First, one note about my first entry. I forgot to mention that about a week after I had my biopsy I got a bladder infection. I had burning on urination, and even after going to the bathroom, felt that I couldn't really empty my bladder. At first I thought it was something to do with the prostate cancer, but then I realized that it had come on suddenly. I called the urologist's office and asked if sometimes people get bladder infections after biopsies, and the woman said "yes". So I saw my primary care doctor, he prescribed me antibiotics, and they cleared it up after taking only a couple of pills. That scared me a little, as I'd never had a bladder infection in my life.

Anyway, after thought, prayer, discussion with friends and colleagues, I decided to go with radiation treatments instead of surgery. A couple of urologists advised surgery, as they said at my age, there might be risk of recurring cancer down the line. They told me that once you have radiation, you can't have surgery later, because the tissues change as a result of the radiation treatments. But I decided that since there is CyberKnife® at a hospital nearby, the 5 treatments spaced over two weeks would be the best idea for me. I live alone, and couldn't really picture any of my friends or relatives staying with me for a week or more while I recovered from surgery. The radiation doctor told me he had heard the same story from other single people.

At first I wasn't sure if my insurance would cover the treatments. So my doctor's office checked with them, and they said they would. So I was thankful for that and proceeded with scheduling the next step--the placement of 4 gold markers or "fiducials" in the prostate, which they did a couple of days ago. It wasn't as bad as the biopsy. I'm still not back to normal from that. Slight pain after urinating. Hopefully that will go away soon. Then next week I go in for an MRI and CT scan. The actual radiation treatments should be done by the end of August. They use the gold markers to design the treatment plan to target my prostate. I was impressed by their claim online that they can target within one millimeter. I watched one U-Tube video that showed how the treatments are planned, and how they specifically plan to not irradiate the urethra. So, will try to update again once the treatments start.

 

UPDATED

October 2010

 

 

So I finished my five CyberKnife treatments a month ago. The treatments went pretty well, but it wasn't so easy to lie completely still for about an hour and ten minutes. They did let me bring music CDs to listen to during the treatments.

I just prayed that the radiation would kill all the cancer cells. I asked the technician there about "collateral" damage to other cells, as the X-rays simply pass through your body, and I started wondering about damage to surrounding cells. He explained to me that cancer cells are abnormal and are not able to repair themselves when the DNA is damaged by radiation. So those cells die, but normal cells can repair themselves.

After the second treatment I started having trouble with urinating. It was difficult to get started, and to empty the bladder. It scared me. The doctor had mentioned something about a drug called Flomax, and when I called the hospital, they said they would give me a prescription for it. I got the generic form, and it really helped a lot. After only a few hours, I felt better. Now, a month after the treatments, I'm still taking the Flowmax, but I could probably stop soon. At first I was waking up 2 to 3 times a night to use the bathroom, but last night I was able to sleep right through until morning! What a difference a good night sleep makes...

The hospital warned me about all the possible side effects prior to the treatments. During the second week of treatments I didn't really go to work, and the week following the treatments, I also took off from work. During that week, I had to stay close to a bathroom. For a few days, I had the sensation that I needed to have a bowel movement, but nothing much came out. That stopped after a few days. Anyway, the second week after the treatments I was able to go back to work full time.

This week I go back to the hospital for a blood test. Hopefully my PSA level has gone down.

All in all, I'm thankful I could have this kind of treatment, and I don't regret the decision at all.

George's e-mail address is: gleiman@hotmail.com