YANA - YOU ARE NOT ALONE NOW

PROSTATE CANCER SUPPORT SITE

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John Snead and Jennifer live in South Carolina, USA. He was 64 when he was diagnosed on December 8, 2009. His initial PSA was 5.9 ng/ml, his Gleason Score was 6 and he was staged T1c. He is undecided as to his choice of treatment. Here is his story.

Prostate infections/problems past 20 years. PSA rise and fall. Treated with antibiotics. Latest rise did not respond to medication so pushed for biopsy. Results on December 8 2009 of positive with free PSA of 8.0%. Second opinion on January 2010 with East coast renowned urologist Dr. Gerald Hull. Seriously considering Da Vinci prostatectomy.

 

UPDATED

June 2010

 

 

Well since John's diagnosis in Dec. 2009 we have been to three consultations with three recommended surgeons but have scheduled with Dr. Patrick Walsh of Johns Hopkins in Baltimore Maryland. Mostly because I had heard great things about him on sites such as this. Our surgery date is June 29th.

Our consult with Dr. Walsh was May 28th and we were pleasantly surprised at his manner and personality. He is a very friendly, very caring and uplifting man. He spent a great deal of time with us and answered all of our questions and even checked to see if there were patients getting their catheters removed while we were there to allow us to talk with them if they were willing. Which they were and we did. It seemed to ease John's mind a great deal.

Dr. Walsh was very positive and John being "cancer free" after surgery but the prognosis for ED was high.

We are anxious to get this behind us and moving on.

 

UPDATED

July 2010

 

 

Well, I wanted to provide an update to all of the members of this site. My husband John had his prostate removed June 29th. It all started for us Dec. 2009 when the biospy came back postive. I've posted different stages of this journey up to the surgery so here is a dialogue of what happend hoping it will help others.

After our last consult with Dr. Patrick Walsh of Johns Hopkins Medical Institute we decided on an RP (Radical Prostatectomy) with Dr. Walsh. It is our best chance to be cancer free forever. We traveled to Maryland on Sunday and checked into a hotel approx. 1 to 2 miles from the hospital. Johns Hopkins has a website with accomidations department and listing that can help you decide where to stay.

Baltimore was quite a culture shock for us both but the Radisson is a nice place and the staff have been great. We had two appointments on Monday 28 June 2010. One with Admissions and one with Dr. Walsh. All of the pre-op required tests were done and everything was GO for surgery. We arrived at 5:30am Tuesday June 29, 2010. and they took John back to start the IV's and put him in surgery garb. I was able to see him for about 5 mins and then he was gone. Surgery lasted right at 2 hours and at 2 1/2 hrs. Dr. Walsh reappeared and said that everything went great. There was nothing that he didn't expect and he fixed John's hernia also. He removed the prostate but preserved both nerve bundles and took out some lymph nodes on both sides for analysis as is his practice. Path report in 2 days. John was in recovery for about another hour before they would let me see him. In total he was in recovery about 4 hours because they couldn't get his room ready. When he got to his room, they had a pa in pump for him to use but he didn't use it as much as I thought he would. He slept a lot and they had air pump stockings on his calves and oxygen on him plus the IV lines and the catheter. He looked like a robot with all the tubes and stuff!!

The first night I stayed with him and he kept getting woke up every hour with someone coming and taking or checking something. No rest.......

In the morning he was pretty groggy and had a pain level of about 4 but had that pump to keep him comfortable. They got him up around 10:00am and put him in a chair to stay in and said he had to start walking up and down the hallway at least four more times that day. Breakfast was only cream of wheat and he was pretty hungry. He hadn't had solid food since Sunday night so he was also weak. As the day progressed, he kept feeling better and walking became easier and easier. The Dr. came into see him around 4:00pm and said he could go home if he wanted so thinking he might rest better at the hotel we dressed him, got our supplies and took a taxi to the hotel. He had a pillow pressed to his abdomen but he said the ride wasn't that bad.

They had taken his pain pump away about 2:00 so right before we left he took a Tramadol. They had also been giving him something for nausea due to his being prone to nausea and they were suppose to give us a perscription to have filled for Phenergan but didn't. Around about 6:00 back at the hotel he started getting very nauseous and threw up. We attributed it to all the moving around and the cab ride. We settled him in and he went to sleep. He slept well but woke up two times with nausea.

In the morning, we called the doctor and he was quite upset that the assistant didn't give us a perscription for nausea meds. I went back to the hospital and picked up the Phenergan and he also told him to take nothing but Tylenol for the pain. Even though again his assistant had given us a perscription for Demerol.

Overall he's better. The nauseau had eased up but he sleeps a lot. We're still in the hotel. It's 2 days post-op. The Path report came back great! Everything contained in the organ. All margins negative, all lymph nodes negative, and vessicals negative!

His scrotum is almost black and extremly sore. He says it feels like he's been kicked there. The catheter doesn't seem to bother him at all. The urine is quite reddish. Kind of like watermelon juice. His incision looks great. About 3 to 3.5 inches long starting about 3 inches below his belly button. The staples are still in. The drain tube wound is also small and not causing any issues. That was another tube he had :-). He says his abdominal muscles are what hurts. Like he's been doing a 1000 crunches. But the more he moves around, the better that gets. He took a shower a little while ago and that went slow but fairly well. It's hard to bend over so I'm putting on his slippers and helping him with his cath bag.

That's about all I can think of. Hope this helps someone!

John's e-mail address is: jennifer.snead@duke-energy.com