Walnut

Subscribe to RSS Feed for recent updates
Subscribe to RSS Feed for recent updates

YANA - YOU ARE NOT ALONE NOW

PROSTATE CANCER SUPPORT SITE

 

SURVIVOR STORIES  :  DISCUSSION FORUM  :  WIVES & PARTNERS  :  TELL YOUR STORY  :  UPDATE YOUR STORY  :  DONATIONS  :  TROOP-C

YANA HOME PAGE  :  DON'T PANIC  :  GOOD NEWS!  :  DIAGNOSIS  :  SURVIVING  :  TREATMENT CHOICES  :  RESOURCES  :  ABOUT US  :  MAIL US

 

    GOLD    
This is his Country or State Flag

Glenn H lives in Alberta, Canada. He was 44 when he was diagnosed in October, 2012. His initial PSA was 4.20 ng/ml, his Gleason Score was 6, and he was staged T1c. His initial treatment choice was Surgery (Retropubic Prostatectomy) and his current treatment choice is None. Here is his story.

THERE WAS NO RESPONSE TO AN UPDATE REMINDER IN 2014 SO THERE IS NO UPDATE.

I was diagnosed at the age of 44. My biopsy was in the middle of September 2012 and I received the results on October 1st. Although I was considered low risk with a Gleason of 6, my biopsy showed cancer in 3 of 12 cores, one of which was 75%. That was the deciding factor that I needed to deal with things immediately.

The options for me were Brachytherapy and either Robotic Prostatectomy or Radical Prostatectomy. I ruled out Brachy as, even though the initial side affects are minimal, you end up dealing with bleeding, bladder issues, and E.D down the road. For me I wanted to deal with the side affects up front and look forward to the future and not have this cloud hanging over my head.

Initialy I thought that Robotic over Radical would be the way to go but after much research determined that the end result is the same, and side affects vey similar. Further research, and soul searching, made me realize that I felt more comfortable knowing that the surgeon was working on me directly and not via a machine in the corner of the room.

I opted for Radical Prostatectomy and had my surgery on Jan 4, 2013 at the age of 45.

Today is January 23, 2013. My pathology results look good that the cancer was confined to the prostate. It also showed that the cancer was much worse than the biopsy showed so very glad that I dealt with things quickly. My next PSA isn't until early April so fingers are crossed that it will come back at 0.0.

After all that's happened to me and my family (an incredibly supportive wife and 2 kids) over the past 4 months I can understand why dealing with cancer is often called a journey. We always looked at things as if "we" had cancer. I was lucky that I was never alone and have always had someone to share with, decide with, cry with, laugh with and celebrate with.

As I sit here wearing my underwear liner, leaking pee whenever I exert any pressure (family is happy as I rarely push out a fart these days for fear of wetting myself) I know that I made the best decison for me and my family.

My bladder control will return as will our sex life (we call this my wife's holiday). I worrried more about these things before the surgery. Now that I'm in it I just deal with it one day at a time.

My advice to anyone recently diagnosed is don't go it alone. Talk to your partner if you have one, use this website and others like it, talk to your doctor about support groups. What you have really sucks for you right now but others have done it and you can find some comfort in them and their stories.

My wife and I would be happy to provide any advice to men and their wives/partners dealing with prostate cancer.

Glenn's e-mail address is: pcsurvivor AT hotmail.ca (replace "AT" with "@")

NOTE: Glenn has not updated his story for more than 15 months, so you may not receive any response from him.


RETURN TO INDEX : RETURN TO HOME PAGE LINKS