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John C Curran and Suzanna live in Alberta, Canada. He was 50 when he was diagnosed in March, 2007. His initial PSA was 7.56 ng/ml, his Gleason Score was 9, and he was staged T2b. 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.

Hello yana readers,

I am writing for my husband who was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2007. Seeing a rise in his PSA; count, our family doctor sent him to see a urologist.

After several prostate exams the urologist told my husband that in his opinion a wait and watch approach would be best.

I was terrified. "It's cancer," I told him, "what are you waiting and watching for?" He was torn. After two years of coaxing and presenting my arguments that cancer in any form was noones' friend, he took my advice but faced with several diff. kinds of treatments. In the end he opted for a retro-pubic prostatectomy.

The surgery went well. They had a difficult time waking him up due to low blood pressure, but he did wake up and looked fine.

Before surgery in 2007 his PSA;: 7.56. The rest of the numbers and counts I don't have any access to.

In June of 2009 he had his surgery.

Post surgery when they did a biopsy on the prostate glands the score came back as: gleason score 9.8 [it is not clear what John's Gleason Score was, unless there was some Gleason 9 and some Gleason 8. If that was so, then the correct Gleason Score would be 9]; PSA 6.96 and tumor was staged as T2BO. The surgeon told us that there wasn't any indication that the cancer had spread outside the lobes. The urologist apologized for saying that he thought it was a slow growing cancer but the biopsy showed otherwise.

Post-surgery the first blood work, the result was PSA;: .003. Three weeks later .006 and three more weeks later .012. The blood work showed a doubling trend.

We were worried. He was referred to the Tom Baker cancer centre and assigned a specialist.

At home I went into high gear and started to search and read on the Yana site of others who had prostate cancer, their treatments, rise and fall in PSA; levels etc. I decided to do what was within my control. Food is one thing that I'm good at and that where I put my focus.

As I'm a diabetic myself, I mostly cook healthier foods focusing mostly on vegetables, fruits and lean meats but lately I have developed a serious problem with preservatives. So for the next three months before his next exam, I mostly fed him what I ate. All certified organic foods, and absolutely no sugar, preservatives, pesticides, food colouring etc. He complained a little about the extra expense but I presented my case reminding him that that's what money was for. In the end he ate what I put in front of him.

Three months later his results showed that his PSA; had stablized. Good news. We have diligently continued with eating certified organics and no sugar and that included less of rice, potatoes or any other foods that had high concentration of sugars. His PSA; remained at .12 for next three years.

Not seeing any changes in his PSA; count, the cancer specialist sent my husband back to the family doctor and he is not to go back unless there was a significant change.

In June of 2013, it will be four years since his surgery and 7 years since the time of diagnosis. In December of 2012 the results show his PSA; has slightly risen to .5 but nothing significant. I put him on a new medication called gymnema sylvestre. A sugar lowering medication used in India for thousands of years. Our personal belief is that sugar looks to be playing a major role in my husbands rise and fall in his PSA;, but that's our opinion. He takes three pills per day at meals. His next PSA; count is in May 2013.

I am anxiously waiting to see if the new pill I put him on is working or not.

Thank you for allowing me to contribute our story.

Suzanna.

John C's e-mail address is: gykaran AT hotmail.com (replace "AT" with "@")

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


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