THERE WAS NO RESPONSE TO AN UPDATE REMINDER IN 2015 SO THERE IS NO UPDATE.

My story began about a year and a half ago. I went to my primary care doctor for a physical and he added a PSA test along with the routine blood work. It came back 2.6 which in his opinion was borderline and we would just watch it. My DRE was basically unremarkable. A few months later, I had a bout of what I thought was prostatitis. I felt frequency and very much decreased stream. Now I had had symptoms of BPH off and on for years. While in the Navy I was diagnosed with a possible bladder neck contracture. This was different though. So I got an appointment with a urologist ASAP. He did some tests (abdominal US, PSA, KUB) and gave me some antibiotics. The presumptive diagnosis was prostatitis or prostadynia. My PSA went to 2.9 then down to 2.5. He recommended I have it checked in 6 months. Well things subsided somewhat except for a slow stream. I waited a year and contacted another urologist that I respect and work with. He put me on antibiotics and rechecked the PSA. It was now 3.1. We went round and round with antibiotics for a few months. The PSA went down to 2.9 then up to 3.4. Now he recommended biopsy.

I went for biopsy and when I came out he told me that he had seen a stone in my ejaculatory duct and that was a good reason for my symptoms. I felt relieved. It was short lived however when my biopsy results came back. I had three positive cores of Gleason 6 on the right side of the prostate. Amazingly all the symptoms I had were on the left side, probably due to the stone. I wonder what would have happened if I had not had symptoms. The good news was that the cores were only 5-10% each. We talked about all the options but he recommended that I have surgery. He recommended Dr. Patel in Celebration who does the robotic prostatectomy. I had heard of him because a medical colleague had had the same surgery and reportedly had a good experience. I went home to tell my wife and we both cried a little but got right on making an appointment.

About a month later we had our appointment with Dr. Patel. We saw the PA first and then the Dr. Both were very nice. Dr. Patel said that I had over a 90% chance of getting the trifecta (Cancer free, continence, and erections). I felt moderately better. My appointment for surgery is on 4/21/14 and the closer I get the less confident I get about my decision. I worry about the side effects. I also worry about the discomfort. I wonder about whether I made the right decision. Should I just watch it? I don't know.

I underwent robotic prostatectomy on 4/21/14 with Dr. Patel in Celebration Florida. Surgery went well and I went home the next day. I was sore for a while but the catheter was not as bad as I thought. I had it removed 4 days later. Initially of course I had some incontinence but this gradually resolved over the next two weeks. Now I am pretty much completely continent. Occasionally I get a little leak when I stretch with a full bladder. I went back for a check up on 6/25/14 and my PSA; was less than 0.06. My pathology was T2c and all surgical margins were clean. No nodes involved with the cancer confined to the 5% of the gland.

Erections came back fairly quickly but can be inconsistent some times. I am taking Cialis 5mg a day and supposed to boost with 15mg twice a week. I don't think I am gonna have to do that anymore and just stay with the 5mg for a while. All in all I am pleased with my treatment choice.

Glen's e-mail address is: drglen AT comcast.net (replace "AT" with "@")

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