My urologist advised hormone therapy and radiation, because I was "too old". After having undergone the usual x-rays and scans I had an appointment on April 29 2010 with Dr. Lukka, Professor, Department of Oncology McMaster University, Hamilton. He informed me that I was a high risk patient (Gleason score 7, but three cores showed 8) and that hormone therapy and radiation would be the recommended therapy for me (total radiation seven and a half weeks of treatment Monday to Friday). I did not want to commit myself to this treatment before I would be able to get a second opinion.

On June 10, 2010 I had an appointment with Dr. Whelan, who performs prostate surgery at another hospital in Hamilton (part of McMaster U. Institute of Urology). He said that as I was a very young 74 I was "facing risk of disease progression in the future and that it probably would be best for me to start with radical retropubic prostatectomy" I could require radiation either after the surgery or in the future.

Now I had two opinions in favour of surgery (my family doctor and Dr. Whelan) and two in favour of hormone and radiation therapy. I decided to go for the operation for the following reasons:

For younger patients operation seemed to be the preferred procedure. The risk/reward factors in my opinion were better than the alternative.

Risks: incontinence, erection dysfunction as opposed to hot flashes, mood swings, osteoporosis, destruction of good cells, bowel and urinary problems. I was in good shape and I liked the idea of cutting out the cancer at source.

Surgery: July 5th, 2010.

The surgical pathology report was good. No evidence of cancer in the lymph nodes and no radiation required. I have had two PSA tests in the meantime, and they were both excellent. - I was in the hospital for three days and the catheter was removed after about two weeks. Now, after about six months I am about 90% continent.

April 8, 2012 - Everything is fine. PSA: 0. However, incontinence is still a slight problem. I still have to have a little pad in my underpants, because a little drop escapes at unforeseen moments. It's annoying, but I guess there are worse things!

Everything is fine. I went to a physiotherapist to help to reactivate the muscles, but the sporadic little drips still persist. I think I have to live with it.

After my prostate was taken out about 4 years ago, my PSA count was 0. Then it slowly crept up to where it is now (0.16). I was told 0.2 is the criterion when radiation treatment is usually recommended. I therefore signed up for radiation treatment in January 2015. It will take 7 weeks, 5 times a week.

Ropp's e-mail address is: ehueniken AT yahoo.com (replace "AT" with "@")

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