Rickey Lee and Debra live in South Carolina, USA. He was 57 when he was diagnosed
in June 2005. His intial PSA was 3.37 ng/ml and his Gleason Score was 6. He was
staged T1c and his choice fo treatment was Surgery. Here is his story:
I was diagnosed around February 2005. I should have signed up back then with YANA
but didn't for what ever reason. But now I just have this desire to help anyone
in any way that I can.
My
father had prostate cancer so I have been getting checked every year since about
age 45. When I had my yearly checkup in February 2005 my PSA was 4.01 ng/ml. My
GP referred me to a urologist who did a DRE and then put me on an antibiotic to
rule out an infection. He said if my PSA did not go down to at least 2.5 ng/ml
he wanted to do a biopsy.
Sure
enough it only went down to 3.3 ng/ml. He did a 12 core biopsy and they all came
back positive which caused him and me some concern. Next he had me get a bone
scan which was negative. He then advised me that the two options at this point
was surgery or radiation treatment. He said with surgery I would have about an
80% chance of being cured.
Me
and my girlfriend talked about it for about two days and we both decided that
getting that monster out was the best option. The radiation might not get it all
and then surgery would have been a poor choice for salvage treatment. So I was
scheduled for surgery on July 21, 2005. By the way, this urologist has done about
1,000 of these procedures.
After
the doctor finished the surgery he told my children and girlfriend, they were
in the waiting room, that everything went well and looked good. He was able to
save the nerves on both sides. I had the catheter in for a week and had a leakage
problem for about a week after the catheter came out and have not had a problem
since.
Although
I do not have full erections, hope to eventually, I do have sensations and orgasms.
He said that it will probably take a while to get erections back.
The
surgical patholoy report was good, margins clean, lymph nodes and seminal vesicles
negative. Gleason was upgraded to a 3+4=7 (4% of the tumor was a 4), and there
was extensive perineural invasion. The patholoy report stated that the cancer
was confined to the prostate. I have had two PSAs since surgery and they both
have been <0.1. I go back on April 10 for my 3rd post op PSA test.
My
girlfriend has been great and very supportive which is very important. If anyone
would like to e-mail with questions or comments feel free to do so.
Good
luck to all.
Just
received a call from my urologist. 3rd post op PSA is <0.1. So far so good. I
think I lucked out and got a good urologist/surgeon thru my HMO. Next PSA is July
30, 1 year post surgery. After the July 30 test I go to PSA every 6 months for
a year and then to once a year.
Good
luck to everyone and stay positive. I will be happy to correspond with anyone
that would like to ask questions or just to comment. Take care!!
Just
received results of my 5th post op early Christmas present PSA which is 0.008
ng/ml. Surgery was July 2006. Doing good. Next PSA is May 2007. I don't know if
it is having an effect, I assume it is, but I drink 8 oz. of pomangrante juice
a day. I also eat a lot of sardines which are a good source of omega 3 fatty acids.
Both of these, the juice and sardines, have been shown in several studies to fight
back the growth of prostate cancer cells.
If
anyone has any questions e-mail me and I will be glad to answer. Good luck to
all and stay positive.
Just
to update. Received the results of my 6th post op PSA, it was.008 ng/ml. Doing
great. I erroneously stated in my November update that I had my surgery in 2006,
it was actually July 21, 2005.
Next
PSA is Nov 5, 07. Good luck to all. It is very important to stay positive and
to have a good support system. Will be glad to communicate with anyone.
Rickey's
e-mail address is: ricklee47@msn.com
