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Jay Wade lives in Florida, USA. He was 47 when he was diagnosed in June, 2013. His initial PSA was 4.80 ng/ml, his Gleason Score was 6, and he was staged T1c. His initial treatment choice was Surgery (Robotic Laparoscopic Prostatectomy) and his current treatment choice is None. Here is his story.

THERE WAS NO RESPONSE TO AN UPDATE REMINDER IN 2018 SO THERE IS NO UPDATE.

I was first diagnosed in June of 2013. My Primary Care Doc happened to run a random PSA test and it came back elevated. I was scheduled to see a urologist and he put me on Cipro for 10 days then a few weeks later did a follow up PSA that was still elevated(5.1). I waited a couple of months and had it checked again and it was 4.8. At this time he strongly suggested a biopsy which came back Gleason 6. It was in one core out of 12. I am kinda at a loss as to what to do now. I have done a lot of research and at first I thought I'd want to try the Proton therapy but now I'm leaning more towards Da Vinci surgery. Most importantly I want the cancer gone and secondly like a lot of men I'm worried about erectile and urinary issues. Not to mention the effects this may have on my marriage. Really don't know what to do. I don't have anyone I can really talk to about this so I figured what better place than here. A lot of folks here have been right where I am now.

UPDATED

December 2013

Well thought I would give an update. I have scheduled DaVinci surgery for Jan 7th 2014. I have no idea if this is the right decision or not. I have done my best to try and figure all this out and can only hope I'm doing the right thing. Everyone I have contacted here has been very helpful and I thank you for that. I will update on progress later.

UPDATED

January 2014

Well I had my surgery on Jan 7th. It was longer than expected due to prostate not peeling away (as doc put it) very easy. He said it looked like I may have had a bad infection in there in the past. The first night in hospital I was pretty miserable with I guess gas pains and bladder spasms. The second night was even worse because I ended up on the floor with dry heaves. That really made my stomach muscles hurt. It's now been 7 days and still have the cath in which Im hoping to get removed on Jan 16th. They are going to do a cystogram first to check it. Im going to have to say this experience was quite a bit worse than I expected. I know some folks do great with it but I guess I'm not one of those. Once the cath comes out I hope things will rapidly improve. Whenever I do much walking there is quite a bit of blood in bag. People tell me that is normal and that it looks like more blood than it really is. I'm gonna take their word for that. My Surgeon is a great guy and I do like him but the hospital I was in is just awful. There were a couple nurses that were good and the CNAs were Awesome but they are limited as to what they can do. I should have researched hospital before I went there. I suggest people do this. I did the research once I got home and for this procedure they were terrible. They didn't even have the thing available for the surgeon to flush cath out. He had to make one somehow. Anyway I'm just hoping everything starts to get better from here. The good news was the Gleason score stayed a 6 and no lymph node involvement.

UPDATED

March 2015

Well it's been a little over a year since my surgery. I have only had one PSA test since and it was close to undetectable at that time. I need to have it rechecked now. My bladder control is pretty good and can still get an erection although its a little more difficult than before. Still haven't gotten use to no ejaculation. But that's just part of it I guess. My surgery was difficult for me. Recovery was tough as well. They said it was about a 2-1/2 hour surgery but mine took over 5 hours. I find myself wondering if I would do it over again knowing what I know now and I really don't know. I find it best not to dwell on it because it can depress me pretty fast. I'm hoping my next PSA is undetectable and can someday accept things the way they are a little better and stop second guessing my treatment decision. I am very fortunate to have been diagnosed early and am very thankful for that. I wish everyone well and a full and speedy recovery.

UPDATED

July 2016

Well its been a while since my last update and around 3 years since my prostatectomy. So far all is good and PSA remains undetectable. I did develop another cancer in my L3 vertebrae that they thought may have been from prostate cancer however my PSA was undetectable and after biopsy it turned out to be a rare cancer called Chordoma. Only around 300 people per year actually get this.They had to remove my L3 Vertebrae and I ended up going to the Proton facility in Jacksonville for 41 treatments. I had researched this place earlier when I was deciding which way to go on prostate cancer treatment. I can tell you that the folks at this place are great. There were many people there for prostate cancer. And people from all over the world Fly in to be treated for Chordoma. So I have had an interesting past 3 years. Thankfully I got through it and hopefully can continue to get better. If anyone has questions I may be able to help them with don't hesitate to email. Jay

UPDATED

August 2017

So far my PSA is still undetectable. Still have all bladder and erectile functions...I'd say erectile function is probably about 80% what it was pre prostatectomy. I would like to add that I had another cancer called chordoma in spine 2 years ago. Had 2 surgeries to remove L3 vertebrae and then was sent to Florida Proton in Jacksonville for 40 treatments. For those thinking of going the Proton route I will say this is a great facility in my opinion. There were many folks there being treated for prostate cancer.

Jay's e-mail address is: hemigos38 AT aol.com (replace "AT" with "@")

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


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