Robin
H lives in Arizona USA. He was 34 when he was diagnosed in September, 2008. He
does not give his initial PSA but from the narrative it seems it was less than
4.0 ng/ml, his Gleason Score was 6 and he was staged T1c. His choice of treatment
was Laparoscopic Radical Prostatectomy. Here is his story.
September 2007
age 33 while on vacation while being intimate with wife notice blood in my semen.
Needless to say this was a little scary. Decide to wait to take action until I
return home.
Contact primary physician when I get home and she really is
not equipped to deal with this issue. She refers me to a urologist within my medical
group.
November 2007 go to Urologist and he does not think the blood is
a very big deal he does a DRE (Digital Rectal Examination) and does not notice
anything irregular. He sends me out for an ultrasound on my testicles. Go for
ultrasound get back results and he feels something is off. Doctor sends me for
a MRI as he feels I may have a hernia. Now I must tell you that I am both a claustrophobic
and I hate needles. Primary Doctor gives me Ativan for this symptoms while I have
the MRI and everything goes smooth.
December 2007 go back to Urologist
and now he really thinks that I have a hernia and sends me to see a general surgeon.
January
2008 meet with surgeon and after about one minute he gets very upset and says
that I am wasting his time. He states that there is not a hernia and that I need
a good urologist. Let me stop here and say that this man saved my life. He tells
me that he will connect me with the best urologist in Arizona at the Mayo Clinic.
February
2008 go to Mayo Clinic and meet with urologist. He conducts DRE and is concerned
because of a spot he finds on my prostate. His comment to me was that if I was
30 years older he would think that I had prostate cancer. My grandpa had it at
70 and his father died from it at 50. Needless to say I was shocked to hear this.
He decided that he wanted to put me on antibiotics just in case it is an infection.
He sends me for a blood test for PSA and we will meet in two months.
July
2008 back to Mayo to meet with the doctor again another DRE and he says things
have not changed. He wants to send me for a MRI and then we will go from there.
Like I said earlier I hate the MRI and needles. I go to Mayo for MRI by myself
because my wife had to take my son to a special event. Had she taken me I would
have taken Ativan to cool my nerves. Get to the hospital and they jam needles
in my arm and I pass out. I get into the MRI room and they show me a large probe
they are going to insert into my anus. Doctor did not tell me about the probe
and I am shocked. I now understand how it feels for every girl I have given a
back door delivery to. I now view anal sex in a whole new light. The doctor tells
me they are going to use a ton of lube and I tell him I don't care if he uses
two tubes as long as he eases it in. This MRI could have been the worst feeling
in my life. When they are done I go home and take a 1 hour shower and cry on the
floor like a rape victim.
August 2008 meet with doctor again and he states
he would like to scope my bladder and do a biopsy of my prostate. He now tells
me that he no longer does surgery and will pass me to doctor Robert Ferrigini
to do the procedure.
September 2008 go in for biopsy. Two days after the
procedure, I find out I have prostate cancer 3+3 Gleason 6 T1C. Look at all options
and decide to go with the Da Vinci Robot as I am so young and the other options
don't look that great for me. Good news is that this doctor has done over 500
LRP surgeries and lives for doing this. His hobby nerve sparing surgery.
October
30 2008 go in for surgery at 4 am. I am put under and during the surgery have
a unique vision of the Virgin Mary comforting me. I have had six other surgeries
where I was put under and have never had dreams of visions. I wake up in the recovery
room and feel great, usually by now I am puking. I have to wait about three hours,
and then am taken to my room. again I must say I feel great, no gas pains or anything.
I do hate the fact that I have a catheter. At about 8 pm I get up and walk the
halls to show them I am like Rod Tidwell from Jerry Maguire "I am all heart".
Walk for about 30 minutes and feel great just don't like the catheter. Pass gas
at about 6 am and they say I can go home after noon. The car ride home is brutal
as they are working on the freeway and every bump shakes my catheter.
Have
the catheter in for seven days. Meet with the doctor on November 7th and he states
things look good and they have got all of the cancer out. I have pretty good bladder
control just a slight dribble very once in a while. Will see the Doctor again
in four weeks for PSA and release back to work. I am going stir crazy from not
working, but am very happy to be cancer free!
Robin H.
Robin's
e-mail address is: rdhargro@yahoo.com
