Well, yesterday I completed my pre-op testing at Memorial Sloane Lettering
Cancer Center in NYC.  Dr. Peter Scardino, the head of urology there, is my
physcian/surgeon.  My surgery is scheduled for next Thursday.  I learned a
few things that I thought would interest this group.  First, I discovered
that I will not be having the surgery (RRP) under general anesthesia.  Dr.
Scardino prefers to use an epidural combined with a sedative that will put
me to sleep.  When I asked what the difference between that and a general
was, it was explained that I will not need a breathing tube during the
surgery.  Also, it will limit any possible side-effects from the general.

The other thing that I wanted to share was that I was being considered to
take part in a post-operative clinical trial. It seems Guilford
Pharmaceuticals has a nerve regeneration drug under development.  The drug
is an offshoot of work that was done at Hopkins in the early 1990s - it's
also being developed for Parkinson's.  There are a number of Phase II double
blind placebo trials going on around the country for the regeneration of
nerves damaged by cancer or surgery.  I was quite excited about the
possibility of taking part, however, upon further review, it was determined
that my staging is too far along to be considered for the trial. The trial
cutoff is T2a, I'm at T2b.  Which itself was good news to me, as my primary
urologist had me staged at T2c.  The change is the result of the MRI that I
had done at Sloane.  Also, the trial did not include patients who are
smokers - I smoke cigars.  So, if any of you are at stage T2a or below and
going to have a RP, you may want to ask your doctor about the trial.  the
drug is currently identified as GPI 1485.

I plan on posting my post-operative notes after I return from the hospital,
most likely just after Father's Day.

Wish me luck.

Sandy K.
PSA Feb 2004 - 4.89
Biopsy Mar 5, 2004 - 10 cores, 8 malignant, 1 questionable, one clean
Gleason 3+3=6
Staging T2b
RRP scheduled for June 17, 2004