Hello,

I have been lurking, reading the newsgroup for a few weeks and I have
decided to begin to post.  I have been active, on and off in various
newsgroups since 1994, initially in alt.support.depression and most
recently in rec.sport.soccer.

My name is Chris Merrow, I live in West Hartford  Ct. and I was
diagnosed with PC in March.  I don¹t hesitate in saying who I am
because its all accessible via ISPO¹s and such to anyone who wants to
find out.

My particulars are as follows

3/04  PSA 3.0
3/05  PSA 5.0
3/05 Biopsy 2 of 8 cores positive
       Gleason 7 (4+3)
       Staging T1C
4/6/05  RP Hartford Hospital, Hartford Conn
4/14/05 Path results-Organ confined, negative margins (1/4 of one nerve
removed)

I am 53 years old, retired and a semi-professional athlete.  I have
ranked in the USTA¹s top 10 in senior tennis in New England for the
past 6 years.  I say this because I was in great shape going into
surgery which I feel helped significantly in my recovery.

My career was in public service.  My last job was as Executive Director
of the Greater Hartford HIV Planning  Council-which controlled the bulk
of HIV funding and programs in Connecticut.  This is relevant because I
bring considerable understanding of the vagaries of the medical system
to the table-the jargon, obfuscation, the politics of scarce resources
and managed care, as well as clinical trials and the realities of
living with a life threatening illness.  I never thought I would be
applying these skills to myself.

About my PC and choices.  I had open surgery rather that robotic
because during my workups my doctor found two hernias, which were
repaired at the same time as my RP.  It would have been difficult to do
so after the fact.  Without the hernias I would have chosen robotic

I had a couple of noteworthy complications that I haven¹t seen
mentioned here.  I developed a blood clot in my leg-which is more of a
life threatening situation than the surgery or PC and I developed
gaseous colonic edema which blew me up like a pregnant whale and kept
me in the hospital for 4 additional days glued to the morphine drip.
Regarding the former I can¹t stress enough the importance of reporting
any leg pain to your doctor after surgery.  I didn¹t, I thought it was
a pulled muscle from cramping up, and I almost paid dearly.

The blood clot has now resolved.  Otherwise I have been lucky or
blessed or both.  I was 98% continent from the time the catheter was
removed (after 8 days), leaking for a while only when I passed gas.
After an additional 2 weeks that too has resolved and I have not needed
or used pads for the last 3 weeks.  I experienced my first erection
about 4 weeks after surgery and my first post RP orgasm a week after
that.  (a question about this later).  I regard this as nearly
miraculous and testimony to my surgeon's great skill.  (Dr. Vincent
Laudone-Hartford Hospital who was overwhelming the most recommended
surgeon in central Conn. by other doctors for what its worth)

I almost regret sharing my good fortune with the surgery because I have
read the stories of some of you who haven¹t been as lucky.  But then
again I did have a Gleason 7 and my first post RP PSA test is coming up
in a couple of weeks and I am scared as hell knowing I am far from
being out of the woods.  

I have a couple of questions for the group which I will ask under
separate headings.  

I hope I am able to make a meaningful contribution to the group.

Chris M