Hello Everyone,

I am 54 years old and in excellent physical condition except getting
sidetracked by a little thing called prostate cancer. I went to my Urologist
for an annual DRE and PSA in February. He stated "your PSA is good and
holding steady at 1.7",  but after doing a DRE he scheduled a biopsy after
feeling a small nodule that wasn't fitting with the texture of the prostate
area. I  was absolutely dreading the thought of having 12 needle samples
drilled into my rectum area but I'll tell yaw the actual procedure is not
really painful and I would hate to hear of anyone out there avoiding a
prostate exam because they have an aversion to poking, probing and needles
(as in the biopsy exam). These procedures are quick and easy so just do it
and hopefully everything will be normal.

My biopsy results came back about 5 days later with cancer indicated in one
of the 12 samples. My Gleason score was 6 and like I mentioned earlier, my
PSA score was steady with past readings at 1.7 which my urologist said is
not the typical scenario. My father had prostate cancer 9   years ago and is
still Cancer free so I was not totally surprised by the results. What did
confound me was that I felt my healthy lifestyle would perhaps buy me some
time or help me dodge the bullet. I eat very healthy, that is I prefer
broccoli and veggie burgers to red meat. I avoid all junk foods, soda pop,
and instead start most days with a blueberry soymilk banana smoothie drink.
I exercise moderately, take vitamin sups yet 300# smoken Joe Blow down the
block is alive and kicking and never goes for a checkup.  Maybe I should
have been smoking the banana peel instead of putting the innards in my
health drink. Maybe it was that vasectomy I got, however the stats indicate
that has no significant bearing and there's no point on dwelling on the
if's.

Anyway, my objective has been to move forward and deal with the problem
instead of wondering why I was elected to join the club. My general
Urologist did an excellent job of informing me of all the options and
although he felt that in "my case" robotic surgery would provide the
greatest long term benefits, he encouraged me to explore all the options
which I had already done prior to the post biopsy consultation. The large
Urology group that he belongs to offers all prostate treatment options with
the exception of Proton beam therapy.

My personal advice would be to choose a doctor that specializes in the
particular field of treatment that you decide on and if you are considering
surgery may I suggest you investigate the robotic surgery option. No one
knows for sure how to quantify this craft however doing a lot of surgeries
certainly allows a doctor to continually improve his technique. I personally
wouldn't feel comfortable with a doctor that has done less than 40-50
robotic procedures but that very subjective. I ended up picking a doctor
with excellent credentials who has performed around 300 robotic procedures.
A high surgical volume is a big plus in my opinion. My surgery was done
April 11 and I would be pleased to provide a follow-up in a few weeks. It's
day three now and my abdomen area feels a little bloated and the catheter is
uncomfortable but I'm finally on the road to recovery. I would love to
report at that time that I'm giving my Johnson a workout with 3 beautiful
women solely for medical purposes but I don't think that's going to happen
soon.

I also would like to put anyone at ease that is very apprehensive about
going through surgery. I am truly a big puss when it comes to being pricked.
poked and probed. If I can successfully get through this as I have, than so
can you. Just try and relax and you'll be over the hump before in short
order. The bottom line is that I give Robotic Surgery a big thumbs up, but
do your homework and pick the procedure and doctors that you feel are right
for your situation.

I wish all of you out there the best and have a great day!

Mike in Texas