ok - introducing the surgeons - (drum roll please)

they are at scott medical  group, scott air force base.

i am retired military and when i found out that i had prostate cancer,
one of the concerns was sexual function.  the va hospital told me that
their job was to get the cancer out, not save nerves.  that answer was
unacceptable.  

col. gary hargrove comes in from scott once every two weeks and sees
patients.  the best way i can explain this, is that he was impressed
with my knowledge of prostate cancer and we could talk shop.  we became
friends.   he's the surgeon who did the biopsy and found the cancer in
both lobes on the prostate.  after he was done with the biopsy, we
talked about the procedure and the results and he said that i had
prostate stones.  he, then, went over to the machine while i was still
on the operating table and ran off 4 different views of my prostate
along with the data that shows how big the prostate is.  that is how i
knew it was 29 grams.   you could see the prostate stones light up nice
and white on the photos.  he took the time to explain the different
positions he had to get the TRUS unit in to 'see' the prostate properly.  

when i got the bad news, i told the surgeon that i wanted nerve sparing.
he said that he could do it, but it would add about an hour to the
surgery.  and he then was able to get my records and i was ok'ed to be
transferred to scott air force hospital to do the surgery.

this guy is first class all the way.  he is the chief of urology
services.  everyone knows how you have to come in the day before
surgery, check into the hospital, do the tests and wait.  not him.  i
was scheduled for surgery tuesday morning.  he had me come in monday
afternoon.  when i showed up, he saw me, shook my hand and took me
straight back to his office.  he did a DRE and still couldn't feel any
nodes.  we talked again about my sexual function again.  he told him
very nicely, but blunt that on a scale of 1 to 10, i would put my
importance of sexual function at a 9.5  

it is at that point that he stopped the conversation and said to me, "i
would like for you to meet my partner in surgery.  we team together and
normally i would be the lead surgeon.  but dr. weld has a better track
record on nerve sparing and if he will do it and you approve, i'll let
him be the lead surgeon and i'll assist."   it's take one hell of a man
to admit the limits of his skills and to let another person take over,
but that is exactly what he did.  dr. weld, did agree to do the nerve
sparing on me.  

after the meeting, the surgeons told me that after i get the blood work
up done, i could check in at the hospital if i wanted to or stay with my
family that night at the motel - just be at the check in desk by 8:15
that morning.  i got to spend the night with my family, check into the
hospital at 8:15 and got suited up in the gown and it was kinda chilly.
but, then it could have be me.  hell, it's scary.  not knowing what the
outcome it going to be.  an airman came by, who was not assigned to me,
but saw that i was cold, asked, if i wanted a blanket.  i said that it
would be nice.  he got me a heated blanket - like when you first take it
out of the dryer - oh, it felt so good.  they took excellent care of me.  

after surgery, did the nerve sparing work???   i had to wear a catheter
for 22 days after surgery - no fun.  but i did have my first erection
with the catheter in place two weeks after surgery and was able to use
that erection one month after surgery.  

i did have complications.  but it wasn't the doctor's fault.  it was my
body.  it made too much scar tissue.  the scaring was closing up the
urethra and i was peeing like i did with BPH.  

again, they first operated and did a dilatation of the stricture.  dr.
hargrove said that usually there is about a 60% chance of that working.
well, i was in the 40% and started stopping up again after a couple
weeks after surgery.  

this time, dr. hargrove, told me that they were going to go to a
cystoscopy and release the scaring and cut out some scaring.  it had
about a 95% chance of success.   he said it was going to be a 20 to 30
min procedure.

again, i was transferred from the va hospital  -  where they could have
done the procedure with the old scope that you have to look down -  to
the scott air force hospital where they have tv monitors using the
scope, the latest equipment and dr. weld and dr. hargrove would both
being during the procedure.  

i went to surgery and was on the operating table at 10am and was in
recovery after 12:15.  dr. hargrove came by to check on me and we told a
couple of jokes to each other.  i ask him, "you said it was only going
to take 20 minutes and i notice it took over 2 hours.  was there a
problem?"

his answer was very unique.  he said, "how long does it take a sniper to
do his job with one bullet?   the rest of the time was set up."

since surgery, i feel like a did before i had BPH, or prostate cancer.
other than the scar on my belly, i don't feel like i've had any surgery.
i feel great, i pee great, and overall things are great.  on the
negative side, it did take me 5 months to become continent.  i still
have a little stress continence now and then. but if that is all i have
left after where i started, it was well worth it.  

to summarize - before surgery, the BPH was so bad, it would take at
least two minutes to empty my bladder,  had no erection problems, had to
pee a lot,  had that left over pee problem - you know, think you're
done.  squeeze, can go some more.  prostate "felt" so big that if i was
in bed and was on my side, i was ok, but when i rolled over on my back,
i could "feel" the prostate pushing on my bladder.  roll over and the
feeling would go away.
not to count how many times you have to get up to go to the bathroom.

after surgery now - can empty bladder in less than 25 seconds, when i'm
empty, i'm empty.  can't get another drop out.  can lay on back and not
feel bladder being pressed on.  erections had help with viagra to start
with, but am getting natural erections which is early for the RP, but is
suppose to get a lot better.   and no BPH and no prostate cancer.  

because these surgeons are in the air force, i don't know how easy it
will be to get access to them.  i can honestly say that both times i
have been in that hospital i got the best care one can imagine.  i did
found out later that do about two retirees a month over there.  

i hope this answer your questions.  please feel free to ask away.  

BPH is not a fun thing and it would have been nice to keep the ole
prostate around but when it turned bad, it's time to pull the plug on
it, but it doesn't mean that it is the end of the world as far as sexual
function is concerned.   far from it.

i wish everyone the best.  with the new procedures out there to treat
the BPH, it's really great, but keep an eye on the psa readings.  the
key to survival is getting the prostate out before the cancer has a
chance to spread.  and you can still keep your health and not lose
anything.

~ curtis

knowledge is power - growing old is mandatory - growing wise is optional