Posted 12/5/2024 1:36 PM (GMT -5)
So today, December 5, marks 10 years since I got "the phone call", and life changed forever.
It was a day like many others. I had had the biopsy a few days before. I knew I would be getting the results, but honestly, I thought it would be a few more days. At the time, I still had a land-line phone, and an automated answering machine.
I got home from work, and as I headed to the mailbox to get the mail, I saw the light blinking on the answring machine, and automatically pushed play as I headed for the mailbox. I heard it click in and a voice said something like this: "Hello, this is ___ at Dr. N's office, We have your biopsy results, could you please call and ask for me as soon as you can?" CLICK
So I called, asked for her, and in a few minutes she came on to deliver the news. I had, as I recall, 3 positive cores at G6. I asked what was next, and she explained that she would set up a bone scan and a CT scan at the local hospital, and when might I be available?
And then she explained that once the scan results were back, she would schedule a consult with the Dr. He managed these consults by having them at the end of the day, where he would send his staff home and meet with my wife and I and go through the test results, and the options.
This was in a very small town. He was the only urologist in town. When we met with him, he offered the option of doing open surgery in the local hospital. Basic RT was available in town, but only external beam. If we wanted any of the newer options, either radiation or surgery, he would send me to St. Louis and Barnes-Jewish hospital/Siteman Cancer center. Which is ultimately what I did.
The crew in here, at the time, was invaluable to me. I had good ideas about what questions to ask, and a lot of support when my brain went sideways.
Ultimately, I chose to have RALP, in February of 2015. It turns out I had a post-surgical upgrade to G3+4, and multiple tumors in all 4 quadrants of the gland. My reasons for choosing surgery at the time were:
1. I didn't want to drive 100 miles each way, in the winter, several times a week for 6 weeks
2. SBRT was just coming on line at BJC, and they were still establishing their system for PCa.
3. I'll admit it: I had a sort of gut thing against permanent brachytherapy. Something about having the rad source inside me for ever just creeped me out.
So, I had surgery. My surgeon is well regarded in that region of the midwest. I've been fortunate to have had a great outcome--undetectable PSA since, plus no significant side effects. The worst is that my time lag between 'needing to pee' and 'gotta go NOW' is maybe 30 minutes, not hours as in the past.
Life is good. We moved from that small town in October of 2016 due to job situations, I retired June 1 this year. My health is really good overall. I've got a lot to look forward to, hopefully for a lot of years to come.