Steve...so far

[Guest guest]

This is probably boring for those who have been through it, but

maybe there's something here of help to those about to go through

surgery.

I'm 46, my PSA was never very high (3.4 was my first evaluation,

then--except for a 3.7 peak, it's been DECLINING; my last score was

2.4!). Stage T1c, Gleason 3+3 (prior to surgery). Two different

pre-surgical biopsies, one with 2 positive out of 20, the next with

2 positive out of 14, and a bit more volume of cancer detected.

I was initially scheduled for surgery on 10/08/07, but my lower back

blew out walking 2 miles. I had back surgery 11/5/07. I

rescheduled my prostate surgery, with Dr. Ash Tewari (NY

Presbyterian, Cornell Center) for January 10th...and THAT had to be

postponed until January 14th, 2008!

Well, I'm back from the hospital. Surgery Monday, January 14th, and

they had me walking the halls Monday night. More walking Tuesday,

and they let me go home Tuesday afternoon. Had to get through rush-

hour traffic of course, but it didn't seem too bad...

I set new and important goals for myself in the hospital. I needed

to FART. By early afternoon Tuesday, I had. This is a good thing,

alert the media! By farting, I enabled myself to move on to the

next step...solid (though mild, and light) FOOD!

Had solid food Tuesday night...good thing, too, as I was getting

sick of Jell-O and chicken broth.

Wednesday, I walked over 5 miles, into and out of town. Thursday, I

walked over 6 miles. Friday, 9+ miles! Today, Saturday, I only

walked 7.5 miles. I think I may have lost 4 pounds...(the right

way...not through surgery!)

But, so far, so good! I see the doctor again on Tuesday for a check-

up, and to have the catheter removed (not looking forward to that

particular experience). But, so far, he tells me that he believes

that he got all the cancer, and that none of it had spread. He

estimates my chance at a " full " recovery as very, very high. He was

able to spare " almost all " (I believe he said) of one of the nerves,

and " most " of the other--he said there was a " bulge " in my prostate,

which he felt was cancerous, that lead him to be a little more

aggressive on that side. But overall, he felt the cancer was

contained (encapsulated).

I'll report more as I know it.

Strangely enough, I had started to worry (irrationally) that " what

if I'm jumping the gun? What if the declining PSA *MEANS*

something? What if I'm the guy that has that non-aggressive form of

prostate cancer? What if, at 46, I should have just WAITED? Well,

Tewari's talk of the " bulge " sort of let me know that I did the

right thing. I'm hoping that Tuesday's news doesn't change my

attitude, but we shall see. Your mileage, of course, may vary.

--Steve