Diagnosed August, Surgery Jan 31st
Hi everyone. I'm a 68 YO who was diagnosed with Gleason 8 at the end of August, 2022. The biopsy revealed pretty much full right side involvement with nothing in the left lobe.
I underwent a PSMA Pet Scan a week later which showed 100% containment to the prostate. I was scheduled for surgery on Nov 28th but contracted the flu 2 days beforehand (can you believe it?). Due to all the delays from Covid, PSV and the flu, the soonest they could reschedule was Jan 31st, 2023, which did happen. (DaVinci robotic radical prostatectomy).
Surgery was uneventful and while I have never had any sort of surgery before, the whole experience (including recovery to this point) has been nowhere near as "bad" as I feared.
The pathology report came back and revealed negative margins, negative bladder neck and negative lymph node involvement. Also, the final Gleason was determined to be 7.
Looks like even with the the delay for my surgery, I dodged a bullet.
Anyway, dealing with the incontinence issues (of course) but honestly, they're not all that bad at the moment. As for the sexual function issue(s), I'll deal with those when I get there.
Just wanted to share my experience with whomever might be interested
Hi Ken, nice to read that you got good news! The incontinence will pass and you will get back in shape. When the doctor allows it engage in a routine of physical exercises. I m 63 now and it made me improve a lot
Interestingly, last year (about 3 months before I was diagnosed with PC, I developed a case of what my MD called atopic dermatitis. I've never had skin issues before then. It would flare up over various parts of my body (including eyelids, ears, groin) and would do so once or twice a week. In fact, I could count on needing to use the myriad of ointments I was prescribed to deal with these flair ups.
Since my surgery, I've not had one flair up. In fact, several areas of my skin that were dry and "scaly" and never really cleared up, have totally resolved now.
My urologist doesn't want to make the connection between it and my PC but it is what it is, right?
Had my PSA tested last Tuesday (6 weeks to the day).
< 0.05 !
So far, so goodHey Ken....glad all is going well for you so far. Your story mirrors mine to a tee. 68 yo; Gleason 7;
robotic surgery (a good hospital experience); pathology reports clear, etc. Follow-up PSA's every 6 months >.01 for 5 years.
Then last May, PSA was .02 which went to .03 in November. My urologist does not seem to be overly concerned.
I will have a PSMA PET scan on April and we will go from there. Don't let this discourage you. I found the
Prostate Cancer Foundation on-line, and like this website, they have tons of good information. I am optimistic
About my situation and you should be about yours too. Take care....
