My Diagnosis, Treatment and Journey

It all began so simply. I was having. Issues with urinating and waking up during the night to use the bathroom. It was often difficult to initiate a stream. After trying the typical medications, my urologist recommended a Rezum procedure. This was going to solve my issues for up to 7 years. It helped some for about 8 months.

Prostate cancer diagnosis

My urologist's next recommendation was a TURP. This was going to be a permanent surgical fix for my issue. A few days after the surgery I was contacted by my urologist and told I have prostate cancer. He gave me my Gleason score and told me I am in the moderate risk category. I asked what was next and he said nothing. He just wanted to monitor me. This was all very disturbing and I had no idea what the next right thing to do was.

Comorbidity with prostate cancer

I also have an immune deficiency disease and see an oncologist every month and receive an infusion. I contacted my oncologist and he wanted to see me immediately. He ordered an MRI and a PET scan. They found what appeared to be a mass in my colon and a golf ball size mass and several smaller ones in my left lung. I had a colonoscopy and found the mass was polyps that were not cancerous. I then had robotic lung surgery to remove the masses which were also not cancerous. I then started a course of 42 radiation treatments. I have experienced side effects from radiation treatments. In October I go in for more scans and will learn if the treatments got cancer.

Current PSA results

My PSA went up for several months after radiation. In the last 2 months, it has dropped and is in the normal range. One point of learning for me is the very different approaches that urologists and oncologists take in treating prostate cancer. It was disturbing. I am hopeful and optimistic that I am going to have a good outcome in October.