Greetings

Greetings to all of you from a new member. I am 62 and post-RRP by twelve days, still tethered to my catheter for another few days. Looking forward to having it gone soon. My case was a little different. My internist did the DRE prior to the PSA and that caused a false rise from 2.2 to 3.2. He wanted to wait and watch but I insisted on seeing a urologist since there is a family history of PC. The urologist did a DRE unlike any I've ever had before! Good grief, I could feel it in my sinuses! The DRE showed a slight enlargement but the PSA was back to 2.3. Time for a six-month pause. Another good PSA but the DRE caused him concern so in early 12/08, I had a biopsy with 5 out of 12+ cores showing adenocarcinoma with Gleason of 3+3=6. This urologist has an excellent reputation so I decided to go with what he preferred: RRP. He does DaVinci and lapr but prefers RRP for palpable detections so he has a better view of the situation.

Anyhow, to make a long story short, the surgery went well with full nerve-sparing on one side and partial on the other. Clear margins and a post-op Gleason of 3+2=5. I'm waiting to get the catheter removed to start checking out the "quality-of-life" issues. We'll see how it goes.

My take on this is to make sure you get both the PSA and DRE, just to be sure.

More soon...
GarthK

Good Morning and welcome to you Garth,

So happy your found our little community here. Very friendly and experienced people here, all too happy to help you and to support you. Like you, I had an open surgery too. Sounds like you are doing well so far. Hope your recovery continues well, and yes, you will feel like a new man once they take out your catheter. I had a series of them for 66 days, so I know the feeling. Was really happy to see your post surgery Gleason was downgraded to a 5, that is really good news. Look forward to hearing from you again soon.

David in SC

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Age 56, 56 at DX, PSA 7/7 5.8, 7/8 12.3

3rd Biopsy 9/8 Positive 7 of 7 cores pos, 40-90%, Gleason 7

Open RP surgery 11/14/8, Non-nerve sparing, 4 days hospital, staples out 11/24/8, 5th cath out on 1/19/9

Post-surgery Pathlogy Report:Gleason 3+4=7, pT2c, 42 grm, tumor 20%, Contained in capsular, clear margins, clear lymph nodes 

First PSA Post Surgery   2/9/9

 

Welcome to HW! Glad that you found us! Congrats on a smooth surgery and I have to say, you are one of the lucky ones that comes out with a lower Gleason score than you went in with. Great news. Best wishes for a speedy recovery and I hope you will stick around.

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Father's Age 62 (now 63)
Original Gleason 3+4=7, Post-Op Gleason- 4+3=7,
DaVinci Surgery Aug 31, 2007
Focally Positive Right Margin, One positive node. T3a N1 M0.
Bone Scan/CT Negative (Sept. 10, 2007)
Oct. 17 PSA 0.07
Nov. 13 PSA 0.05
Casodex adm. Nov 07, Lupron beg. Dec 03, 2007 2 yrs
Radiation March 03-April 22, 2008- 8 weeks 5x a week
July 2, 08 PSA <.02
Oct. 10, 08 PSA <.02
Praying for a cured dad.

Co-Moderator Prostate Cancer Forum