‘You do have some prostate cancer.’ Manly advice from a survivor

Nov 24, 2015

Jim Elliott, who recently underwent surgery for prostate cancer, shares his story and the importance of screening.

You never forget certain words – like cancer. Particularly if it’s YOUR cancer being discussed. But here we were in an exam room, my wife Sue and me, hearing all about my prostate cancer.

My primary care doctor, Dr. Mohammad Haleem, had first alerted me two years ago to a slightly elevated but otherwise routine test for PSA, or prostate specific antigen. We agreed to continue monitoring it because the PSA is notorious for being unreliable and I have no family history of prostate cancer.

After two years of rising PSA results, Haleem referred me to Dr. Chirasakdi Ratanawong, a Marshfield Clinic urologist and urological surgeon. He recommended doing a biopsy of tissue samples taken from inside the prostate. We agreed.

It couldn’t be prostate cancer

I still had no symptoms. It was all just a false alarm. Nothing to worry about. Or so I thought.

“You do have some cancer,” the doctor said, reviewing the biopsy results. I’d been wrong and foolishly overconfident over the last two years. The conversation turned from having cancer to deciding what to do about it.

Three treatment options

Ratanawong explained the treatment recommendations vary for each patient but generally include doing nothing and continuing to nervously monitor PSA results; being treated with radiation therapy, either with radiation beams or radioactive seeds placed in the prostate; or undergoing surgery to remove the prostate completely. Based on my age, the location of the cancer and other factors, he recommended surgery.

Let’s get some respect here

As a writer, I had done articles about prostate cancer. It wasn’t one of the more aggressive, fast-growing cancers and can lie dormant for a long time. I’ve heard that some cancer patients give it no respect, like it’s not a real cancer. Even the PSA test itself is controversial.

But it’s still cancer. Ignore it and it can kill you. Catch it early and it can spare you.

Sue and I chose robotic surgery; get it all over and done with. And it worked. Test results and a pathology report revealed that Ratanawong got it all. I was home free, save for some annoying after-effects that hung on for months. But I was now one of more than two million prostate cancer survivors nationwide, with some time off to think about it.

If there’s any lesson to be found here, it’s to follow your doctor’s advice about screenings in general. Yes, the PSA test can be misleading, but in my case it worked.

And I’d always prefer a false alarm vs. the alternative of not detecting it.

7 responses to “‘You do have some prostate cancer.’ Manly advice from a survivor”

Darwin Zwieg

Dec 24, 2017

So what were the annoying side effects?

Reply
1. Kirsten Shakal, Shine365 Editor
  
  Jan 2, 2018
  
  Hi, Darwin.
  
  Some side effects that you may have after surgery include:
  – Change in penis length
  – Injury to the rectum
  – Loss of fertility
  – Narrowing of the tube (urethra) in the penis that carries out urine
  – Swelling in the leg or genital area caused by removal of the lymph nodes (lymphedema), this is rare
  – Trouble controlling bowel movements
  – Trouble controlling urine, called incontinence
  – Trouble getting or keeping an erection
  
  Thank you for reading Shine365! -Kirstie
  
  Reply
John S.

Dec 3, 2015

Thanks for the article .I went thru the exact path in 2009 . I have no ill feelings about the surgery or how it changed my life. I am still here an enjoying life to the fullest.

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Richard W.

Dec 3, 2015

Jim is absolutely right. My PSA screening began in 2000 eventually led to biopsy in 2012, led to robotic surgery in 2013. Yes the sample detection was very small, slow growing, so robotic surgery may seem radical. But those cancer cells are now in a place wherever they place body tissue removed in surgery, but the important point of my comment is, it begins with screening.

Reply
1. Jake Miller
  
  Dec 3, 2015
  
  Thanks for sharing your experience with readers, Richard.
  
  Reply
Bruce W.

Dec 3, 2015

This is an interesting, and well appreciated, article. I have seen a lot of the Statistics associated with medical testing and results. Ultimately, one has to understand the "sensitivity and specificity" of the test adding to that the reliability of the follow-up procedures. I have a family history of Prostatic Cancer, paternal grandfather died of the problem and father was treated twice for the problem (not dying from the disease). All males should be concerned about the potential for this cancer and be screened on a regular basis, including the lab test (PSA), history and a digital exam. We must all remember that a negative biopsy, like a negative culture, is meaningless and has to be coupled with the entire picture plus regular follow-up.

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John D.

Dec 3, 2015

I had robotic surgery to remove prostate and now I can't get an erection!! It's been 2 years

Reply