Back from surgery mayo in scottsdale

I have been reading all the posts here for the past few months and would like to share my story and maybe help others who are trying to decide on a path to treatment. Feel free to contact me chorton581@gmail.com

I am 51 years old. Around my 50th birthday my family dr suggested i get my prostate checked. She did a digital exam that seemed normal. Around Nov 1, 2009 I got pretty sick with what my DR thought was swine flu. I was sent for blood tests for a secondary bacteria infection in my lungs(I did not have swine flu, just a standard chest cold). I decided since i was giving blood i would get my psa checked since i was turning 51. That test came back 5.5, I then scheduled an appointment with local urologist. He retook the psa and it came back 5.5 again. I biopsy was done at the end of Nov 2009 with 6-12 cores showing positive 10%. The morning of my biopsy my urologist informed me he was closing his practice and moving to Florida and would not be able to treat me. He did recommend i have the Da Vinci robotic procedure.

Where i work 2 other men with prostate cancer had gone to cancer treatment center of america in tusla. I went there DEC 2009 and had all the testing done. Bone scan showed nothing, CTCA wanted to shrink the tumor and prostate then do brachytherapy sometime FEB 2010. They gave me a 3 month shot of lupron and i started taking casodex. I came home from CTCA and started reading everything i could on cancer survivor network. During the month of December my retired urologist called to check on me and again urged me to have Da Vinci done.

After allot of research i called Mayo clinic in Scottsdale AZ. I have a friend who lives in Scottsdale so i had housing, transportation issues taken care of. I went for my first appt in Jan 2010 at mayo and my DR there stated i really only had one option and that was to remove it. Mayo has done almost 1400 RRP's and i felt very comfortable with my DR and my surgery was done 2 weeks ago.

I was the first surgery of the day which made me eligible for same day release. I can not say enough about how professional a place mayo is. They are on time for every appt. I was in my room at 12:30pm and felt great. I was discharged 7pm that day but when i got up to get dressed i got sick and had to spend the night. I was 10 minutes from walking out the door. The key to getting better quickly is to walk as much as possible. 3 days after i was released i was walking 1-2 miles. Walking really helps to get the gas out. I had the cath in for 1 week and had NO issues with it. My wife is a nurse and was able to take care of keeping the cath in good shape for me. When the cath came out last wed i was given a pull-up which i wore for 1 hour. To date i have NO issue with incontinence. I left phoenix last thur and drove home over 1100 miles.

The pathology reports all showed great results with all negative margins. I am very pleased so far.
I do regret taking the lupron shot and dealing with the side affects of that. It is gradually wearing off but the hot flashes and night sweats have not been pleasant.