My experience of Prostate Cancer at 38 years old

[satvind...@gmail.com]

Hi I'm a 39 years old and I was diagnosed with Prostate Cancer in
October 2008 (38 yrs) by accident. I am a diabetic and while having
my
annual diabetic bloods tests done my doctors nurse by mistake asked
for my PSA to be checked, luckily for me, I thanked her later. My PSA
came back high and the doctor called me in the next and checked me
and
referred me to a consultant Mr Karim at Wexham. He checked me and
arrange for a biopsy which came back positive for cancer. Luckily
For
me I was diagnosed early thanks to my doctors nurse, I didn't think I
had any symptoms as a diabetic you do feel thirsty and the doctor
prescribed me diuretics for the BP, so you can't really tell. Also
I'm Indian (low risk) with no family history of prostate cancer.

The whole thing came a bit of a surprise, but I wasn't too worried as
I didn't feel I had any symptoms and thought it was caught early and
I
knew from the research I did on line that if you catch it early you
have a good prognosis. My wife was worse though, and I didn't tell
the
rest of the family after the reaction from my wife until about a
month
after my confirmation in September 2007.


Anyway I was given a couple of options, to leave it for up to year to
think about what I wanted to do about it because it was caught early,
but the option I took to get it done sooner rather than later. In my
case I was suggested a radical prosectomy either with the open
surgery
on the NHS or the robotic surgery which was private but cost £15,000
the hospital didn’t have the robot then (the trust wouldn't fund it).


My doctor’s son had worked with Mr Karim with this Da Vinci robot in
the 6 months prior and explained everything that would happen and the
success/ recovery rate were good so I was suitably prepared.


It was a no Brainer for me 2 days in hospital with a 2 week recovery
or 2 Weeks in the hospital with another 2-4 Week recovery.


So I had the operation at Princess Grace in London I went in a week
early for all the pre-op blood tests and then in on the Saturday
morning 1st Dec 2007 at 6am was prepped and ready for surgery by 8. I
saw the robot from a distance and was put under. When I woke up,
about
1pm in my room groggy as expected and with a catheter and drain
attached. Felt a bit of pain but could move around less pain than I
expected though, they wheeled me to the high dependency unit
overnight
where they checked me regularly overnight, couldn't really sleep very
well though. In the morning I actually walked back to my room with a
nurse and was surprised how little pain I was suffering, I couldn't
pass any stoles for a day or so afterward. I stayed in hospital until
Monday lunchtime and then I was discharged with checkups’ visits from
the NHS district nurse.


The specialist urology nurse at the hospital provides me with all the
pads I would need and replacement bags for my catheter. She removed
the drain and explained all the pelvic floor exercises and gave me
plenty of information on what happens next. Not bad as I went in on
Sat morning and was home Monday lunchtime brilliant I thought.


The next 2 weeks I spent at home near a toilet so that I could empty
my bag even though I was wearing a portable bag during the day and a
bigger bag at night. I got a urine infection after about 3 days
which
was treated by antibiotics and was fine. Walking around with the
catheter was fine; it was more painful if I was lying in bed
especially if the tube had got dry and stuck. Hint: have some
Vaseline
handy to rub on the catheter tubing to stop this happening.


I had my catheter removed on 15th Dec 2007 at Wexham Park hospital,
this was more painful than the nurse let's on by the way out (only a
brief pain thankfully). Note: the wire twist clips the use hurt on
the
way out. They checked that I could go to the bathroom a couple of
times and discharged me.


I checked with the antitheist and my consultant Mr Karim and my own
doctor and got permission to fly to India for the next 4 weeks for a
wedding. I was fine on the flight and the time there but got a urine
infection by the time I got back. I later found out this is quite a
normal occurrence. During my time in India I was being driven around
and walking around outside, I think the sun helped me a lot with the
recovery. I found initially I did leak a little but the pads the
hospital supplied were great and pretty discrete. Make sure they
give
you the little triangle pads for men (Tena for Men) rather than the
long women’s ones or the big baggy nappies as the others look to
embarrassing to use, or get them from the pharmacy, Lloyds Pharmacy
on
Wexham Road were the only ones that did them believe me I tried many
others but you have to ask. The leaking did reduce quite drastically
after the first 10 days, you have to do the pelvic exercises and I
didn't really experience any pain except when I urinate and that
wasn't very much, but I did make sure I didn't lift anything. When I
urinated it was difficult at first to get it to stop but my urine
stream seemed a lot stronger than I remember. I think the sun helped
me a lot with the recovery. No erections though. When I got back to
the UK I realised I had got another urine infection and antibiotics
cleared that up.


When I saw my consultant he gave me Cialias 1 every 3 days which
initially didn't do very much at all but I could see the blood
filling
up but not enough to get an erection. After about 6 months I did
manage to get a couple of erections. I have been getting some
Cialias
from my doctor (1 per week) but not really enough for a young family
man. My consultant since I saw him last now provides me with enough
for 1 every 2/3 days, one of his team said studies show that at that
level you get blood vessel growth and it will reduce my BP and it is
more effective. And believe me it is working very well. I still
find
that I don't get the same sensation that I used to get to tell me I
need to go to the bath room, but I seem to be getting better at
judging it. I get some pain when urinating still but it has reduced
a
lot. I was towards the end of 2008 getting some sharp pain even when
I was sitting down or walking not just when urinating and after a
little investigation it turned out I got a kidney stone on the stitch
they put in the urethra after removing the prostate, so I am now
waiting for a quite procedure to remove that.


In all I am very glad that I had the operation to remove the
prostate. Having spoken to other people who have had the other open
surgery op, I am so happy with the robotic surgery it was the best
money I have spent, the recovery is some much better and you seem to
be back to your usual self a lot quicker.


Hope this helps


Satvinder