Tip:
Highlight text to annotate it
X
Actually, my PSA testing was 17.2 in August 2010 that come down about after the cataract
surgery, so the doctors felt that perhaps I just had an infection in the prostate and
I went to saw a urologist who also felt that could be the case and they put me on antibiotics.
I took the antibiotics for a month. I came back in October 25 and my PSA had gone down
to 7.1. Dr. Miller, my urologist said that we could try antibiotics, allow further and
it might improve it or we could do the biopsy. I told them I wanted to do the biopsy, one
because of insurance issue, as for number two, I just wanted to know, so they did the
biopsy and they took 10 tissue samples, all five on one side were cancerous and one on
the other side was cancerous, so I knew what to face. I asked Dr. Miller his input. I knew
we had to do the bone scan, CT scan, and the most important thing was to make sure the
cancer is not spread and fortunately it did not, that all came up quite well. I asked
them for some input and I asked them for some companies and they sent me to couple of places
as to international which I looked up in the computer and to Prostate Cancer Foundation
which they give me, the mailed me, some tremendous information and I love myself. I told myself
I want to educate myself as I went through this and I wanted to know where I stood and
what had to be done. Another doctor, my radiation oncologist and we discussed my options. He
did not say surgery, but in all honesty I am not sure I would have the surgery that
would have been a very difficult decision. I felt there had to be other options. Dr.
Letterie suggested hormone treatments which I already started with Dr. Miller and this
is shocking, but not a big deal and he suggested exterior radiation and it turned to be brachytherapy.
In regards to exterior radiation, they asked me have you heard of the Calypso implant or
the Calypso procedure, I have not and they asked me to research it in Google and look
at it and basically what the Calypso does is, it is an amazing thing, radiation is indiscriminate,
radiation will kill healthy cells as well as cancer cells. The Calypso implant, they
actually go in and implant three little rice grain-sized radioactive transmitters directly
in the prostate and these transmitters can communicate with the radiation machine and
directly radiation directly to the cancer cells and save the good cells which is an
exciting opportunity for me and I asked him because this was new, would my insurance cover
it and he said probably not and he said did not have to worry about it, he would not charge
any for it. I was like the 58th person in the state of Hawaii to get this procedure.
He and the doctor realized they have to perform this procedure in order to convince the insurance
companies, it is worthwhile and in all honesty, I had the procedure done. They never asked
me for a penny. My insurance did not cover it, but as source is there, so we went in
and we did that and went through 25 days of exterior radiation treatment and I was lucky,
I had no side effects, no problems, and at one day out of that I felt a little bit tired
and I think perhaps the Calypso has something to do with that. Radiation really was a breeze
and I was surrounded by some good people, some great doctors and nurses. In May, it
was time for the brachytherapy and in May of 2011, they went in and they implanted 59
rice grain-sized seeds directly in prostate and then the wait started. My next PSA test
would not be done until September. The only side effects I had after brachytherapy was
some problems in my bowels as that's all cleared up, that's all gone, there hasn't been a problem
in many months.