I recently had brachytherapy done at the VA hospital in Seattle (I live in Oregon)
I thought I'd write a diary about it
To start with, I am a disabled veteran, I get my medical treatment at the VA, have done since 2003. I'm high enough on the disabled status (80%, counted as 100%) that I get it all free.
The Sig Other had been nagging suggesting I get a physical because she kept telling me my blood pressure is high. I told her she was crazy, I test my blood pressure all the time at Safeway and its always good, under 120/75 It turned out later she didn't know how to read her blood pressure machine, but this may have saved my life--its a funny world.
First they tested the blood, which revealed a PSA # of 7. (Gleason score revealed later: 6)Tthen they did a biopsy, one of those lying on the table, feet in the stirrups thing. Women know all about this but this was a first time for me.
As they were ending the biopsy, the urologist told me that he would call me Monday with the results. Monday came and went, Tuesday also, and then weeks----nada. Thats the way of the VA---if youre not in their face, they can forget all about you. ( Have I got stories! Don't get me started!)
I had to go back down to Roseburg VA (where I go)to get my colonoscopy a few weeeks later and while I was there an aide asked me if i had any questions. I said, yeah, how'd the biopsy come out?
She went down to that department and came back looking flustered, said I'd have to make an appointment there to have it explained, it was complicated. I knew then it was bad news.
I went to urology, made an appointment for the next Monday (They couldn't have told me then and saved me a 170 mile roundtrip? Answer : No! I said it's the VA, didn't I))
So I came back on Monday and the first thing the urologist said was "As per our phone conversation....."
I told him there was no phone conversation--he never called me. He said: But I ALWAYS call the next Monday. I told him, not this time.
We then got into a long staring contest but nobody beats me at this--I can stare into your eyes all day with a mean look( handy things you learn in the Army!)
Finally I said, "Look, I'm not here to blame you----just tell me how the freaking biopsy came out."
So he did and it was bad news all right: the big C. Fortunately it had been detected in the earliest stages which left me lots of options ( Thanks Sig other for all the naggingsuggesting!)
These options were: Prostatectomy (removal of prostate,) external radiation, brachytherapy (implantation of radiactive seeds to kill the tumor,) and "Watchful Waiting" (doing nothing)
The urologist laid it all out but he didn't suggest which one to do, sio I started researching it, trying to become an expert overnight (Good book for starters: "Prostate Cancer for Dummies.") The urologist later came up, shook my hand and apologized for not calling me--this is the first and only VA employee ever to do that for me for one of their effups.
I must have talked to 30 people in 3 months, many online, who had the various treatments. There was no one size fits all answer and I was pretty muich left on my own to make the decision.
Finally I focused in on the brachytherapy. A really good friend had had it done and he talked it up. It seemed like the least intrusive, yet promised as much chance of success as anything else (about 94%, depending on who you talk to). I did NOT want a prostatectomy if I could help it, it takes months to recover and youre never the same afterwards. the Brachytherapy at least left the most hope of normal life resumed (I'm talking sexual and excretory functions here)
So I scheduled it for after some vacations I had planned in June and July.
They sent me up to Seattle to get it done----this is the West Coast place where they do it. They pay for my travel and stay when they have to send me out of the area.
My wife and i drove up there and the motel they sent us to was a real hole, right in an industrial zone (on "Marginal Blvd!" I'm not kidding!) I had no intention of staying there--I can afford a decent place on my own, thanks-- but when I went in to tell them that they said there was no room anyway. I went back to the VA and they put us in a better place, an Extended Stay motel with kitchenette---not bad at all.
The next day, I showed up for the procedure at 8:00 AM as directed. The first thing they asked me was did I mind waiting for 2 hours while they did an 80 year old man who'd come early. I told them that much as I'd just love waiting in a VA waiting room for 2 hours, I was there at my appointment time and I wanted it done.
So they did.
I climbed up on the table, put feet in the stirrups, and the first thing they started doing was prepping me---catheter. This was also a first for me and I told them if i got hard, it was entirely complimentary. (this was a feeble joke)
they don't knock you out for this,like a colonoscopy, which is surprising----probably the VA is just too cheap. The first thing they do is numb your pereneum with lidocaiine. This wwas the worst part--it takes 30-40 shots and theyre all painful. About 25-30 minutes worth. I can take pain pretty well but this was right at the top. Worse than shrapnel, broken bones or getting shot, I can tell you that much.
After youre numb (sorta,) they start inserting the seeds through your pereneum into your prostate with a looooong needle--I couldn't watch it. These "seeds" are iodine isotopes, about the size of a medium size grain of sand, they wear out in a few months. This took about another 30 minutes. tney have this all planned out, with a termplate, its very intricate.
after the procedure, I had to wait another 45 minutes while they x-rayed and scanned me to make sure all the seeds were in the right place, so they wouldn't have t put in a few more. I haven't described all the technolgy here but its extensive.
the doctor came in and told me that everything went perfectly, it was a textbook case, there should be no problems. THAT was good to hear. I told him he'd get a big tip on Christmas if that was so.
I then went back to the motel and spent about an hour of naausea and weakness. I figure this was a reaction to all the anesthetic. After a while, about an hour and a half, I felt better---and hungry.
My first pee was scary: bloody and burned a little, but since then, its gotten pretty well back to normal. I never lost my sexual functions (erection and ejaculation) (Yabbadabba doo--- oh happy day!)
Its 12 days later now, and as I sit here writing this, its almost as if it never happened, feelingswise. My butt is no longer sore. I played golf two days afterwards and have pleayed golf almost ever day since then. My Sig Other loves all the sexual "testing it out" we been doing since then, Its more thsn it was before. (nothing like the threat of loss to make you appreciate something!)
I can not speak highly enough of this procedure and the VA handled it really well, other than a few spots as noted. To be cured of prostate cancer, that men used to die slow lingering deaths from---its miraculous.
It was 50 minutes of sheer hell but its a minor inconvenience compared to the other ways of doing it, or dying of prostate cancer.
I urge every man reading this to get checkd right away if you don't do this regularly. Early detection is the key here to keeping your options open
thanks be to God, by whatever names people call her, that this is avaliable now.
Stay good
exlrrp