Post op pathology

Wednesday was the day I returned to the doc’s office for removal of the catheter, and an update on the pathology on the materials removed during surgery.
Evidently the cancer was aggressive, and the concern now, is whether or not it has spread to regions outside the prostate; there might be a 50% chance that it has. He said the latest science would indicate the best course of action is to follow the surgery with a round of radiation in a few months.
I also scheduled my first post-op PSA test for September 30; It is the hope of every post op guy that their new PSA number will be close to zero; close monitoring of the PSA will continue for the next two years, I suspect.
There might be not much to report on this blog in the next couple of weeks, but if there is, this will be the place to read about it. Feel free to posts your own comments, and sign up for update notifications on the wiget in the right column.

What's next?

Ron is getting stronger by the day. He is feeling much better, sleeping better, and able to eat normal food.

We have an appointment with the docs on Wednesday (August 25th.) Ron will have a post-op check and they will remove the catheter. The pathology report should be back at that time as well. This will tell us what happens next. It is our hope and prayer that the cancer was fully contained inside the prostate gland so that radiation won't be necessary.

More later....

robotic surgery demonstration

First Full Day at Home after Surgery

The photo is one that I took at Mt Adams last week, it was from a series of shots early in the morning, and put together in Photoshop.
Last night was the first night at home post surgery. It was a difficult night, partly because I did not know what to expect from my body. But I am told that my experience is fairly typical. It is amazing how, for a normal person, the digestive system does "what it does" since birth, but in the traumatic changes brought about by surgery, some of these functions seem to be confused, and need to be retrained.
I have tried to talk to others that have been through the same procedure, to compare my experience so far with theirs, and to try to get a sense about what is ahead. I'm a little nervous, but given the fact that I am in God's hands, and I feel that I had the best care any person could have in the northwest, I am confident for an overall good outcome.

I would also encourage you to post responses to any of these notes, as you think of encouragements or personal experiences others can benefit from.

Home at last!

Ron was able to come home this morning. He is a bit exhausted from all the excitement that goes along with checking out of the hospital. He is eating regular food and we just took a short stroll in the sunshine. Now he is resting. You will hear from him soon!

One more day....

The nurses are enjoying the Mahan sense of humor SO much they decided to keep Ron around for another day. Hopefully, he will be able to come home tomorrow. He is doing well considering they still won't let him eat anything other than funny looking soup, cream of wheat, oatmeal, jello and pudding. He was allowed juice and coffee! Yippee!!

He was up and around quite a bit today. In fact, another patient was quite impressed when Ron "lapped" her on the hospital race course.

That's today's news. Soon Ron will be able to give you his perspective of this adventure.

Surgery Day

Ron had surgery yesterday. (Tuesday, August 17th) According to the doc, all went well. He was able to use the robot for the entire surgery. The doc was able to remove the prostate gland while preserving the nerve bundles that surround the gland. His only concern was the left side of the prostate gland looked "a little ragged on the margins." The left side was the side that showed 70% cancer cells in the biopsy. We will wait for the pathology report to come back next week for the results.

Ron was up walking about the hospital last evening. No rest for the weary!! One of his complaints is he can't eat until noon today. And then he can only have yummy stuff like jello!

Our long-time friend Kathleen came to the hospital and waited with us for the better part of the day. Aly arrived yesterday around noon. Aaron is here... Drew was sent to Medford, Oregon on Monday to fight a fire in that region. It's great having at least 2 of the kids home.

Ron is scheduled to come home tomorrow. We appreciate your continued thoughts and prayers during the recovery phase of this adventure!

2010 Mt Adams

"I am not remarkable."

The doctor's office called today with the news that nothing in my scans last week was remarkable. As far as they can tell, the cancer has not spread to the bones, and the surgery can proceed as planned. From the explanation I received, the CT and abdominal scans were needed, because if something hideous was found, it would have meant a higher stage of progression, and a different course of treatment.

So it is good today, medically speaking, to be normal.. unremarkable.

Last weekend we travelled to Mt Adams, for a couple days away, and a fun time with the boys and my bro and his lovely wife. I took a boatload of pics of the mountain, now I get to process them. I will post some of the better ones.

Hurry up and WAIT!!

Ron had his scans last Wednesday, August 4. We are still waiting to hear from the doc for the results. Rather than wait around and be totally frustrated, we packed up the car and took a little trip to the lovely communities of Glenwood, WA and Trout Lake, WA. (Both towns are in the shadow of Mt. Adams.) Seems a bit random but really, we had a purpose. Our son Drew is working for the Forest Service in Trout Lake for the summer. We really went to see him! Ron's brother Wes and his wife Jane drove up from Portland. We stayed in a quaint log cabin surrounded by forests and streams and mostly friendly critters. It was lovely to have the peace and quiet of nature and NO television, Internet, or cell phone service. As a bonus we all drove to Hood River Saturday evening for a lovely dinner. Drew doesn't seem to have enough to keep him busy so he also works at a wonderful restaurant on the weekends. Fortunately, he wasn't working so we all enjoyed incredibly amazing food prepared by Drew's friend and the chef, Nathan.  (The restaurant is Nora's Table... check it out if you are ever in Hood River!)  http://www.norastable.com/

Now that we are back in Spokane, we are once again in wait-mode. Ron called his doc's office today but wasn't able to actually talk to anyone. When they finally called him back they told him the only one who can discuss the results of his tests is his doctor. Hurry up and wait some more.

We are planning for the surgery to be August 17.... one of us will update the blog when we get the results from the scans. Thank you for your thoughts and prayers.

*Ron took many pictures of Mt. Adams and the area. Hopefully he will have time to post some of them here.... while he's waiting!

Monday Aug 02- Today I went to the doctor's office for a quick EKG, blood draw, and chest xray. Wednesday I go in for a CT and bone scan, this will verify the health of my bones and abdomen to proceed to surgery in a couple weeks.

Can you identify the location of this photo?