Prostate cancer is a disease in which cancer develops in the prostate, a gland in the male reproductive system. Cancer occurs when cells of the prostate mutate and begin to multipl...
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Post HIFU Surgery Progress/Prognosis
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Well folks, it is 11 days since my husband had his HIFU surgery at Can-Am HIFU Surgical Center in Toronto, Ontario.
He was in surgery and recovery a total of 5 hours, walked out on his own to our hotel, slept, and walked downtown for a light dinner that evening. Flew back to Houston a day later; saw his urologist in Houston, who had flown to Toronto to do the surgery himself as he is licensed in Canada and the US, who removed the catheter a week later. Prognosis is excellent, no other doctor's appt needed for 90 days at which time a PSA will be done to confirm the cancer is gone. AND, best of all, 3 days after surgery, my husband had an erection! 11 days after surgery, he had an erection AND ejaculation, although there was not much fluid since the prostate is 100% removed. BUT, at least he has NO incontinence and NO erectile dysfunction after prostate surgery. HOORAH!!! For those men who have localized, contained prostate cancer, PLEASE check out HIFU (high intense focused ultrasound), it is well worth the investigation. We'll wait for 90 days now, and pray he is cancer free. Good luck to all of you. Feel free to contact us if you would like more insight into HIFU. Posted on 05/08/08, 04:05 pm |
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i would think so 
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I really wish the HIFU was available here in the states. I also wish our insurance would allow us to go to Canada for the treatment, but those persnikkity HOM's just suck. We do not have the funds to go just have it done, wish we did. Husband still has not started treatment as all the different drs are all going on vacations, and the local urologist he needs to see first, gold seed implants. is booked till the end of next month. I really should check to see if switching to a PPO this fall might give us the opportunity to have the HIFU, can he wait till next Jan? I dont know. Right now the oncologist says he is fine for the wait until Sept. Feel like pulling my hair out, am tired of dealing with all these clinics and doctors and uninformed telephone answerers.
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A lot depends of the biopsy, but unless it is a particularly aggressive kind of CA (reflected in the type of cell), there is no real rush. People panic about this and act precipitously.
He might take the Maitake Mushroom D-Fraction in the meanwhile, just to encourage the CA not to grow. I would really encourage you to see if you can wait a little and do the HIFU.
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Randyls..........just some more thought regarding HIFU. The Sonablate 500 unit used in HIFU surgery is newer and considered more effective than the older Ablatherm unit used previously.
The difference? The Sonablate 500 uses real-time imaging of the prostate gland during surgery and was developed at Indiana University. Good luck in your research and ultimate decision.
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P.S. While my husband and I did our research on the type of treatment best for him, he ramped up on anti-oxidants, cut back on red meat, etc., and in 4 months his PSA had actually dropped from 6.2 to 5.4.
His initial diagnosis was 6.2 with a Gleason Score of 7 (4+3). The lowered level, we felt, gave us ample time (4 months) to make the right treatment decision for him.
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The machine used for HIFU was developed here? In Indiana? And we cannot use it? BS!!!!!!! If he could get treatment just in Indiana we could go, my sister lives there and has a spare room. Oh and our insurance rates are part of my husbands settlement with his former employer. He was fired and he sued for wrongful termination and won, he gets a check each month till the day he dies, survivors benefits for me and medical under group rates. We also have dental and vision for small premiums. By the way his former employer was the US Dept of Labor...he is on permanent workmans comp due to becoming ill from years of breathing in caustic fumes form his job that the drs said caused medical problems. They chose to go this route instead of retraining him for a job that did not confine him in small areas etc....but such is the wisdom of the govt....we wonder now if some of his other health issues are not drectly related to that time. Prostate cancer is in his genetic background along with 2 or 3 other things that so far he has been tested for but does not carry or have. Luckily.
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Of course it is nice to have family to stay with, but my understanding is that you don't stay long for HIFU. Arrive the night before, stay the night after, and you can travel home, or the day after that. Follow up can be done by your doctor at home.
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Since HIFU isn't aloowed here it is a moot point, but if we could go to Indiana it still would be nice. I have not ever been and I have not seen my sister for a couple years and I have never met any of my nephews...I would want to stay a few days...but that won't happen. Geez and everyone is always saying California is a state that leads the way...well I don't even want to discuss what it really is leading, sure would be nice for a change for it to be something like advanced medical treatments....if SF can designante itself to be all these things it designates itself that are against the law why couldn't it do something decent like HIFU? Or any other so called experimental treatments for other conditions or diseases? Just tired of it all.
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