Jim Watson is a patient who has confronted prostate cancer and been through a successful treatment with cryosurgery. He has become a patient advocate who enjoys counseling other men who are considering treatment options for prostate cancer. Jim is happy to receive telephone calls or email from men who would like to discuss cryosurgery. His story (in his own words) follows:
Our story begins with a routine physical in July, 2001 with a PSA of 3.6. We were told not to be concerned at that time, but my doctor ordered another blood draw for 3-4 months later. At that time, we discovered that my PSA had climbed to 4.3, which suggested a biopsy was necessary. We received the PSA reading in November and scheduled a biopsy for January. Eight samples were taken, two of which were positive for cancer along with a new PSA of 5.6 and a Gleason score of 6 (3+3). My doctor recommended a radical prostatectomy and wanted me to schedule ASAP. In the period of time from when we received the biopsy results back to my consultation with my physician we began to do some prostate cancer treatment investigation on our own. My wife Jan is a nurse, and my brother Bernie is a nurse practitioner, so we had adequate support in my research and understanding of what the options might be. When my doctor asked us if we were okay with a radical prostatectomy, both Jan and I voiced our concern that there may be a viable alternative to surgery. At this point, he became very agitated and basically stated that if I didn’t want a radical, there was the door. We felt little compassion or understanding of our position to seek the best solution for us, and we were bothered by his adamant promotion of surgery over all other treatments.
The gathering of data was a wonderful experience and when I stumbled onto cryosurgery as a possible solution, we began a lengthy exchange from patient advocate, Karen Barrie, a Southern California cryosurgeon and three patients who had undergone cryosurgery. Reviewing the 5 year and 8 year clinical studies convinced us that cryosurgery would offer us comparable results, less pain and be a less invasive option than many of the six procedures we had examined. The possibility of being back to work in short order was very attractive against several days in the hospital and 3-4 weeks recovering after a radical prostatectomy.
We made the decision to proceed with cryosurgery and the procedure took place on Tuesday, April 30, 2002. I was out of the hospital on Wednesday and was back to work on Monday. Within one month’s time I had no physical reminder of the surgery. I never swallowed even one pain pill after the operation.
I have been followed up by my cryosurgeon at 6 months, 1 year, two years and now three years later my PSA continues to be 0.1. I was so impressed with the whole procedure from start to finish, and the wonderful support I felt in making my decision from the people at CryoCarePCA, that I have become a peer support advocate with a desire to help others work through the process that we went through. I strive to encourage the patients I speak with to consider the choice that makes the most sense for them, whether that is cryosurgery or another treatment option. My wife and I are glad that we made the JOINT decision to undergo cryosurgery, and we would be most happy to share our experience and walk anyone through the journey we undertook.
Jim Watson, Patient Care Advocate
jwatson@cryocarepca.org
877-722-2796 (Toll Free)
Feel free to contact Jim and discuss cryosurgery or any of the other prostate cancer treatment options to aid you in making an informed decision about the prostate cancer treatment that is right for you.
