The search is on . . .

I wanted to provide an update as to where things stand at this point. Forgive me if there's any information I may have already passed along to you, things have understandably been a bit of blur these last two weeks.

We gotten some good news late last week in that my bone scan was clean - indicating that the cancer has not spread. I'm still waiting to get the final report on the pelvic MRI which will provide signs of any localized lymph or soft tissue involvement.  The preliminary readings of the MRI also seem to be providing good news in that there seems to be so spread there as well.  So we are staying cautiously optimistic as the reality of the MRI results will only be proven at the time of surgery.

On the surgical front, I am in the process of scheduling and speaking with a few surgeons in NYC, CT and Boston who specialize in robotic radical prostatectomy surgery.  This type of surgery will provide the best treatment and options for post-surgical recovery.  The surgeons I am meeting/speaking with have been recommended by both my urologist as well as a few friends who have gone through this surgery in recent years - one of whom is 5 years younger than I am, and went through this exactly one year ago himself.  

Again, the best news is that this was caught, though not as "early" as one would like to have hoped.  I still feel fine and have not yet experienced symptoms of any kind, which is also good news for post-surgery recovery.  Due to the advanced state of the cancer, there may be a need for either chemo or radiation treatment in the weeks following the surgery, but that will be determined after a couple of weeks of recovery time and additional scans & blood tests.

I made the trip up to Woodstock, CT yesterday to tell my parents the news. They took it as well as you might expect - concerned, but well aware of the advancements that have been made with treatments of this type of cancer. I'm very glad I waited to let them in on the news as I knew what the bone scan & MRI results were in order to minimize the amount of worry they would obviously go through.  I had answers to give them, and a fairly good idea of what's coming down the road.

I am hoping that surgery will be able to be scheduled sometime in the next two or three weeks, I would really like to get this moving along and just the surgery over with.

Once again, Janet and I would like to thank everyone for their concern and support during these last few weeks.  There's a long fight ahead, but I'm ready for it.

Thanks again,

Chris